Archive for the ‘Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation’ Category
WHAT’S GOD GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Office Holiday Survival Guide II: Respecting Employee Religious Practices Christians and Jews hold far from a “monopoly” on December as a major holiday month. Here is your end-of-the-year interfaith and cultural diversity line-up for 2010 (to the degree we could determine with a few Google searches): Dec 1: Suijin-Matsuri – Shinto Dec 2-9: Hanukkah – […]
INTERVIEWS GONE WILD!
How Not to Interview a Potential Employee In our expanding world of regulation and – right or wrong – of widening political correctness, interviewing job applicants can be a precarious adventure. The federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminatory hiring on the basis of race, color, religion, sex/gender and national […]
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES ARE PEOPLE TOO
Shorter Schedules Do Not Equal Shorter Legal Requirements Whether your business is expanding or you are circling the wagons to weather an economic downturn, hiring part-time employees may be part of the game plan. However, hiring for shortened hours or for fewer days does not absolve an employer from complying with the full range of […]
SOLVING UNFAIR OR DANGEROUS EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
Is There a Wrong or Right Way to Complain? Kevin Kasten says he complained to his employer Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation about an improper location of the company time clock and that the company illegally retaliated against him as a result. Saint-Gobain says it could not have retaliated against Kasten as his protest was only […]
DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT
Employing Big Eaters, High Rollers and Voyeurs Unusual Mental Disability Claims on the Horizon? Sarah, the company receptionist, is often away from the front desk during her work hours. Her supervisor, Jane, begins looking through Sarah’s time clock records and notices Sarah also has been taking extra long lunches without authorization. Jane concludes that Sarah […]
DON’T KILL AT WILL EMPLOYMENT
Maximize Ability to Manage by Written At Will Employment Agreements “At will” means either employer or employee can terminate or quit the relationship at any time, with or without notice and with or without a reason. That’s usually a good thing for an employer since it maximizes the company’s ability to make employment decisions. The […]
LOVE CONTRACTS IN THE WORKPLACE
Love Contracts in the Workplace How Employers Can Regulate Office Romance In just about every supermarket tabloid on the shelves, there’s at least one splashy article about actors or actresses falling in love on a movie set. In a 2009 survey by CareerBuilder.com on relationships at work, 37% of U.S. employees surveyed stated they had […]
NEW CALIFORNIA CIVIL AIR PATROL LEAVE FOR EMERGENCY MISSIONS
NEW California Civil Air Patrol Leave FOR EMERGENCY MISSIONS Effective January 1, 2010, the Civil Air Patrol Employment Protection Act (new Labor Code Sections 1500 through 1507) requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide ten days or more of unpaid leave per year for volunteer members of the California Civil Air Patrol Wing […]
SEXUALLY HARASSED VICTIM UNABLE TO SUE INDIVIDUAL SUPERVISORS FOR RETALIATION/WRONGFUL TERMINATION
Sexually Harassed Victim Unable to Sue Individual Supervisors for Retaliation/Wrongful Termination A recent California federal court ruling confirmed that company supervisors are not individually liable for retaliatory acts. Sarmas v. County of Stanislaus, et al. October 26, 2009 Westlaw 3489425 (Eastern District California). According to Stanislaus County’s Sheriff’s Department (Department) employee Valine Sarmas, Sheriff Christianson’s […]
BLURRING THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN DISCRIMINATORY CONDUCT AND HARASSMENT: CALIFORNIA SUPREMES DECIDE ROBY V. MCKESSON CORP.
Blurring the Distinction between Discriminatory Conduct and Harassment – California Supremes Decide Roby v. McKesson Corp. As a result of a November 30, 2009 decision, the California Supreme Court (the Court) has now paved the way for employees to more easily establish harassment claims against individual supervisors. Toward the end of her 25-year customer service […]