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Employment Law

How much access must we grant OSHA inspectors?

12/21/2010
Q. When an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector arrives at our workplace, must we allow him or her onto the premises?

Does religious accommodation mean paid leave?

12/21/2010
Q. One of our exempt employees has requested a partial day off to attend a religious service and contends that she should be paid for this time off as a “religious accommodation.” Is she correct?

Know your responsibilities under the EEOC’s final GINA regs

12/21/2010
The EEOC has published its final regulations implementing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). They take effect on Jan. 10. The new regulations clarify when employers may be liable for acquiring genetic information.

Arnold’s last act: New contract scales back state pensions

12/21/2010
Members of Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 95,000 California state employees, have voted to accept a new labor contract that features significant pension reforms sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

NLRB slaps $1.3 million penalty on Wilshire Plaza

12/21/2010
The Wilshire Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles will pay more than $1.3 million following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that it engaged in unfair labor practices during contract negotiations with a hotel workers union.

Lights, camera, contract! Actors unions weigh new agreement

12/21/2010
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have announced that they recently reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the largest Hollywood producers’ group.

Harassment claim? Dragging feet creates more trouble

12/21/2010
Courts are losing patience with employers that ignore sexual harassment instead of dealing with it right away.

You must try to stop harassment–even if it’s clients or customers doing the harassing

12/21/2010

You know you have to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. If prevention doesn’t work, then you have an obligation to put an end to it. But what if you work in a setting where sexual harassment “comes with the territory”? From the court’s perspective, that doesn’t matter.

L.A. postal facility gets shocking message from OSHA

12/21/2010
OSHA delivered a harsh message to the U.S. Postal Service’s International Service Center in Los Angeles in the form of 18 citations for unsafe working conditions. The problem: Mail processing equipment could cause fatal electrical shocks.

Here’s the right way to recoup training costs

12/21/2010
It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the content is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by getting employees to agree to repay training costs if they leave soon after receiving the valuable benefit. Just don’t mess with the employee’s final paycheck.