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Recent Employment Law News for Sep 03, 2010
Coca-Cola To Restore Health Benefits To Striking Workers
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:19:00 - Pacific Time
Coca-Cola has announced that it will restore health benefits to approximately 500 striking Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. workers in Washington state. Lawyers for the workers recently filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola alleging that the company violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it suspended the workers' health benefits during a strike which began on August 24, 2010. The company maintains that it was within its legal rights to suspend the benefits. When the benefits are restored, employee contributions will be prorated to reflect the brief lapse in coverage. Read More...
OSHA Issues Statement On Fatigue And Worker Safety Related To Resident Physicians
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:17:00 - Pacific Time
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been petitioned by Public Citizen, a national advocacy organization, as well as other groups and individuals, to issue regulations that would limit the work hours of resident physicians. In response to the request, the assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, Dr. David Michaels, issued a statement emphasizing that OSHA is very concerned about residents working long hours, particularly since OSHA knows of "evidence linking sleep deprivation with an increased risk of needle sticks, puncture wounds, lacerations, medical errors and motor vehicle accidents. We will review and consider the petition on this subject submitted by Public Citizen and others. . .The relationship of long hours, worker fatigue and safety is a concern beyond medical residents, since there is extensive evidence linking fatigue with operator error. In its investigation of the root causes of the BP Texas City oil refinery explosion in 2005, in which 15 workers were killed and approximately 170 injured, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board identified worker fatigue and long work hours as a likely contributing factor to the explosion." Read More...
Employer Will Pay $5.8 Million To Settle Sexual Harassment Claims
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:09:00 - Pacific Time
ABM Industries, Inc., along with two subsidiaries, ABM Janitorial Services, Inc. and ABM Janitorial Services Northern California, Inc. will pay $5.8 million, in addition to providing other relief, to 21 Hispanic female janitorial workers, thereby settling a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The sexual harassment allegedly began around 2001, with the most severe forms involving alleged sexual assaults of some women beginning in 2005 throughout California's Central Valley region, according to the EEOC's suit. The EEOC claimed that the 21 class members were victims of varying degrees of unwelcome touching, explicit sexual comments and requests for sex by 14 male co-workers and supervisors, one of whom was apparently a registered sex offender. Some of the harassers allegedly often exposed themselves, groped female employees' private parts from behind, and even raped at least one of the victims, the EEOC reported. The EEOC also charged in its lawsuit that ABM failed to respond to the employees' repeated complaints of harassment, which made for a dangerous and sexually hostile work environment. Many of the harassers continued to work despite the complaints. Read More...
Disability Discrimination Claims Continue To Plague Employers
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:23:00 - Pacific Time
Disability discrimination claims continue to plague employers. As a recent example, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed separate lawsuits against two Texas energy companies alleging disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the suit against ENGlobal Engineering, Inc. ("ENGlobal") the EEOC alleges that the company terminated an employee, Jeff Rose ("Mr. Rose"), because it regarded him as being disabled. ENGlobal is a publicly traded corporation that provides engineering and professional services to the energy sector. According to the EEOC, Mr. Rose had worked for ENGlobal as a safety supervisor for approximately two weeks when, unbeknownst to him, he began to develop multiple sclerosis ("MS") symptoms that did not debilitate nor substantially limit him. Mr. Rose informed his manager of the symptoms and kept him informed of the conversations he had with his doctors as they tried to ascertain what was wrong with him. As the manager learned more about Mr. Rose's condition and realized that he faced a potential MS diagnosis, the manager searched for a replacement and urged Mr. Rose to take medical leave despite the fact that he could continue working. After taking medical leave at his manager's insistence, Mr. Rose presented the company with a doctor's note stating that he had clearance to return to work. Although his position was available, ENGlobal's human resources manager allegedly told Mr. Rose that it was not. Further, although the human resources manager then told Mr. Rose that ENGlobal would try to find him another position within the company, it allegedly took no such action. Three weeks later, ENGlobal hired another individual for Mr. Rose's position. According to the EEOC, ENGlobal's management violated the ADA by incorrectly regarding Mr. Rose as substantially limited in his ability to perform the work of any job within the company. Read More...
Milan Revisited: Employee Has A Duty To Request The Interactive Process
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:31:00 - Pacific Time
The following is an interesting blog commentary on the Milan v. City of Holtville case, which reiterated that employees have a duty to request the interactive process: "Tanya Milan (Milan) worked for the City of Holtville (the City). She filed a lawsuit against the City (Milan v. City of Holtville (2010) 186 Cal App 4th 1028) alleging that they failed to accommodate her disability in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Milan had sustained a work-related injury to her neck, which required surgery to remove herniated discs and to fuse the vertebrae with a metal plate inserted into her neck. Milan received workersÂ’ compensation benefits for this injury. Early on in her treatment, Milan was seen by a doctor for the City, who opined that Milan would not be able to return to work at the water treatment plant because her job required significant bending, twisting, and lifting. The City chose to wait and see if Milan's condition would improve before making a final determination regarding her employment." Read More...
9th Circuit Finds Triable Issue of Fact on Whether UPS Failed to Offer a Reasonable Accommodation
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:00:06 - Pacific Time
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") filed a lawsuit pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") alleging that UPS Supply Chain Solutions ("UPS") failed to provide reasonable accommodations for one of its employees, Mauricio Centeno, who has been deaf since birth, and whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL), because UPS did not provide Centeno with a sign language interpreter for certain staff meetings, disciplinary sessions, and training. Centeno worked as a junior clerk in the accounting department and did not have any difficulty performing the essential functions of his job and thus did not need an accommodation to complete his job duties. However, Centeno asserted that he did need a sign language interpreter for his department's weekly meetings, disciplinary sessions and training, which, according to Centeno, UPS did not provide. The EEOC filed a lawsuit on Centeno's behalf and the district court granted summary judgment to UPS on all claims, finding that UPS did not fail to accommodate Centeno's disability. The EEOC appealed the district court's decision to the 9th Circuit which found that that there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether UPS unlawfully discriminated against Centeno by failing to make a reasonable accommodation. Read More...
Walt Disney Must Pay More Than $433,000 in Back Wages
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:00:06 - Pacific Time
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division has recovered $433,819 in back wages owed to 69 employees of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. The company agreed to make the payments following an investigation that uncovered alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. A DOL investigator determined that inventory control clerks in the park's Food and Beverage Department were allegedly not paid for work that occurred before and after their normal shifts. In addition, the clerks were not paid for working through their meal times and when working from home. According to Wage and Hour Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink, "While Walt Disney has specific rules regarding off-clock work, an investigation conducted by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that managers within the company were not adhering to those important policies. . .It is not enough to have policies. Management must also ensure that all supervisors are implementing them." According to the DOL, "The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid time and one-half their regular rates of pay, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked over 40 per week. In general, 'hours worked' includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal activity of the workday to the end of the last principal work activity of the workday. Additionally, the law requires that accurate records of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained. The current federal minimum wage for covered, nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour." Read More...
Wal-Mart Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court in Gender-Discrimination Lawsuit
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:19:00 - Pacific Time
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court (Wal-Mart v. Dukes) to block female employees from suing on behalf of as many as 1.5 million women in what would be the largest gender-bias class action lawsuit against a private employer in U.S. history. The world's largest retailer is appealing a 6-5 lower court decision allowing women who have worked at Wal-Mart since 2001 to be part of a single class-action lawsuit. The justices will probably issue a ruling this year on whether or not they will hear the case. In its appeal, Wal-Mart is arguing that the workers, who are seeking billions of dollars in back pay, are too diverse to proceed as a single case under the rules that govern federal class action lawsuits. According to Wal-Mart, "The class is larger than the active-duty personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard combined --making it the largest employment class action in history by several orders of magnitude." The workers have accused Wal-Mart of paying women less than men for the same jobs and giving female employees fewer promotions. The class action lawsuit was filed in 2001 by six women, including Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart greeter in Pittsburg, California. The attorney for the workers argues that "The ruling upholding the class in this case is well within the mainstream that courts at all levels have recognized for decades. . .Only the size of the case is unusual, and that is a product of Wal-Mart's size and the breadth of the discrimination we documented." Wal-Mart agreed in 2008 to pay as much as $640 million to settle 63 federal and state class actions which alleged that Wal-Mart committed wage and hour violations. Read More...