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News Notes: Health Care Costs Expected To Jump In 1999-2000

Health care premiums are predicted to rise as much as 12% in the coming 12 months, according to a new survey by the human resource consulting firm Buck Consultants. Although managed care has come under attack recently for failing to live up to its promise of keeping health care costs in check, health maintenance organizations […]

News Notes: Poor Performance Review Leads to $517,000 Age Discrimination Verdict

A 56-year-old facilities coordinator who claimed her performance review was downgraded to justify her termination has been awarded $517,077 in damages. Dion Woodward sued Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Los Angeles for age discrimination after she was fired and allegedly replaced with a 38-year-old. Woodward worked for Kaiser for 31 years and claimed she always received […]

Defamation Claims: Employer Dodges Lawsuit By Employee Wrongfully Accused Of Theft; 3 Defensive Strategies

Whenever you discipline or terminate an employee for misconduct, you open yourself up to the possibility of a defamation lawsuit if you say something negative about the person to other employees. But as a recent case shows, exercising caution in internal discussions about a worker’s wrongdoing can help keep you out of trouble, or provide […]

Workplace Harassment: State High Court Approves Ban On Insulting Speech At Work; Will The Courts Start Managing Your Workplace?

When a group of Latino Avis Rent-A-Car employees at the San Francisco International Airport filed a harassment lawsuit charging a manager with using derogatory racial epithets, they were awarded more than $100,000 in damages. But the workers didn’t stop there. They also convinced the court to issue an order barring the manager from making offensive […]

Terminating Employees: New Legislation Protects Higher-Paid Older Workers; How To Cut Costs Without Breaking The Law

In a controversial ruling two years ago, a California Court of Appeal ruled that you could discharge high-earning employees over age 40 and replace them with lower-paid workers if your motivation was simply to save money. Labor organizations have sought to overturn the decision ever since, and now Governor Davis has signed legislation that does […]

News Notes: Telephone Company Will Pay $25 Million To Settle Pregnancy Discrimination Claims

Pacific Bell has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it didn’t credit pregnancy leave toward an employee’s service when calculating retirement benefits. As many as 10,000 women who took leave before 1979, when Congress passed the federal law banning pregnancy discrimination, may share in the settlement. The class action suit was filed […]

News Notes: PepsiCo Hit With Reverse Discrimination Verdict By White Executive

A white female manager who charged that she was passed over for promotion in favor of an African-American man was awarded $2.6 million in damages. Patricia Steffes worked at PepsiCo for 24 years and claimed she had a long record of positive evaluations. When she complained about not getting promoted, the company allegedly retaliated by […]