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Laura Akers, a deputy district attorney for San Diego County, had an excellent reputation for her work in the El Cajon domestic violence unit. But after Akers became pregnant, she was transferred to a misdemeanor unit. When she complained, her next performance review called her incompetent, inefficient and dishonest. Akers sued the county for gender […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced the implementation of a voluntary mediation pilot program in which private-sector bias charges filed with the EEOC will be referred back to an employer’s internal dispute resolution program. To participate, the dispute resolution program must be voluntary and free to employees.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has decided to review its ruling last year upholding mandatory arbitration of bias claims. The case involves secretary Donald Lagatree, whose job offer at the law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps was revoked when he refused to sign a binding arbitration agreement. A three-judge panel sided […]
The California Supreme Court has handed down an important new decision, answering a wage and hour question that recently has plagued the state’s appeals courts: Is the required payment of “one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation” for each day that an employer fails to provide mandatory meal or rest […]
A federal judge has ordered The Chinese Daily News, one of the Los Angeles area’s largest Chinese-language newspapers, to pay $5.19 million in a class action lawsuit that charged the paper refused to pay overtime and denied meal and rest breaks. Former employee Lynne Wang alleged that the paper required reporters to write five stories […]
Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that strengthening its nationwide approach to investigating and litigating systemic cases of discrimination is now an agency-wide top priority. According to the EEOC, systemic cases involve a “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, […]
On March 15, U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would guarantee seven paid sick days per year to employees working at least 30 hours a week at companies with 15 or more workers. Under the bill, the sick days could be used for the […]
As we reported in an earlier article, the government recently released new privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). As the April 14, 2003, compliance deadline approaches, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued guidance (available on our website), including frequently asked questions, explaining significant aspects of the […]
In an effort to keep workers’ compensation reform from becoming bogged down, all bills have been moved into a bicameral conference committee. With a number of bills pending it remains to be seen whether this move will facilitate negotiations and whether any significant reform will result.
In yesterday’s Advisor, we endured author Geoffrey James calling HR one of the “5 dumbest management concepts ever.” Today, two more of his dumbest concepts plus an introduction to a unique program for small HR departments James is a prolific writer and observer of the business scene and is the author of seven books, including […]