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Arizona

When class-action wage lawsuit looms, handle employee ‘opt-out’ phase with care

10/15/2010

Employees who think they have been misclassified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code may sue on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated current and former employees. Generally, if the case is approved as a class-action lawsuit, those current and former employees will get a chance to opt into the lawsuit for the FLSA claims and opt out of the state case. How employers react can affect how the court handles the opt-out process.

Ignore female-on-male harassment at your peril

10/15/2010

Most often, sexual harassment involves a man’s inappropriate behavior directed toward a woman. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore female-on-male harassment. Simply put, both sexes are entitled to a workplace free of sexual harassment—and employers are obligated to stop such harassment when they find out about it.

Asked to settle union election challenge, 9th Circuit punts it back to NLRB

08/23/2010

In a recent article, we explain how the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is struggling to clear a backlog of cases after a huge Supreme Court decision invalidating many prior decisions. Now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has added to the NLRB’s burden by kicking a case back to the board rather than deciding it in court.

Case settled with EEOC? Don’t cave when employee tries to revive parts of the deal

07/20/2010
When the EEOC decides that a discrimination claim is valid and orders a remedy, that should signal that the case is about to be put to bed. If you pay up what the agency says you owe, the employee can’t turn around and sue for additional money unless he also rejects the rest of the settlement.

Employee can sue for legal fees after winning EEOC claim

06/18/2010
Don’t think your legal troubles are over after the EEOC decides a case and you decide not to appeal. The employee can still sue you in federal court to recover his attorneys’ fees for the work the lawyer did before the case went to the EEOC.

Make sure everyone in same job has shot at training

06/18/2010
Here’s an easy way to prevent a discrimination claim: Offer everyone holding the same position the same opportunity for training. Otherwise, supervisors may play favorites, and that can end in litigation if the better-trained employees end up getting the promotions.

Retaliation alert: Most public employees protected when reporting alleged wrongdoing

06/18/2010
Public employees have First Amendment free speech rights, including protection from reprisal for reporting alleged wrongdoing to superiors. They lose that protection only if reporting wrongdoing is part of their jobs.

Employer isn’t responsible if it doesn’t know of retaliation

05/24/2010

Employees sometimes get angry if they’re implicated when a co-worker complains about alleged discrimination. They may retaliate by ostracizing the complainer. But that’s not enough to hold the company liable for retaliation—as long as it never knew about the problem.

Walmart must defend against largest wage-and-hour class action in U.S. history

05/24/2010

Recently, the largest class-action lawsuit in U.S. history was given the go-ahead. Employers nationwide are waiting with bated breath to find out what happens to Walmart. While the exact number of employees who may find themselves part of the lawsuit is still unclear, it could reach well over 1 million women employed or formerly employed at 3,400 Walmart stores across the country.

Of driving time and computer connections: 9th Circuit revisits before- and after-work pay

04/19/2010
Last year we told you about a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on whether time employees spend commuting to a remote job site was compensable time. The court ruled that under both California law and the FLSA, driving a company car from an employee’s home to his first job location of the day was not work time but was instead unpaid commuting time. Well, now the same 9th Circuit panel has changed its ruling …