New York Strengthens Wage Laws
August 25, 2008
In light of recent aggressive enforcement efforts of New York's Labor Laws by both the New York State Attorney General's Office and the New York State Department of Labor ("NYSDOL"), prudent employers should consider the effect of these new enactments on their pay and leave practices and take action to ensure compliance.
Competing Definitions of 'Mass Layoffs' Under the WARN Act
August 25, 2008
The Retraining and Notification Act ("WARN" or The Act) creates some uncertainty for employers because it contains two potentially conflicting definitions of the term "mass layoff" ' one that looks to a 30-day period and another that aggregates layoffs over a 90-day period. This article analyzes a recent ruling that addresses the problem.
Retaliation Claims
August 25, 2008
Part One of this article, which appeared in the June issue of Employment Law Strategist, discussed proof of retaliation claims. The conclusion herein addresses what conduct is protected.
Panel Affirms Award Against Wal-Mart in Disability Bias Case
August 25, 2008
Staking out an exception to the general rule that the requirement to accommodate is normally triggered by a disabled employee's request, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said an employer must take action "if the employer knew or reasonably should have known that the employee was disabled." <i>Brady v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.</i>, 06-5486-cv.
DIVERSITY DOES NOT MEAN "PREFERENCES
August 22, 2008
DIVERSITY DOES NOT MEAN "PREFERENCES": In my last post, I described a very surprising reaction from a well respected AGC about diversity meaning preference. Again, I do not believe he is racially or gendered biased. But he appears not to be receptive to the message that diversity and business development consultants deliver about the need to foster a nurturing environment that will increase female and minority retention rates. He believed that diversity initiatives involve preferences.…
IS DIVERSITY A PREFERENCE OR A VALUE ADDED? II.
August 15, 2008
A SURPRISE EXAMPLE - Recently, I was genuinely surprised by a most well respected Associate General Counsel of a global corporation. This lawyer was huffing and puffing because his colleague at a competitor company had received an accolade from the local newspaper praising her as one of the tope in-house counsel in the region. The award itself as well as the press coverage focused in large measure on her outstanding record in recruiting women and…
test
August 12, 2008
By Kelly Young he practice of "search" as part of electronic discovery is evolving before our eyes. Suddenly, what was once deemed industry standard is insufficient. Keyword search, the legal profession's preferred method for sifting through large collections of electronically stored information ("ESI") in order to find relevant or privileged information, had been widely accepted by courts and the legal community because its effectiveness was assumed and unchallenged. …
I COULD LEARN A LOT FROM YOU <i>What Can Product Marketers Teach Us?</i>
August 04, 2008
It's been suggested by several readers that our orientation toward professional services marketing, as opposed to product marketing, is a prejudice. Admittedly, it's at least a bias against a pervasive academic view that the techniques of marketing a product apply equally to marketing a professional service. And indeed, the most successful professional services marketers tend to look to other professional services firms for answers and the best ideas, as well as for validation of their own ideas and processes. Still, it would be foolish to automatically preclude any idea that's been forged in a marketplace of ideas. In a rational world, we take ideas from any reasonable place, accept the good ones, and eliminate the ones that are bad or not applicable. That means that are things to be learned by professional services marketers from the Toyotas and Microsofts and Dells of the world.
Case Notes
July 31, 2008
Highlights of the latest product liability cases from around the country.
