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Employment Law

When labor, immigration laws clash, NLRB decides

07/17/2009

The Department of Homeland Security has authorized more raids on workplaces it suspects include undocumented workers—and employers, not the workers, are being charged with breaking the law. At the same time, the NLRB is pushing employers to settle unfair labor practice cases and ordering them to rehire employees terminated for exercising National Labor Relations Act rights. But what happens when those fired workers are actually ineligible to work?

You can require arbitration of termination wage claims

07/17/2009

It can be months or years of administrative hearings to decide how much you are obliged to pay terminated employees. That’s one reason the Court of Appeal of California has begun advocating arbitration as a legal alternative to hearings.

Tell bosses: Work sexual harassment rules apply to other business relationships, too

07/17/2009

Warn your supervisors and managers: If they sexually harass business associates who aren’t your employees, those associates can sue for sexual harassment, too. The harassment has to meet the same standards as in the employment setting.

Check employment agreements for commission cutoffs

07/17/2009

Here’s a good idea if you are reviewing employment agreements that spell out how you pay commissions: Be sure to specify that the end of employment means the end of commissions.

Disabled customers can’t access your facilities? Pay up!

07/17/2009

You know that you have to accommodate disabled applicants and employees under both the ADA and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. When making those accommodations, think of customers, too. The California Supreme Court has ruled that customers who can’t access your public spaces can sue for damages.

Suit challenges Caltrans’ new contracting quotas

07/17/2009

The Pacific Legal Foundation recently filed a lawsuit alleging that Caltrans’ new contract quota program for minority-owned firms is unconstitutional. The suit, filed on behalf of the San Diego chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, argues that Caltrans did not do enough to show that discrimination was a problem before it implemented the program.

Workers’ comp carrier saga ends with $37 million settlement

07/17/2009

The commissioner of California’s Department of Insurance has reached a $37.3 million settlement of four lawsuits stemming from Fremont Indemnity Co.’s 2003 bankruptcy.

For FMLA purposes, who’s a ‘key employee’?

07/17/2009

Q. On the U.S. Department of Labor’s Form WH-381 (Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities), there is a line that asks if the worker is a “key employee” as defined in the FMLA. I don’t want to offend any of our employees, so I always check the “yes” box.  Am I doing the right thing?

Are there ADA implications if we ask applicants to take personality tests?

07/17/2009

Q. We would like to administer personality tests to job applicants. Would this violate the ADA? A. Personality tests are a good example of the types of policies likely to be affected by the recently passed ADA Amendments Act of 2008 …

Pair of Supreme Court rulings redefine race, age bias

07/17/2009

In the days before ending its 2008-09 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two important employment law rulings. Now it’s harder for employees to win age bias lawsuits. Also, the court ruled on race bias in pre-hire testing.