Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has updated its enforcement guidance concerning reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The revisions stem from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it is unreasonable for an employer to have to reassign a disabled employee if doing so would violate a seniority system, […]
Suppose a nightclub waitress complains to her employer that male customers often grope her. Her employer ignores her reports, turning a blind eye to the customers’ actions. Can the waitress sue the employer for workplace harassment? A California Court of Appeal recently faced this issue and—in a controversial opinion that may not hold up—has decided […]
As the enactment deadline for the 2001-2002 state legislative session came down to the wire, Gov. Davis signed a variety of important employment-related bills into law. We’ll provide a complete rundown of all the new measures in a Special Report next month. But here’s a look at some of the more significant new laws, which […]
If an employer fails to pay wages as required by contract or law, the employee has the option of filing a wage claim with the state Labor Commissioner. And the commissioner’s decision can be appealed to a trial court. In the event of such an appeal, the law says that the party (either the employee […]
On October 7, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court reconvened for a new session. The court’s docket this term includes a case involving whether physician-shareholders can be counted as employees for purposes of determining employer coverage under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a case regarding whether state employers can be sued for violations of the […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the National Labor Relations Board erred when it found BE&K Construction Co. guilty of unfair labor practices for suing several unions to stop their campaign against the company. BE&K sued after the unions picketed and distributed leaflets to force the company to build a power plant using only […]
David Virts was an “over-the-road” truck driver at Consolidated Freightways Corp.’s Nashville, Tenn., terminal. Virts refused to go on overnight “sleeper runs” with female drivers because it would violate his religious beliefs. Now a federal appeals court has ruled that the trucking company wasn’t required to accommodate Virts because it would have been an undue […]
Seeking to clear up confusion arising from the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that undocumented workers who are victims of unfair labor practices aren’t entitled to recover back pay, the California Department of Industrial Relations has released a statement clarifying its wage enforcement policy. The department’s position is that all California workers—whether or not they’re legally […]
Most employers know they need to consider a disabled worker’s request for reasonable accommodations, which could include reassignment to another job. But does an employee’s demand for a particular accommodation trump your seniority rules? Not in most cases, according to a new U.S. Supreme Court decision that brings needed clarity to this question. But the […]
When the National Labor Relations Board determines that a worker’s firing violated federal labor laws, it generally orders the employer to reinstate the worker and pay back wages. But what if the worker wasn’t legally permitted to work in the United States in the first place? The U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that the NLRB […]