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E-Alert Item: Bush Administration Proposes Rules on Converting to Cash-Balance Plans Without Violating Age-Bias Laws

When employers convert traditional retirement plans to cash balance plans, the conversion often results in less money for workers who are closer to retirement age. And, as a result, cash balance plans have come under fire in recent years as being unfair to older workers–and possibly illegal under federal age bias laws. But the Bush […]

News Notes: Court Applies Reasonableness Standard For Adverse Employment Actions

Francisco Vasquez, a Los Angeles County probation officer, sued the county for discrimination and retaliation after he was involuntarily transferred and a warning letter was placed in his personnel file. The federal Ninth Circuit threw out Vasquez’s lawsuit, however, finding neither act was an adverse employment action. The transfer wasn’t adverse simply because Vasquez preferred […]

E-Alert Item: Workers’ Compensation: Ratings Bureau Says Industry Is Severely Under-Reserved

Over the past year, many employers have seen a huge jump in their workers’ comp premiums—and even bigger hikes may be on the way. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has just reported that the California workers’ compensation insurance industry is under-reserved by a startling $13.7 billion. The WCIRB attributes the deficit to, among other […]

Wage/Hour—Good News (Courts Losing Patience), Bad News (No One’s in Compliance)

There’s good news (sort of) and bad news for employers in the outlook for 2012, say attorneys from theEmployers Counsel Network. They covered new developments in wage/hour compliance during a presentation at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Nashville and Las Vegas. Wage and Hour—‘No One Is in Compliance’ No one is in […]

News Flash: Store Managers Win Multimillion-Dollar Overtime Settlement

Mervyn’s California has agreed to shell out $7.3 million to resolve overtime claims brought by 1,600 store managers who charged they were improperly classified as exempt from overtime. The managers contend they spent most of their time stocking shelves and performing other nonmanagerial duties. Mervyn’s previously agreed to pay $4 million to settle similar lawsuits […]

Labor Dept. Urges High Court to Accept Narrow Definition of Sales Reps

By Khristine Scholtz The U.S. Labor Department, continuing its push for a narrow definition of outside salesmen, argued in a friend of the court brief that the outside-sales exemption is limited to employees who make their own sales. At issue is whether pharmaceutical sales representatives must be paid for working overtime hours, or are exempt […]