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By Nov. 15, 2005, employers or their group health plans that offer prescription drug coverage to active employees and retirees who are eligible for Medicare must provide these individuals and their dependents with a notice indicating whether the plan’s coverage is “creditable coverage” under Medicare Part D. The notice must be provided regardless of whether […]
Private employers in California are required by law to pay for their workers’ uniforms. But a new ruling from a California appeals court says state and local government employers are generally off the hook for uniform reimbursement.
As the first Monday in October rolled around last week, the U.S. Supreme Court was back on the bench, with new chief justice John G. Roberts.
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco granted class-action status to a lawsuit charging that approximately 10,000 African-American and Latino employees in FedEx Corp.’s western region were discriminated against on the basis of pay, discipline, and promotions. The company’s western region covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, […]
In the September 2005 issue of the California Employer Advisor, we reported that several powerful unions had broken ties with the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation. Last week, the defecting unions formally founded a new AFL-CIO rival, called the Change to Win Federation. The new federation represents 5.4 million American workers and comprises the […]
Does an employer have the right to open mail sent to a particular employee if it is sent to the employer’s address? — Andy
In response to rising gasoline prices, the Internal Revenue Service has taken the step of boosting the optional standard mileage rate by eight cents, to 48.5 cents per mile, for the final four months of 2005 (effective from Sept. 1, 2005 through Dec. 31, 2005). This is the rate most businesses use to reimburse employees […]
Over the past several years, the number of workplace fatalities in California has been on a steady decline, and 2004 was no exception. The Division of Labor Statistics and Research has released data showing that last year, 416 of California’s 17,552,000 workers were fatally injured on the job, down from 456 out of 16,283,000 workers […]
Last Friday, Sept. 9, was the last day for the California House and Senate to pass bills. In the last-minute flurry of activity, a number of important employment-related measures made it to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, and he now has until Oct. 9 to sign or veto the bills. Some of the important workplace measures now […]
A California appeals court has just thrown out a wrongful termination and disability discrimination lawsuit filed by a worker who was discharged after his preemployment drug test came back positive for marijuana–even though the employee had medical authorization to use marijuana for chronic back pain.