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Equal Pay: Massive Lawsuit Highlights Need for Smart Pay Practices; An 8-Point Audit Checklist to Keep You In Compliance With Equal Pay Laws

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 19, 2015

A lawsuit charging Wal-Mart with discrimination against 1.6 million female employees has been certified as a class action by a federal district court judge in San Francisco. A key allegation in the litigation—being called the largest civil rights action in United States history—is that Wal-Mart violated state and federal equal-pay laws by paying female employees […]

News Notes: Living Wage Law Survives Constitutional Challenge

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 19, 2015

  The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has upheld the City of Berkeley’s living wage law in the face of a challenge to its constitutionality.1Berkeley’s law, enacted in 2000, requires certain city contractors and lessees to pay workers a minimum hourly wage a few dollars higher than state and federal minimums, plus health benefits. […]

News Notes: Ergonomics Guidelines Released For Grocery Industry

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released industry-specific guidelines for preventing musculoskeletal disorders in grocery stores. These voluntary guidelines contain practical recommendations to help grocery store employers and employees reduce the number and severity of ergonomic injuries. OSHA says employers in other industries for which guidelines have not been developed may find […]

News Notes: Court Clarifies Date Of Injury For Purposes Of Determining Workers’ Comp Liability

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

  A California appeal court has ruled that for purposes of determining whether an employer is liable for an employee’s occupational disease or cumulative trauma injury, the date of injury is when the employee first suffered either temporary or permanent disability—not when medical treatment was received. The ruling is important because, with work-related disease or cumulative […]

News Notes: Electronics Retailer Settles Overtime Misclassification Lawsuit

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 19, 2015

Video game retailer Electronics Boutique of America has agreed to pay $950,000 to settle a lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court charging the company misclassified managers in the retailer’s California stores as exempt from overtime. The lawsuit charged that managers regularly worked overtime without additional pay and spent more than 50 percent of their […]

News Notes: Failure To Grant Part-Time Status Doesn’t Support Wrongful Termination Claim

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 HR Management & Compliance

Updated: May 18, 2015

  Charles Sinatra, a long-time assistant principal with the Chico Unified School District, sued for wrongful termination in violation of public policy when the district refused his request for transfer to a part-time administrative position, instead giving him a full-time teaching assignment. He claimed he was “forced” to quit for exercising his statutory right under […]

Bulletin: CEA welcomes new board member Lloyd W. Aubry, Jr.

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 Uncategorized

Updated: Aug 1, 2004

We are pleased to welcome Lloyd W. Aubry, Jr., the newest member of our Editorial Review Board. Mr. Aubry, of counsel in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster, has served as director of the California Department of Industrial Relations and as the State Labor Commissioner. In this position he headed the Division of […]

Bulletin: Long-awaited FMLA Revisions Delayed Until Next Year

By Jennifer Carsen Aug 1, 2004 Uncategorized

Updated: Aug 1, 2004

Proposed revisions to Family and Medical Leave Act regulations will not be issued until March 2005, according to the latest regulatory agenda from the Department of Labor. Originally, the Bush administration announced it planned to unveil the revisions in January 2003. The changes to the 1993 leave law have lagged as the DOL repeatedly extended […]