News Digest Archive
Sort | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2008-07-03 | Federal Minimum Wage Increases to $6.55 July 24 | 
The federal minimum wage is set to catch up to Hawaii’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour on July 1, 2009. In the interim, those few Hawaii employers who are not subject to the state minimum wage law must pay the increased federal minimum of $6.55 per hour (from $5.85) on July 24, 2008. (Employers of workers who are subject to both state and federal minimum hourly wage rates must pay them the higher of the two rates.) |
| 2008-07-03 | Court Denies Protection for Employee Who Released Confidential Documents | 
An employee who had delivered confidential, proprietary documents to her lawyers in a class-action employment lawsuit against the company was properly fired for violating the company’s privacy policy and code of conduct, the Sixth Circuit rules.The worker was a claims adjuster who worked from home, and who subsequently joined in a sex discrimination lawsuit against her employer. The plaintiffs attorney had requested “any” documents related to her employment or which might be “remotely helpful” to the case, and the worker sent material she believed was relevant to the case, including confidential information about the company’s policyholders. The company’s policies expressly prohibited the disclosure of confidential information, including personal information about policyholders, and subsequently terminated the employee when the incident came to their attention. When she sued the company for retaliation, a lower court found that she was not engaged in a protected activity when she released information concerning the policyholders. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit agreed with the district court, observing that if the documents that the worker gave to her lawyers “had been directly or even indirectly relevant” to the claims raised in the discrimination lawsuit, “her delivery of those documents would clearly constitute participation in that lawsuit.” The Court outlined six factors to determine whether a release of confidential documents was reasonable: “(1) how the documents were obtained, (2) to whom the documents were produced, (3) the content of the documents, both in terms of the need to keep the information confidential and its relevance to the employee’s claim of unlawful conduct, (4) why the documents were produced, including whether the production was in direct response to a discovery request, (5) the scope of the employer’s privacy policy, and (6) the ability of the employee to preserve the evidence in a manner that does not violate the employer’s privacy policy.” The Court says that “concluding that [her] conduct here is protected participation in the [discrimination] lawsuit would provide employees with near-immunity for their actions in connection with antidiscrimination lawsuits, protecting them from disciplinary action even when they knowingly provide irrelevant, confidential information solely to jog their memory regarding instances of alleged retaliation.” Niswander v. The Cincinnati Insurance Co. |
| 2008-07-03 | EEOC Must Justify Rule Allowing Release of Company’s Confidential Information | The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been barred by the D.C. Circuit from divulging confidential employer information to a third party until it can show that its disclosure rules do not conflict with various federal laws, including the Freedom of Information Act and the Trade Secrets Act. In the course of its investigation of age discrimination complaints brought against the Venetian Casino Resort, the EEOC required submission of numerous documents that the company had marked confidential. The company subsequently sued for an injunction, contending that an EEOC rule permitting it to disclose an employer’s confidential information to potential plaintiffs without first notifying the employer that its information will be disclosed violated the FOIA. The company’s concern was that competitors and labor unions would obtain confidential information regarding its hiring practices, which they could use to its economic detriment. The D.C. Circuit found that the EEOC could not provide a reconciliation between its rule and the FOIA. “Absent an adequate justification, the Commission’s disclosure policy must be deemed arbitrary and capricious,” the Court holds, and remands the case to the district court to enjoin the EEOC from disclosing the company’s confidential information without adhering to the notice and other requirements of the agency’s regulations implementing the FOIA. Venetian Casino Resort LLC v. EEOC |
| 2008-07-03 | Heavy Workloads Cited as Top Concern for Financial Teams | 
According to a recent Accountemps survey of chief financial officers, job security ranks a distant second in relation to heavy workloads as the number-one workplace concern for their financial teams. About one in three CFOs (35 percent) ranked heavy workloads as the greatest source of work-related concerns for their finance and accounting professionals; 19 percent said job security was the greatest concern.“The combination of compliance mandates, traditional projects and shifting priorities has challenged accounting and finance professionals to keep up with their growing workloads,” said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International. |
| 2008-07-03 | Selective Outsourcing of HR Growing | The last few years, companies have seen “tremendous growth” in selective outsourcing of their Human Resources technology and functions, says global consulting firm Watson Wyatt. The HR function most likely to be outsourced now is in defined contribution retirement administration (75 percent of surveyed companies currently do so), followed by health and welfare programs (52 percent), and pension administration (50 percent). Only 9 percent of companies outsource recruiting, and 4 percent outsource performance management. |
| 2008-07-03 | HEC’s Updated Required Bulletin Board Posters List Available Online | The chart lists the major employment laws and the required posters employers must display at worksites. HEC members can download the latest list here or from What’s New. |
| 2008-06-26 | IRS Increases Mileage Rate to 58.5 Cents on July 1 | 
Due to rapidly escalating gas prices, the Internal Revenue Service has announced an increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008. This is an increase of eight cents from the 50.5-cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008. Taxpayers may use the optional standard rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes."Rising gas prices are having a major impact on individual Americans. Given the increase in prices, the IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the real cost of operating an automobile," says IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "We want the reimbursement rate to be fair to taxpayers." |
| 2008-06-26 | Employers Must Prove Reasonableness of Non-Age Factors, High Court Rules | 
An employer defending a disparate-impact claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act bears the burden of producing evidence for a “reasonable factors other than age” affirmative defense, and also has the burden of persuading a fact finder of the reasonableness of the factor, the U.S. Supreme Court rules.A defense contractor who had to select employees for layoff scored them based on three scales, “performance,” “flexibility,” and “critical skills.” The scores were summed, along with points for years of service, and the totals determined who should be let go. Of the 31 salaried employees laid off, 30 were at least 40 years old, and 28 of them sued, raising a disparate impact (discriminatory result) claim under the ADEA. A provision of the ADEA creates an exemption for employer actions “otherwise prohibited” by the ADEA but “based on reasonable factors other than age.” The question before the Court was whether an employer facing a disparate-impact claim and planning to defend on the basis of RFOA must not only produce evidence raising the defense, but also persuade the fact finder of its merit. The Court holds that the employer must do both under the law. Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. |
| 2008-06-26 | Updated I-9 Form Available Online | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued an updated I-9 Form with an expiration date of 6/30/09. Employers should note that the I-9 Form in USCIS Handbook for Employers has an expiration date of 6/30/08, and use the updated form for new hires after June 30. |
| 2008-06-26 | EEOC Hit With Shrinking Staff, More Private Sector Workload Says GAO | According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has lost nearly 25 percent of its full-time equivalent staff between 2000 and 2007, and that within four years, all of its current senior executive and senior managers will be retirement eligible. The GAO points out that over the past four years, the EEOC’s private sector workload has increased by 10 percent. “Factors that have contributed to the growing workload include the growth in the number of new discrimination charges, which have become increasingly resource intensive, and a decrease in the number of investigators,” the GAO reports. It says that the number of total charges handled per investigator has increased by 22 percent, the average number of days to close a charge increased by 34 days, and the number of open charges at the end of the fiscal year has increased by 82 percent. The GAO says the EEOC “lacks a systematic process to identify promising management practices,” and that its mandate to enforce federal antidiscrimination laws “could be compromised” if the agency cannot keep pace with its growing private sector workload. The House Appropriations Committee recently approved a $350.4 million increase in funding for the EEOC, a $21 million increase above its fiscal 2008 level. |
| 2008-06-26 | Safety Tips for Working in Sun Offered by OSHA | Employees who work outdoors face potential dangers associated with heat exposure and stress, says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “Exposure to heat can cause heat cramps and rashes. The most serious heat-related disorders are heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Symptoms include confusion; irrational behavior; loss of consciousness; hot, dry skin; and abnormally high body temperature. Drinking cool water, reducing physical exertion, wearing appropriate clothing and regular rest periods in a cool recovery area can lessen the effects of working in summer heat,” OSHA advises. The agency has issued a fact sheet explaining heat stress and how it can be prevented. Another fact sheet provides recommendations on how to protect employees from exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) and offers information on insect-caused illnesses such as West Nile Virus. |
| 2008-06-26 | Average Employee Works 7.6 Hours per Day of Work | 
In 2007, 20 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home on days that they worked, and 87 percent did some or all of their work at their workplace, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports in its American Time Use Survey.The survey focuses on the average amount of time per day in 2007 that Americans worked, did household activities, cared for family, participated in educational activities, and engaged in leisure activities. It finds that although employees worked an average of 7.6 hours on the days that they work, they worked longer during a weekday (7.9 hours) than on a weekend day (5.6 hours). Multiple jobholders (62 percent) were almost twice as likely to work on an average weekend day as were single jobholders (33 percent). Employed men worked at their jobs about three quarters of an hour more than employed women, but women spent more time on household activities than men, according to the survey. |
| 2008-06-19 | No Match Letters Do Not Equate to Illegal Workers, Ninth Circuit Rules | 
A company which received a letter from the Social Security Administration indicating that 48 employees did not match the information in SSA’s database did not have just cause to terminate 33 of the workers when they did not timely comply with the company’s requirement to get new social security cards, the Ninth Circuit holds.The Service Employees International Union had filed a grievance on behalf of the fired workers, contending the terminations breached the collective bargaining agreement. An arbitrator ruled for SEIU and awarded the fired workers back-pay and reinstatement, finding there was no convincing information that any of the fired workers were undocumented. A federal district court vacated the award, ruling that it violated public policy. The Ninth Circuit says the case boils down to whether the company was put on constructive notice by the no-match letter, and the employee responses, that it was employing undocumented workers. If so, then the arbitrator’s award would force the company to violate federal law and would be properly vacated as against public policy, the Court says. However, the Court goes on to state that “an SSN discrepancy does not automatically mean that an employee is undocumented or lacks proper work authorization.” “In addition to misuse by undocumented workers, SSN mismatches could generate a no-match letter for many reasons, including typographical errors, name changes, compound last names prevalent in immigrant communities, and inaccurate or incomplete employer records,” the Court says in reversing the district court and ordering it to confirm the arbitration decision. Aramark Facility Services v. SEIU Lo. 1877 |
| 2008-06-19 | Inability to Accommodate Religious Need for Every Sunday Off Must Go to Jury | 
A union worker who was subjected to progressive discipline for missing work on Sunday due to his religious commitments may proceed to trial, a federal district court rules, holding that the company did not show that the “permanent guarantee of every Sunday off” would constitute an undue hardship.Employers are required to provide a reasonable accommodation of a religious practice or observance unless the accommodation would create an undue burden, the court opinion says. The company in this case had contended that granting the employee every Sunday off would have “breached the collective bargaining agreement, treated other employees unfairly, diminished overall morale, resulted in loss of productivity and increased wages, and created a tidal wave of similar requests.” The employee, however, pointed out that the company had accommodated his Sundays off when there was higher business volume, and that he had not been replaced with other workers when he did not work on Sunday. Since there were “questions of fact” whether the proposed accommodation would create an undue burden on the company, summary judgment was denied to the employer. Walker v. Alcoa Inc. |
| 2008-06-19 | ADA Public Accommodation Rule Changes Asked by Justice Dept. | The Dept. of Justice has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to adopt enforceable accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act consistent with the guidelines and requirements issued by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. The proposed rulemaking would also allow for periodic reviews of “any rule judged to have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities,” and a “regulatory assessment” of the costs and benefits to small businesses. Title III of the ADA prohibits disability discrimination in places of public accommodation—businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of twelve categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreational facilities, and doctors’ offices—and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities like factories, warehouses, or office buildings)—to comply with the ADA Standards. The DOJ is inviting comments on the existing and proposed standards regarding cost and impact. |