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Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay $96.9 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by long-term workers who claimed the company misclassified them as temporary employees to avoid paying benefits. The so-called “permatemps”-who performed the same work as full-time staff-sought benefits such as health insurance and participation in the company’s lucrative employee stock purchase […]
The U.S. Department of Justice and Time Warner Inc. have reached a $5.5 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit charging that since 1990 the publishing giant has misclassified employees as independent contractors or temporary workers, causing them to be denied benefits including health insurance, pensions and employee stock ownership. The company did not admit liability, […]
Calculating overtime is usually a straightforward process of multiplying the worker’s regular hourly rate by one and a half. However, a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case illustrates that the computation is more complex if you pay an employee a flat rate per day. That’s because you need to figure out what the hourly […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued new guidelines explaining how federal employment discrimination laws apply to employee benefits. Last month we examined the rules regarding age discrimination. This month we look at the EEOC guidelines dealing with disability and pregnancy discrimination.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued controversial final ergonomics standards that are tougher than California’s current law. The final federal rule is scheduled to take effect Jan. 16, 2001. California will then have six months to adopt a similar standard.
Many employers make it a practice to periodically update their employee manuals and policies. But where do you stand if an employee objects to a new policy? In a recent case, a California Court of Appeal rejected a worker’s attempt to challenge a provision that was added to an employee handbook. More importantly, the court […]
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that benefits plan administrators can be sued for failing to adequately advise employees of the terms of a mandatory arbitration procedure for appealing benefits decisions. Laboratory Corporation of America had a health plan with a 60-day time limit for requesting arbitration after an internal claim appeal was […]
A lawsuit filed by 94 temporary employees of Sacramento County who sought retroactive benefits was resolved under a $1.4 million settlement. The workers claimed the county illegally classified them as temporary employees, thereby denying them benefits. They said that under the county charter, temporary workers may be employed for only 30 days, whereas many of […]
A federal appeals court is currently considering challenges to San Francisco’s cutting-edge domestic partner ordinance. The law requires that companies who dobusiness with the city provide unmarried employees who have domestic partners the same benefits as married workers. An airline trade association succeeded in invalidating the provisions of the law covering health and welfare benefits. […]
Gov. Davis has signed into law A.B. 2509, which changes a number of existing state laws affecting responsibility for payment of wages and penalties for violations of employment-related laws. Here’s a rundown on the key provisions of the bill, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2001.