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News Notes: Court Says Employer Can’t Charge Independent Contractors For Workers’ Comp Coverag
Although the workers’ compensation system is designed to provide protection for injured employees, employers can obtain workers’ comp coverage for independent contractors under certain circumstances. Now a California appeal court has ruled that providing them with coverage will subject both the employer and the contractor to other workers’ comp law provisions—including the prohibition on […]
Wage and Hour: House Moves on Federal Minimum Wage Increase
By a vote of 315 to 116, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to approve legislation that would boost the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three steps over a period of 26 months. The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Wage And Hour: Union Sues Shanghai Firm That Delivered Gigantic Cranes
A Bay Area iron workers union has filed a lawsuit against Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. Ltd., the firm that recently delivered four gigantic cranes to the Port of Oakland, charging that the company is violating state labor laws. The union contends that as many as two dozen Chinese workers were paid between $4 and […]
Hiring: What Sort of Screening Should We Do for Various Employees?
We want to standardize our procedures for doing pre-employment background checks. What guidelines should we set up for which applicants get which checks? For example, who gets a criminal background check? Motor vehicle? Credentials verification? What do you recommend? — Ronald L., Office Manager in Chico
Disability Bias: New Fact Sheet on Hearing Impairments in the Workplace
In the latest in a series of facts sheets focusing on specific disabilities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides guidance on how the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to applicants and employees who are deaf or hearing impaired. This is an important focus for employers, given that there are between 28.6 and 31.5 million […]
Okla. AG Seeks Change to Employer Mandate in Health Law
Oklahoma’s Attorney General has revived his state’s challenge to the federal health reform law, this time targeting the law’s employer mandate. The state’s amended complaint at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma seeks to overturn an IRS regulation allowing some consumers to get federal subsidies to buy insurance on health insurance […]
News Notes: Domestic Partner Ordinance Upheld as to Air Carriers
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld San Francisco’s groundbreaking domestic partner ordinance, which requires certain businesses to offer the same benefits to heterosexual and gay partners of unmarried employees as they offer to married spouses. The court rejected an argument by United Air Lines, FedEx and an airline association that the ordinance, […]
Minimum Wage: Governor and Lawmakers Reach Deal to Boost California’s Minimum Wage to Highest in the Nation
News Flash: Wrongful Termination Case May Test California’s New Off-Duty Conduct Law
In what could be the first case under California’s new law barring discipline for off-duty conduct, a former employee of the Los Angeles Police Relief Association says she was fired after disclosing her plans to marry a prison inmate. Cipriana Ortiz claims that when she informed the association that she was engaged to a prisoner, […]