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The County of Fresno was dismissed from a sexual harassment lawsuit after it contended that the alleged harasser’s conduct fell outside the scope of his employment. The victim and harasser subsequently entered into a stipulated judgment for $16,000—and then the victim turned around and sued the county for the $16,000 after the harasser assigned the […]
At the 11th hour, a joint committee of the state Assembly passed a bill that is intended to reign in the increasing costs of workers’ compensation. Although it remains to be seen whether the measure will achieve the projected up-front savings of $5.3 billion and annual savings of about $5 billion, the changes are far-reaching […]
In the May issue of California Employer Advisor we reported on a case, Reynolds v. Bement, where a court ruled that a supervisor could be held individually liable for unpaid overtime due to a worker. The case was recently taken under review by the state’s highest court. We’ll be watching to see how the court […]
Gov. Davis recently signed AB 276, which doubles the penalties for certain labor law violations, including the failure to pay wages.
In addition to the workers’ compensation bill discussed in this Bulletin, there are a number of other bills on Gov. Davis’s desk that could impact your employment practices. Here’s a quick summary of what they are: AB 1715 invalidates arbitration agreements affecting employment claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act that are made a […]
Gov. Davis has signed legislation expanding the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to prohibit job discrimination against transsexual and transgenderedapplicants and employees.
In July 2002, we reported on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that an employer can defend against a disability discrimination claim by showing the individual poses a direct threat-that is, a significant risk to the health and safety of the individual or others that can’t be eliminated by reasonable accommodation. Now, in a new development […]
A workers’ compensation claim is typically the only remedy for an employee who gets injured on the job. But a California Court of Appeal recently ruled that an employee injured because a supervisor didn’t keep the person’s disciplinary matters private may bypass the workers’ comp system and sue you for damages.
Under the federal COBRA law, employees and their dependents who lose health insurance coverage because they’re terminated or for other reasons and who work for employers with 20 or more employees are generally entitled to a temporary extension of healthcare benefits. This typically runs up to 18 months but can be 29 months for certain […]
Several years ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that under the County Employees’ Retirement Law, counties have to include all types of monetary compensation-such as cash payments for bilingual premium pay, a uniform allowance, or cashed-out accrued vacation-when determining the amount on which an employee’s pension will be based.But some plan members took their counties […]