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Employment Law

Are there state laws on record-keeping?

10/21/2008

Q. My company owns a large manufacturing facility in Georgia. I’m familiar with federal requirements, but does Georgia provide for record-keeping requirements under state fair employment practice laws? …

Slurs, ‘code’ can create hostile environment

10/20/2008

Just one incident of name-calling or behavior that could be interpreted as racist—if sufficiently severe—might be enough to color other incidents in a racist light. And if a complaint leads to court, that may mean the harassed employee could get a chance to show a jury just how unpleasant co-workers made his life.

Adult-ed teachers are exempt professionals

10/20/2008

California Labor Code covers wage-and-hour issues and includes some exceptions to the basic requirement that employees must be paid for all time worked. One of those exceptions is the professional exception to Wage Order 4-2001, which allows school districts to pay teachers on a salary basis … Until now, it was unclear whether adult-education teachers could be paid the same way.

Class action could take huge bite out of Apple

10/20/2008

On Aug. 4, a former employee filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and California law. If the court certifies the case for class-action status, as the employee wants—watch out! This could turn into one of the costliest wage-and-hour suits ever …

Using licensed labor? Beware hidden workers’ comp, wage-and-hour liability trap

10/20/2008

The general rule in California is that when an employer engages an unlicensed person to perform work that requires a license, that person is considered an employee, not an independent contractor. Essentially, the law puts the burden on those who want work performed to check to make sure the person doing the work has the appropriate license. Otherwise, the employer may be liable for any on-the-job injuries that occur.

Good news: Courts more willing to throw out class actions for break violations

10/20/2008

Talk about expensive propositions: A simple lawsuit brought by one or two employees with a gripe can blow up big time if they try to sue on behalf of every other employee who may have been harmed by the same alleged wrong. Fortunately, some judges are clamping down on class actions, reserving them for rare cases.

Temp agencies don’t have to cut check immediately after each assignment

10/20/2008

Some temp employees have tried to argue that they should be paid immediately for their work as soon as they finish a particular assignment—and not have to wait until the next regular payday. They’ve claimed that when each assignment ends, they are in effect being “discharged.” Now a federal trial court has clarified that the end of an assignment isn’t a “discharge.”

Use arbitration agreement to limit time to sue

10/20/2008

If you use a mandatory arbitration agreement, you may be able to set a relatively short deadline for employees to bring discrimination claims …

Cash-balance pension plans don’t violate ERISA rules

10/20/2008

A cash-balance pension plan is one in which the employer contributes a set amount each month on behalf of an employee. The employee eventually collects pension benefits based on the cash balance in his or her account. Some employees have claimed that such plans favor younger employees and therefore are illegal …

Wage-and-hour woes continue to plague Silicon Valley

10/20/2008

Cadence Design Systems of San Jose recently agreed to settle two lawsuits brought by information technology workers who claimed they were misclassified and denied overtime and meal and rest breaks in violation of federal and California laws …