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Employment Law

No joint employer liability under ERISA

08/26/2009

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires employers to follow the terms of their collective bargaining agreements when they contribute to employee benefit plans. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to extend the concept of “joint employer” to ERISA’s collective bargaining agreement provision when the second entity has not signed that agreement.

Free speech on trial: California cops have tough time pressing First Amendment claims

08/26/2009

Public employees retain the right to free speech under the First Amendment and can’t be punished for exercising that right. However, the right is limited when the “speech” they’re using is part of their jobs. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has recently concluded that for California police officers, free speech protection may be even more limited.

Document reason for termination to make sure courts don’t second-guess your decision

08/26/2009

If you have to fire an employee, don’t worry that a court is just waiting to second-guess why you did so. The fact is, courts are reluctant to question your reasons as long as you can convince them the reasons were honest, even if in retrospect they may seem baseless or even foolish. They don’t want to become a national HR department.

Federal HR pros, take note: Bias complainers may contact any EEO officer to press claims

08/26/2009

Federal employees have special rules they have to follow in order to sue their employers for discrimination. One of these requirements is to contact an Equal Employment Opportunity “counselor” within 45 days of the alleged discriminatory act. The 9th Circuit has concluded that employees don’t have to contact the individual their employer has designated as the EEO counselor …

Know criteria before turning employees into contractors

08/26/2009

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just turn your employees into independent contractors? That way, you wouldn’t have to pay unemployment compensation taxes, provide workers’ compensation insurance and so on. But California courts are quick to zap employers that wrongly convert employees into contractors.

California Supreme Court limits wage-and-hour litigation

08/26/2009

Here’s a bit of good news from the Supreme Court of California: The court has ruled that labor unions can’t intercede for union members to sue employers for missed meal and rest breaks under the state’s unfair competition law or the private attorney general statute.

Conoco workers won’t get class-action status in W&H suit

08/26/2009

A federal judge recently refused to certify a class-action suit in which workers at several California refiners sought to jointly sue ConocoPhillips Co. for failing to provide meal periods.

Probation officer sues L.A. County for unpaid overtime

08/26/2009

Deputy probation officer Timothy Bentley is suing the Los Angeles County Probation Department, claiming that the county had a “pattern and practice of refusing to pay overtime” to deputy officers in the Suitable Placement Division.

Choose one: Settlement or class-action lawsuit

08/26/2009

Guess what: You can’t press forward with a wage-and-hour class-action suit after you’ve already settled with the organization you’re suing. So said the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when it tossed a class-action bid brought by two former T-Mobile sales reps.

What should we do before we start taping employees’ phone conversations?

08/26/2009

Q. For quality-control purposes and to ensure that workers are not making personal telephone calls, we would like to tape-record the calls employees make on company phones. Would that be legal?