Archives

Americans with Disabilities Act: EEOC Issues New Fact Sheet Explaining When Telecommuting Is a Reasonable Accommodation

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 Uncategorized

Updated: Apr 1, 2003

Many employers have discovered that successful telework arrangements can provide high levels of flexibility and employee satisfaction. And, as a new fact sheet from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission points out, you may be required to consider telework as a reasonable accommodation for disabled employees. Modifying Telework Programs The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) […]

Sexual Harassment: Favoritism Toward Paramours Doesn’t Support Discrimination Lawsuit by Other Female Workers

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

An employee discovers her boss is having a sexual relationship with a co-worker. Then, when the co-worker gets favorable treatment, including questionable promotions, the employee comes after you, charging that the boss’s favoritism amounted to sex discrimination and created a hostile work environment. Open-and-shut case for the employee? Maybe not, according to a new decision.

Family and Medical Leave: Accompanying Ill Spouse to Funeral Doesn’t Qualify for Protected Leave, Court Rules

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

Arnulfo Gradilla worked as a sheet metal assembler at Riverside County-based Ruskin Manufacturing. When his father-in-law died, he received permission to take two or three days off work to accompany his invalid wife to the funeral in Mexico. Gradilla’s wife had a serious heart condition that was exacerbated by stress.

Employer Liability: New Case Examines When You Can Be on the Hook for Accidents Occurring During an Employee’s Commute; Prevention Steps

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

Minimed Inc., based in Northridge, hired a pest control company to spray pesticide overnight to eliminate fleas at the office. When clerical employee Irma Hernandez arrived at work the next morning, she noticed a Raid-like smell—and within a few hours she had a headache, nausea, and tightness in her chest. Hernandez told her supervisors she […]

News Notes: HIPAA Security Rules Finalized

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released final security standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) for protecting individually identifiable health information. The standards require health insurers and certain healthcare providers and clearinghouses to establish procedures to protect the confidentiality of electronically maintained or transmitted health information. […]

News Notes: Ninth Circuit Issues Pair Of Free Speech Rulings

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a public employee whose First Amendment rights are violated can sue even if the employee wasn’t terminated or disciplined—if an adverse employment action was taken that was reasonably likely to deter the employee from engaging in constitutionally protected speech. But in another case, the same court gave […]

News Notes: Union Membership Still Declining

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 19, 2015

According to a new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, union membership in 2002 sank to its lowest level in 20 years. In 2002, 13.2% of workers were union members, down from 13.4% in 2001 and a high of 20.1% in 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available. More than 2.5 million […]

News Notes: Attorneys Wind Up In Court After Starting Their Own Firm

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

A California appeals court has upheld a $150,000 misappropriation of trade secrets judgment in favor of Pasadena-based law firm Robert L. Reeves & Associates, which sued two attorneys who resigned from the firm to start their own firm. Reeves charged that the attorneys improperly persuaded a group of Reeves’ employees to join the new firm […]

News Notes: Disability Retirement Can Be A Constructive Discharge

By Jennifer Carsen Apr 1, 2003 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

A California appeals court has given the green light to a California State University employee’s constructive discharge suit—even though she technically didn’t quit her job but rather took a disability retirement. The employee claimed that after she blew the whistle on alleged misappropriation of public funds, she was subjected to a pattern of harassment that […]