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E-Alert Item: Legal Update: High Court To Consider Several Employment Cases During New Term

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 […]

News Notes: Phone Company To Fork Over Millions To Settle Overtime Claims

In a development that highlights the expensive consequences of misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime, San Francisco-based Pacific Bell has reportedly promised to pay out huge damages-$27.8 million-to settle a class action lawsuit involving claims for unpaid overtime. The case involved 600 current and former sales support managers who were classified as exempt from overtime. […]

News Notes: Failure To Grant Part-Time Status Doesn’t Support Wrongful Termination Claim

  Charles Sinatra, a long-time assistant principal with the Chico Unified School District, sued for wrongful termination in violation of public policy when the district refused his request for transfer to a part-time administrative position, instead giving him a full-time teaching assignment. He claimed he was “forced” to quit for exercising his statutory right under […]

White House Expands Domestic Partner Benefits

President Barack Obama recently issued a memo directing federal agencies to extend benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of federal employees to the extent permitted by current law. The memo begins: For far too long, many of our Government’s hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their […]

News Notes: New Case Focuses On Union Contract Exception To Overtime Pay Rates

California overtime pay rules don’t apply to unionized employees if the union contract sets premium overtime rates as well as a regular hourly rate that’s at least 30% over the minimum wage. Examining an older version of this exemption, a California Court of Appeal explained that it permits an employer and union to negotiate how […]

News Flash: IWC Recommends $1 Minimum-Wage Hike

The Industrial Welfare Commission has proposed boosting the state minimum wage to $6.75 an hour by 2002. At its August 17 meeting, the IWC approved a plan for a 50-cent raise on January 1, 2001, and another 50-cent jump on January 1, 2002. The IWC will hold a series of hearings in coming weeks to […]

Wage And Hour: Minimum Wage Hike Approved

The state Industrial Welfare Commission has approved a 50-cent increase in the minimum wage to $6.25 per hour, effective Jan. 1, 2001. Another 50-cent increase will take effect Jan. 1, 2002, boosting the hourly minimum to $6.75. The change will also raise the minimum monthly salary that must be earned to qualify as exempt employees. […]

Small Businesses Place Blame on Big Businesses for Hiring Challenges

Results from a recent survey of small business owners conducted by Survey Monkey and CNBC found that “16% of small business owners (but 41% of small businesses with 50 employees or more) have had open positions for at least three months.” That’s a pretty big number for those 50+-employee companies. And those businesses have some thoughts on […]