CA Supreme Court Clarifies Who Cannot Be Sued by Workers
For 97 years, neither California legislators nor the courts ever clarified who qualified as an employer under the state Industrial Welfare Commission's (IWC) wage orders. That changed on May 20 when the California Supreme Court decided, in part, who does not qualify.
Tenth Circuit Rules on Temporary Workers
In a case of first impression, the Tenth Circuit recently considered whether positions filled by temporary contract workers are "vacant" for purposes of reassignment as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.
New Employee Rights Poster for Federal Contractors
Pursuant to Executive Order 13496, and its implementing regulations 29 CFR, Part 471, federal contractors and subcontractors must notify employees about their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) as of June 21, 2010. Here are the details.
Reducing Exposure to Attorneys' Fees
Although a prevailing plaintiff is entitled to his/her costs and attorneys' fees, a successful defendant is entitled only to its costs (<i>e.g.</i>, filing fees, court reporter fees, etc.) and not an award of attorneys' fees.
Korean War Memorial Copyright Infringed By U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held the U.S. Postal Service liable for copyright infringement for its use on a postage stamp of an image of a number of sculptures created by Frank Gaylord for the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
Employer's Review of Text Messages on Company Pager Reasonable
In a closely watched case and in a nearly unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the City of Ontario, CA, Police Department did not violate the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its employee when it audited text messages he had sent and received on a department-issued paging device.
DOL: Same-Sex Partners May Qualify For FMLA Leave
In an Opinion Letter issued on June 22, 2010, the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) clarified who may be a parent under the Family and Medical Leave Act, including same-sex domestic partners who stand <i>in loco parentis</i> to a child.
Employers Beware
Employee mobility, coupled with the exceeding ease with which confidential and proprietary trade secret information can be stored and transported, creates the perfect platform for trade secret theft. And it's not just a hypothetical problem.
Supreme Court Blockbuster Decision
On June 24, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in <i>New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB</i>, ruling that the National Labor Relations Board (does not have the authority to issue decisions without at least three members currently sitting on the Board. The decision invalidates in one fell swoop some 600 decisions that had been issued by the Board during a recent 27-month period in which the Board had only two members.
