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Employment Law

Bill would turn pro cheerleaders into employees

02/24/2015
A bill before the General Assembly would require California’s professional sports teams to give cheerleaders full employment rights, including paying the minimum wage and overtime.

Federal judge strikes raises for home health workers

02/24/2015
One of President Obama’s attempts to stimulate the economy has been nixed by a federal court.

PAGA claims still alive after SCOTUS denies review

02/24/2015
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the California Supreme Court Decision in which the state’s highest court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act preempted California’s policy against enforcement of class-action waivers on the grounds that they were contrary to public policy or unconscionable.

OK to ditch telegraph under new CalOSHA regulations

02/24/2015
The California state legislature made changes to both CalOSHA reporting requirements and fines for violations.

Whistle-blower can go directly to court after internal review

02/24/2015
An employee who tries to internally report alleged wrongdoing and is then fired can pursue internal remedies—and then go directly to court with her discharge and retaliation claims.

Act fast to fix computer glitch that threatens to compromise disability accommodation

02/24/2015
If a technology problem interferes with a disabled employee’s attempt to use medical leave, fix the problem fast. Otherwise, you may be liable for claims that you violated the ADA’s disability accommodations ­requirements.

You choose the reasonable accommodation

02/24/2015
It’s up to the employer to choose which ADA reasonable accommodation it wants to offer a disabled employee. If the worker wants a different accommodation, he’s out of luck.

USERRA: Don’t make benefits assumptions

02/24/2015

The government provides fully paid health insurance for members of the military and their families during active duty. Reservists, who aren’t always on active duty, often have insurance coverage through their employers, but that coverage usually isn’t free. It’s a bad idea for reservists to drop that coverage during deployment in favor of free military insurance.

EEOC says Walmart discriminated by denying same-sex benefits

02/23/2015
Walmart could soon face an EEOC lawsuit alleging the retail giant engaged in sex discrimination when it denied health insurance benefits to the same-sex spouse of an employee in Massachusetts.

After job-bias complaint, remind managers to keep calm & manage on

02/23/2015
While employees filed fewer charges of job discrimination in 2014 than the year before, one new statistic from the EEOC should make HR and employers stand up and take notice: More than 2 in 5 charges last year allege some form of retaliation against the employee for pursuing the discrimination claim.