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Wal-Mart Settles Break Suit for $54.25 Million

Retail giant Wal-Mart has agreed to pay up to $54.25 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the retailer of violating hours of work and break laws at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in Minnesota. This settlement follows a judge’s decision last summer finding that Wal-Mart violated a host of wage and hour laws. Approximately 100,000 […]

News Notes: High Court Lets Stand San Francisco’s Domestic Partner Benefits Ordinance

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding a San Francisco ordinance requiring contractors to provide domestic partner benefits. The case involved S.D. Myers Inc., an Ohio company that was denied a city contract because it refused to provide its employees with domestic partner benefits. The company unsuccessfully charged that […]

News Bulletin: New CEA Board Member

We are pleased to welcome Shawna Swanson, the newest member of our Editorial Review Board. Ms. Swanson, a partner in the San Francisco office of Fenwick & West, has represented employers in litigation relating to harassment, wrongful termination, and employment discrimination. Ms. Swanson also provides advice to employers concerning personnel policies, wage and hour laws, […]

Youth Workers: New Law Will Bar Cell Phone Use by Teen Drivers

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a new law that will prohibit teen drivers from using cell phones. Come July 1, 2008, the new measure, S.B. 33, will make it illegal for teens under age 18 to use wireless phones or other wireless communication devices while driving, even if a hands-free device is used. Note that this […]

Civil Unions Available Now in Illinois, and Soon in Delaware

Employers in Illinois that have not done so may need to adjust their plan documents to reflect the new legality of civil unions in that state. Civil unions are legal in Illinois, Hawaii and New Jersey — and will be available in Delaware next year. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act went […]

FedEx May Owe Huge Tab for Diver Misclassification

FedEx Corp., which has been in the hot seat lately over allegations of misclassifying delivery drivers as independent contractors (see CWHA October 2007 and October 2006), could owe a whopping $319 million in back taxes and penalties because of the classification problems, the IRS has tentatively concluded. The IRS assessment, which pertains only to 2002, […]

Survey Says: Health Costs Boggle, But Employers Won’t Cut Coverage

By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor Nearly 70 percent of respondents to a recent BLR/HRHero survey on health insurance benefits said they expect their health insurance costs to rise in 2012, but an equal number believe that health insurance is too important a part of the compensation package to consider eliminating it. […]

Government Proposal Refines Reform Fees on Health Plans

A proposed rule put on public display Nov. 26 adjusts Transitional Reinsurance Program rules and tries to put out fires left burning by the ever-moving target of health care reform. For example, it proposes a lower contribution level insurers and self-funded plans would pay in 2015 to a transitional reinsurance fund, and gives employers the […]