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Michael Mills alleged that his time-off requests for weekend National Guard duty were met with hostility from his employer, Earthgrains Baking Co. And when his Guard duty became mandatory after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the company allegedly threatened him to get out of the duty “or else.” Eventually Mills was fired following a two-week […]
In the October 2007 issue of CWHA, we reported on a California appeals court decision finding that claims adjusters for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. didn’t qualify for the administrative exemption from overtime under California law.1 In particular, the court ruled, the adjusters duties mostly consisted of “production” work, as opposed to work at the policy […]
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has unveiled a new initiative to boost enforcement of the wage bias laws. The agency will create a new task force to help EEOC investigators analyze equal pay issues when employees file charges. The government is also providing additional educational resources through a new equal pay page on its […]
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, age discrimination charges are the fastest growing type of bias case. From 1999 to 2001, the number of age complaints filed with the agency increased 23.5%. The EEOC points out that age charges—most of which involve employment termination—typically spike in a poor economy as layoffs increase.
A criminal background check on a new employee has revealed that the employee has a warrant for his arrest (drunk driving). The warrant does not appear to have been resolved. Can we discuss this matter with the employee? If so, and if the employee indicates that the matter has been resolved in the courts, can […]
Responding to the emerging issue of “family responsibility discrimination,” the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published new guidance on how federal equal employment laws apply to employees who must balance work and family. The new guidance, “Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities,” offers examples under which discrimination against a working parent […]
When the Las Vegas Sands Hotel casino closed its doors, it gave workers 45 days’ advance notice, rather than the 60 days required under the federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act. So the Sands was required to pay workers their wages for the remaining 15-day period. Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals […]
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees who complain of pay discrimination under Title VII, the federal antibias law, must file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within 180 days of the discriminatory pay-setting decision, rather than within 180 days of the employee’s last paycheck. This decision was good news for […]
In California, employers must provide meal periods to employees at certain intervals. But must employers ensure that employees actually take their meal periods, or is it sufficient to offer the meal break time and leave it up to the employee to decide whether to take it? Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much guidance on these questions […]