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The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously upheld an arbitrator’s decision reinstating a truck driver who twice failed required drug tests after testing positive for marijuana. Eastern Associated Coal Co. argued that it had the right to terminate the worker as a matter of safety and public policy under federal Department of Transportation safety regulations. But […]
Our earlier article spells out what to look for to determine if an agreement complies with the new Supreme Court standards. But addressing problems with agreements employees have already signed presents additional issues.
Unionized workers have long had the right to bring a union representative with them to a disciplinary hearing. Now, in a ruling that could complicate investigations into sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct in nonunion companies, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that nonunion workers have the same right to have a fellow employee […]
In a dispute over an employer’s workers’ comp return-to-work policy, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to overturn a $2.5 million award to an employee of Dillard Department Stores in Nevada. Deloris Beckwith, a 64-year-old sales manager, hurt her back on the job and filed a workers’ comp claim. Beckwith charged Dillard tried to make […]
Jennifer Passantino spent 18 years rising through the ranks at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, eventually becoming one of its most successful female managers. But all that changed after she complained about sex discrimination. Suddenly she was excluded from important meetings, had her job responsibilities transferred to other employees and was repeatedly passed over for […]
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released new guidelines interpreting and expanding on last year’s Supreme Court rulings on automatic employer liability for sexual harassment by supervisors. The new guidelines are a helpful benchmark for measuring whether your anti-harassment policies and practices make the grade.
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it harder for employees to win punitive damages under federal anti-discrimination laws. The case involved a suit by a female attorney who claimed she was denied a promotion because of her sex. The court agreed with the employee that punitive damages are available when an employer acts with “reckless […]
A number of cases in recent years have raised the thorny issue of whether the Americans With Disabilities Act protects workers whose disabilities don’t necessarily affect them at work because they take medication or use corrective devices. Now, in a trio of important new decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Equal Employment Opportunity […]
Because of the huge stock market gains in recent years, many defined benefit pension plans contain more assets than are needed to pay out benefits. Since 1997, however, a ruling from the federal appeals court that covers California has sharply limited employers’ discretion in how to use that “extra” money. But in a recent unanimous […]
In one of the first sexual harassment decisions in California since the U.S. Supreme Court issued new guidelines this summer (see CEA August 1998), an employee who waited almost two years before complaining about being harassed has had her case dismissed. The federal court found the employer had exercised reasonable care to prevent and remedy […]