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Employment Law

Light-duty drudgery isn’t grounds for lawsuit

09/21/2011
If you use light-duty positions to bring injured employees back to work, some of their tasks may end up being fairly characterized as make-work drudgery. That doesn’t mean an employee can successfully sue—as long as in the past all similarly situated employees ended up in the same kinds of positions.

L.A. ‘hostess’ dancers sue for wage violations, harassment

09/20/2011
A group of dancers at a Los Angeles “hostess club” are suing for wage-and-hour violations, claiming the owners of Club 907 also subjected them to “exploitative, substandard and degrading working conditions.”

Does San Francisco car wash soak its Latino workers?

09/20/2011
The city of San Francisco has filed suit against a car wash for overtime and waiting-time violations. City Attorney Dennis Herrera and La Raza Centro Legal allege that Tower Car Wash, which has a contract with San Francisco to wash city-owned vehicles, failed to pay employees for the hours between when they arrive at work and when they’re permitted to clock in.

NUMMI pays $6 million to settle plant-closing suit

09/20/2011
The EEOC and the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) have settled claims that the company denied benefits and locked out disabled workers before a plant shutdown in Fremont.

Display new pro-union poster by Nov. 14

09/19/2011

Make room for another poster on your breakroom wall. The National Labor Relations Board announced last month that most private employers will have to display a new poster in their workplaces that notifies employees of their right to form or join a union. The poster is available now for download on the NLRB website.

Must we grant time off for rehab?

09/16/2011
Q. An employee recently confided to us that he has a drug problem and would like to take several weeks off to check into a rehabilitation program. May we deny his request?

Does the FCRA cover private eyes looking into workers’ comp fraud?

09/16/2011
Q. We suspect that one of our employees has filed a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim. We would like to hire a private investigator to gather information on his activities. By doing so, are we subject to the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act?

NLRB issues final employee rights posting rule

09/16/2011

The National Labor Relations Board has announced its final rule on Notification of Employee Rights under the National Labor Rela­­tions Act. The proposed rule had been pending since December of last year. Now that it is final, employers have until Nov. 14 to put up an official poster stating that employees have a right to form or join a union.

Appeals court sends card check case to arbitration

09/16/2011
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has sent to arbitration a labor/management dispute over union representation following several lawsuits that accused employers of acting in bad faith by refusing to accept the union as em­­ployees’ bargaining representative.

ADA accommodations aren’t always possible

09/16/2011
Sometimes, employers have to stand their ground and refuse to try an un­­workable accommodation.