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Features

Securities Industry Employment Disputes

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Author Carol A. Wittenberg, who has served on the Major League Baseball/Players' Association salary arbitration panel for the past eight years, as well as mediating and arbitrating numerous financial disputes in the securities industry, explains the different methods of arbitration that work--and do not work--in the volatile securities industry.

Features

Allocating Construction Obligations in Leases

Ira Fierstein

One of the biggest areas of conflict after a lease is signed is the allocation of construction responsibility between the landlord and the tenant, but many of these problems are easily avoided by careful drafting and use of terminology at both the letter of intent and lease negotiation phases. Often, especially in the letter of intent, parties use terms that each thinks is perfectly clear, but actually mean different things to each of them. Below are some suggestions for how to handle these issues effectively.

Features

Sexual Harassment Victims and the 'Reasonableness' Equation

Debra M. Leder

When a supervisor is identified in a lawsuit as the alleged harasser, the employer may still avoid liability, under certain circumstances, as long as the harassment did not result in a 'tangible employment action.' To this end, most, if not all, employers are intimately familiar with the U.S. Supreme Court's <i>Faragher</i> and <i>Ellerth</i> decisions issued in 1998. Yet during the past eight years since the decisions, employers have faced the brunt of scrutiny from courts evaluating the application of this affirmative defense.

Features

Supreme Court Limits Time Frame for Filing EEOC Claims

Tony Mauro

On May 29, the Supreme Court made it significantly easier for employers to defend against Title VII workplace discrimination claims that are based on long-ago decisions about salary and raises. By a 5-4 vote, the Court said that employees claiming they received disparate treatment based on gender or race must do so within 180 days of the original discriminatory action ' not within 180 days of their last paycheck. Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., No. 05-1074.

Features

The EEOC Is Thinking Big

Christopher DeGroff

Like most government agencies, however, the EEOC faces significant obstacles. Its budget is rigorously scrutinized each year. Staffing is down and the backlog of individual discrimination charges is up. Concerned members of Congress have petitioned key House appropriators for funding increases to boost the organization's frontline staffing. In light of all of this, newly appointed EEOC chair Naomi Earp has her work cut out for her. As Earp succinctly stated, '[o]ur challenge in 2007 is to make the most effective and efficient use of agency resources.' In other words, the EEOC must get more bang for its buck to remain effective. Enter the agency's new Systemic Discrimination Initiative. This two-part article discusses how EEOC plans to implement the Initiative.

Features

The Leasing Hotline

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.

Features

Making the Work Letter Work

Myles Hannan

The Work Letter (sometimes referred to as a 'Construction Agreement' or 'Work Agreement') is the portion of a lease, usually an exhibit, setting forth the provisions relating to the build-out of the tenant improvements to be made to the space leased. Often dealing with very large expenditures, the Work Letter is an extremely important part of the Lease. However, perhaps because of the varying types of build-outs, with differing parties responsible, it is a document that often breeds considerable confusion. This two-part article discusses the three common types of office space build-out arrangements to which landlords and tenants might agree, how they differ, and how those differences are to be addressed in drafting the Work Letter.

Features

In the Spotlight: Lease Commencement -- Getting the Ball Rolling

Jack Garson & Lawrence Skok

Sometimes the hardest part of a leasing relationship is getting started ' establishing if there will be contingencies, when they will expire, when the space will be delivered, and when the rent will commence. Often the transition is smooth, and everything falls into place. In other situations, however, coordinating the requirements, obligations, and schedules of both landlord and tenant feels like an in-air refueling of a jetfighter.

Mitigating Liability from Employee Use of Technology

Sherrie Travis

Employee abuse of employer-provided equipment has always created a potential for liability, but the advent of the computer and the Internet has significantly altered the landscape. What is new about today's electronic tools, and what increases the level of employer exposure, is the fact that these devices enable employees to have instantaneous access to the outside world. The difference between giving an employee a telephone or a computer with Internet access is like the difference between giving a hunter a pea shooter or an AK47. The likelihood of success is much greater with the AK47, but so is the risk of a significant mishap.

Supreme Court Establishes New Standards for Buying Practices

W. Stephen Smith & Jeny Maier

Since the 2003-2004 term, the Supreme Court has heard a surprising number of antitrust cases ' nine in all ' reflecting its increasing interest in, and willingness to address, questions that significantly impact the business community. Equally remarkable is the array of issues the Court has addressed in these cases. In the past three years, the Court has heard cases concerning issues ranging from a unilateral refusal to deal with rivals, to pricing decisions by joint ventures to claims of tying involving a patented product. one opinion has been issued so far ' the unanimous decision in <i>Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber Co.</i>, 127 S. Ct. 1069 (2007). This article discusses that opinion.

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