Discipline / Investigations

Parrot Cellular pays $4.2M to stop EBSA squawking

01/03/2014

Executives of Parrot Cellular, a Central Valley and Bay Area cellphone retailer, have agreed to pay just under $4.2 million to the company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) following a probe by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Investigators found that company owners had the plan buy company stock at highly overvalued rates.

EBSA sours on Sunkist’s retirement fund accounting

01/03/2014

A U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) investigation has revealed that Sunkist Growers and its fiduciaries improperly used retirement plan funds to pay salaries and benefits for several employees and managers.

Deflecting Cupid’s arrow in an environment shaped by #MeToo

01/01/2014

With Valentine’s Day on the way, now is an excellent time to reexamine sexual harassment policies.

Use formal hiring and promotion process to protect against discrimination suits

12/18/2013

Job-seekers who know how to apply for open positions can’t claim discrimination unless they can also show they followed the process. At the same time, a standard process lets employers track applications and easily show a judge why someone didn’t get the job she sought.

Chronic complainer? Ignore her at your peril

12/18/2013

Handle every complaint the same way, no matter the source. Don’t fail to investigate just because an employee has cried wolf in the past.

OK to discipline worker who has complained, but be sure you can justify your decision

12/17/2013

Courts don’t want to tie management’s hands; they just want to protect employees from genuine retaliation. That’s why the standard for retaliation is anything that would dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining in the first place. Most minor discipline doesn’t reach that level.

Union president in Longview sentenced for embezzlement

12/16/2013

A federal judge has sentenced the former president of GMP Allied Workers Local 284 to 12 months and one day in prison after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges. The union official admitted taking $124,181 from the Longview-based local between 2000 and 2011.

Fired for 1st violation? Better explain why

12/13/2013

There’s a first time for everything—including firing someone for violating a rule. But that may spell trouble if other employees weren’t punished for breaking the same rule.

Same misconduct warrants same punishment

12/13/2013

You might assume that firing an employee for breaking a safety rule would be “safe” from judicial criticism. But if you don’t punish all workers equally for violating the same rule, you may run into trouble if the employee can show that others outside his protected class weren’t punished as severely.

What steps should we take to ensure supervisors issue consistent discipline?

12/02/2013

Q. We are having a hard time keeping discipline consistent between supervisors. To promote consistency, upper management would like to implement a new discipline policy setting out what disciplinary steps should be followed. Do you recommend this?