Texas must ease rules on unemployment benefits to get stimulus money

The Austin American Statesman is reporting today that the lure of $555 million in federal stimulus money for additional unemployment insurance has Texas legislators mulling whether to expand unemployment benefits to more workers.

To get the stimulus money, Texas would have to implement some key changes to state law — including modifying some eligibility requirements to include tens of thousands of low-wage workers. Such changes have been considered but not enacted in previous...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Report Finds US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is Utterly Failing

The New York Times has an important story out this week reporting that an audit of the federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable.

In a report scheduled to be released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the agency, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, had mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Is due process what looks bad?

Those of you who are following news of judicial elections in other states may be interested to know that the U.S. Supreme Court last Friday accepted certiorari in the case of Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company, which I discussed here. The plaintiffs, who argue that campaign donations to the justices created the appearance of impropriety amounting to a due process violation, are represented by former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. According to the New York Times, Olson said in his pleadings, �The issue raised by massive campaign contributions to judges from litigants and their attorneys go to the very heart of what it means to be given a fair trial.� The defendants argued that �looks bad� is not a test of due process.

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[Source: Minnesota Lawyer Blog]

Fifth Circuit: ADA Protects Employee with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A really interesting case out of the Fifth Circuit this past week: EEOC v. Chevron Phillips, No. 07-20661 (5th Cir. June 5, 2009).  The case is of interest for a couple of reasons.

First, any Fifth Circuit case that allows an ADA plaintiff to have a jury trial is to a degree notable for that fact alone.  In this case, the Court held that the plaintiff -- suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome ("CFS") -- presented a genuine issue of material fact about whether she was...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Jay Shepherd: Employers' Rx for swine flu? Eliminate sick days

One of my favorite employer-side HR bloggers has another great piece out this week that I recommend you check out.  As you may have read, the World Health Organization declared an influenza pandemic on Thursday and advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against an unstoppable new flu virus.

Jay picks up the issue from the employer's perspective. 


[T]he current swine-flu pandemic has employers concerned. Many employment lawyers have added to the hysteria by flacking...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Do Federal Judges Discriminate Against Discrimination Claims?

The Wall Street Journal Blog and Paper has a story this week analyzing whether job discrimination plaintiffs get a raw deal in federal court

The WSJ piece examines that question, citing recent studies that show discrimination plaintiffs lose at a higher rate in federal court than other plaintiffs and more often get tossed out of court on summary judgments.


"From 1979 through 2006, federal plaintiffs won 15% of job-discrimination cases. By comparison, plaintiffs in other cases not...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Employers: Are you Prepared for a Flu Pandemic?

In the event of pandemic influenza, employers will play a key role in protecting employees' health and safety as well as limiting the negative impact to the economy and society. Planning for pandemic influenza is critical. To assist you in your efforts, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed the following checklist for large businesses. It identifies important, specific activities large businesses can do now to...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Age Discrimination Claims Increasing Dramatically According to New EEOC Data

"No one ever says, 'You're old; we don't want you.' They say, 'This may require some lifting. Are you capable?' " said Paul Westgate, who's 58 and says he was laid off from his job as repairman at an Attleboro, Mass., plant that makes manufacturing equipment. The questions make little sense to him, because in his field, ladders and lifting are "almost a thing of the past," and the job is primarily technically oriented, he said, adding, "I can still do my...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Majority of Americans Oppose Forced Arbitration

The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy and Public Citizen have completed a National Study of Public Attitudes on Forced Arbitration.  The release is no doubt an effort to support the Arbitration Fairness Act, which is currently in Congress.

The study is based on a major national survey on mandatory arbitration of employment and consumer claims conducted by Lake Research Partners.

The survey of 800 likely voters nationwide found that:

A solid majority of...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

How to Lose a Job With Twitter.

Twitter is a fantastic tool.  There is currently no better way to make an idiot out of yourself in front of a national audience for 140 characters or less. 

A recent job applicant at Cisco was offered a position that was apparently a pretty good paying job.  So, what does said job applicant do?  Well, go on Twitter and badmouth the job of course.


"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Is Your Daughter Safe at Work?

A story on PBS' news magazine "Now" really gripped me last week.   A shocking statistic—teenagers are in more danger from sexual predators at their part time jobs than through the Internet.  According to one estimate, 200,000 teenagers are assaulted at the workplace each year. It's a vastly underreported phenomenon, but some brave young women are stepping up publicly to tell their stories.

As an employment lawyer that deals with sexual harassment issues every day and...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

A Bad Economy and Social Media Technology Serving to Increase Workplace Defamation Suits

The National Law Journal is reporting that defamation lawsuits are on the rise in the workplace.  Employees are taking on employers over the right to reputation, suing over being labeled as damaged goods after losing their jobs.



With the economy forcing so many people out of work, lawyers say the environment is ripe for defamation claims.



Employers are facing mounting pressure over how to treat departing employees, and how to explain the departure without hurting their reputations....

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

One in Six Employers Looking At Your Credit Report

TrueCredit.com, whose parent company is credit reporting agency TransUnion, reports that 16% of employers surveyed use a credit report as part of their regular screening process. That’s one in six companies. (The survey polled 214 people working in human resources. The margin of error is +/- 6.8 percentage points.)

This is especially damaging news as more Americans are looking for work and their credit scores may be taking a beating.

 

Read the story at the Wall Street Journal.

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]

Supreme Court Hears Argument in Race Discrimination Test Case

Firefighters from New Haven, Conn., on Wednesday exposed an enduring Supreme Court split, as the justices confronted the year's most anticipated racial discrimination case.  A case from the New Haven Fire Department poses the questions: Just what is a job-related test? How should a city evaluate applicants for leadership positions? If a city thinks a test that was used will result in a lawsuit, does it have the right to abort the promotions and order a new test?

In 2003, the New Haven...

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[Source: HR Lawyer's Blog]