Newsletter Archive for May 2011

Does SOX Protect Workers Who Gave Information to Newspaper?

In April 2007, a reporter with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer contacted the two employees for interviews for a story about the company’s SOX compliance. The employees eventually spoke with the reporter and forwarded to her internal e-mails and other company documents, despite the existence of a corporate policy requiring employees to refer news media inquiries to the company communications department. The policy also prohibited employees from releasing company information without prior review and authorization. Read More

Obama Administration Defends Waivers Against GOP Criticism

In a White House blog post, Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Richard Sorian said the administration has granted 1,372 waivers to employers, health plans, and unions “to make sure workers are able to maintain their existing insurance, because on their own they would likely be shut out of the individual market or face unaffordable options.” Read More

Wellness Program Guidance Possible in the Near Future

Regulators are interested in exploring the effectiveness of wellness programs, which could lead to wellness program guidance in the near future, an employee benefits consultant said May 11 during a webcast sponsored by the American Law Institute-American Bar Association. Tamara M. Simon, a principal in Mercer’s Washington Resource Group, said there is “a lot of buzz” surrounding wellness programs both on Capitol Hill and among employers. With several initiatives included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aimed at … Read More

Illinois extends eligibility for coverage to Civil Unions

Beginning June 1, 2011, if a fully insured plan sponsor or certain type of self insured plan sponsor sitused in Illinois, extends eligibility benefits/coverage to married spouses in Illinois, this law requires that same eligibility for benefits/coverage be extended to civil union partners in Illinois. This act may also be referred to as the “Illinois Religions Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.”

“Illinois Civil Union” means a legal relationship between 2 persons of either the same or opposite sex. This law provides procedures for the certification and registration of a civil union and provides person entering into a civil union with the obligations, responsibilities, protections and benefits afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses, from whatever source of state law derived. Read More

Does RIF’d 57-Year-Old Have Federal or State Age Bias Claim?

The company reorganized its St. Louis art department and because the artist lacked experience in primary packaging, he was not promoted to the employee teams performing such work. Given a shrinking market for its corrugated packaging services, the employer began to reduce its workforce and the artist was terminated as part of a RIF effective Jan. 31, 2007, at age 57. Read More

States Increasingly Taking Lead Through Comprehensive Bills

State legislatures are taking the lead on immigration policy, introducing comprehensive bills that “represent a significant break” with past federal domination of the immigration debate, speakers said April 26 at an immigration conference sponsored by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center. Read More

Job Openings at 3 Million for Second Consecutive Month

Job openings climbed to 3.1 million in March, up from 3 million in February, marking the first time since November 2008 that job openings have been at or above 3 million for two consecutive months, according to figures released May 11 by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, hire rates and layoffs in March remained unchanged from February.
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Employee Called ‘Chemical Ali’ Claims National Origin Bias

The company fired the employee in October 2006 after the dealership investigated a 2005 car sale that resulted in a loss of approximately $16,000 to the company. The employee had served as the manager of the transaction but did not include applicable sales taxes and fees in the purchaser’s finance package. Read More

DOL Opens Grant Competition

The Labor Department is conducting an H-1B technical skills training grant competition that will award approximately $240 million in funds for programs to provide education and training to U.S. workers seeking jobs in fields where employers are hiring H-1B foreign workers, according to a notice published in the May 3 Federal Register (76 Fed. Reg. 24,917). DOL said the H-1B technical skills training grants will be financed through a user fee paid by employers to bring foreign workers into the … Read More

Costs Up 2 Percent Over Year for Private Sector Employers

Wage and salary costs paid by private employers rose 1.6 percent over the year ended in March, while benefit costs increased 3 percent over the same period, based on the agency’s employment cost index (ECI) data series. Wages and salaries comprise about 70 percent of total compensation costs and, therefore, have a much larger weight in the ECI calculation than benefit costs. Read More

Employer, Worker Clash Over Reinstatement From FMLA Leave

Based on this diagnosis, the employee requested and received one month of leave pursuant to the FMLA and the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), beginning in January 2006. While the employee was on leave, the city stopped using the low-grade paper. The employee eventually submitted two fitness-for-duty certificates from her doctor and began requesting reinstatement to work. Read More

Employer Partially Prevails On Racial Harassment Claims

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Xerxes Corp., a Minnesota-based fiberglass tank manufacturer with a plant in Williamsport, Md., in July 2008 on behalf of Albert Bernard Pearson, Keith Wilson, and Gradian Graham. The three African American assembly workers alleged varying degrees of racial harassment beginning in 2005. Read More