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Hawaii

Plant closings: You must give 60 days’ notice

02/23/2011

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a strongly worded opinion chastising an employer for trying to dodge liability for not giving 60 days’ notice that it would close a facility, as required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

No separate notice for nonmembers required for midyear union dues assessment

01/28/2011

What happens if a union passes a dues increase in the middle of the year—perhaps in an election year? Can the union collect the increased amount and then adjust it at the beginning of the next year? According to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, that’s exactly the way to handle the increase.

Here’s the right way to recoup training costs

12/21/2010

It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the content is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by getting employees to agree to repay training costs if they leave soon after receiving the valuable benefit. Just don’t mess with the employee’s final paycheck.

‘Disabled’ person recover? Demand proof he can’t work

11/19/2010

Some health conditions become less disabling because of better medicines or other factors. That means that an employee collecting disability payments under a company disability plan may in fact recover enough to warrant cutting off benefits.

With eye toward defending disability lawsuit, track medical condition before termination

11/19/2010

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that a former employee can’t use his physical condition at the time of trial to prove he is disabled. Instead, he must show that, at the time he was employed, he had a condition that substantially limited a major life function. The ruling is good news for employers.

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.