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The Department of Labor recently issued final changes to the white-collar overtime exemption rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new regulations take effect Aug. 23, 2004.
We are pleased to welcome Shawna Swanson, the newest member of our Editorial Review Board. Ms. Swanson, a partner in the San Francisco office of Fenwick & West, has represented employers in litigation relating to harassment, wrongful termination, and employment discrimination. Ms. Swanson also provides advice to employers concerning personnel policies, wage and hour laws, […]
In response to the meteoric rise of Internet-related high-tech recruiting, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), working with several other federal agencies, has released long-awaited proposed guidelines defining who employers must count as an applicant to comply with federal recordkeeping and affirmative action rules. In this first installment of our two-part series on the […]
Years ago, the California Supreme Court opened the door for workers to bring high-stakes lawsuits claiming employers induced them to take jobs based on false promises about the position or the company’s health. Since then, employees have filed a steady stream of claims alleging employer fraud in the hiring process—and many have won multimillion-dollar verdicts. […]
For several years, employers have struggled with whether they have to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) detailed notice and disclosure rules when they use outside experts to investigate employee misconduct, such as harassment. The uncertainty stemmed from a now infamous opinion letter from the Fair Trade Commission that stated reports prepared by […]
Monrovia Nursery in Visalia, which sells plants and plant materials to federal agencies, has agreed to pay out more than $511,000 to 240 women who alleged that the company’s hiring practices discriminated against qualified female applicants. The settlement grew out of a compliance review by the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Wage and Hour Appeals AB 223 makes it harder for employers to recover attorney’s fees and costs in connection with an employee’s appeal from a labor commissioner wage and hour ruling. If the court awards the employee a sum greater than zero in the appeal, the appeal is successful and the employer can’t recover its […]
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has published a new fact sheet with guidance on how the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to the hiring process. The fact sheet, available at www.eeoc.gov, addresses employer obligations to accommodate disabled applicants and medical inquiries that are and are not permissible during the hiring process.
Gov. Davis has signed landmark legislation to reform California’s troubled workers’ compensation system and put a lid on the upward spiral in workers’ comp costs faced by California employers. And now, after having pored over the numbers, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) has recommended that the 12 percent pure premium rate increase scheduled […]
Gov. Davis has signed new legislation that boosts the penalties for various California Labor Code violations, effective Jan. 1, 2004. Here are the increases that are on the way: