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Same-sex marriage is not legal in Rhode Island, but employers there must make provision for employees’ same-sex spouses nonetheless. Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) on May 14 signed an executive order announcing that Rhode Island will recognize the validity of same-sex marriages entered into in states where it is legal. The executive order went into effect […]
A California Court of Appeal has ruled that employment decisions made by religious institutions about ministerial employees, like clergy members, are not covered by state anti-discrimination laws. The case was brought by a female chaplain at Chapman University. The chaplain claimed that her hours were cut back in retaliation for reporting incidents of alleged sexual […]
The Department of Labor has put into place controversial regulations that would let states use unemployment insurance money to fund family and medical leave. The new rules broaden the scope of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, so that workers could receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave if they take time off […]
Small employers and their employees would be given new flexibility in work scheduling under a new measure introduced in the California Assembly. A.B. 2127 would allow employers with 25 or fewer employees to approve an employee’s written request to work up to 10-hour days within a 40-hour workweek without paying daily overtime. Under current law, […]
Unicom, a maker of computer network components, agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), on behalf of 10 current and former employees, that alleged the company discriminated against African-American, Hispanic and female employees. Unicom did not admit any wrongdoing but has agreed to bring in an outside consultant to […]
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 […]
This content was originally published in April 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. According to a 2009 poll on BLR’s websites, Compensation.BLR.com and HR.BLR.com, 74% of employers said that their organization was ready to comply with the new Family and Medical Leave […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking comments on interim final rules that revise the regulations on whistleblower complaints filed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The whistleblower protection provisions of SOX were amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to clarify that subsidiaries of publicly […]
The Industrial Welfare Commission has proposed boosting the state minimum wage to $6.75 an hour by 2002. At its August 17 meeting, the IWC approved a plan for a 50-cent raise on January 1, 2001, and another 50-cent jump on January 1, 2002. The IWC will hold a series of hearings in coming weeks to […]