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Runaway Jury
A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched Runaway Jury on DVD. She had enjoyed the John Grisham novel on which it was based (she reads all his stuff; I tend not to spend time reading fiction).
Anyhow, we enjoyed it and recommend it, but it seemed like in some ways it was too [...]
Tyson Foods featured in several recent employment-related stories
Is Tyson Foods joining Wal-Mart in big labor’s corporate-bad-guy hall of fame? Maybe not, and maybe it’s a coincidence, but I ran across three items about Tyson in the last week or so.
First, Wisconsin Ag Connection reports: “Union Claims that Tyson Foods is Violating Labor Laws”
The saga with the Tyson Foods strike in [...]
Case shows difficulty of establishing pay discrimination, retaliation, constructive discharge
In Horn v. Univ. of Minnesota, No. 03-1862 (8th Cir. 4/6/04), the Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the employer on pay discrimination, retaliation, and constructive discharge claims by a former assistant coach of the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team.
Each of these claims can be difficult to establish due to the legal standards applied. [...]
Employer regrets failure to include provision for misconduct-based termination in executive’s employment agreement
The ABA Journal’s E-Report has this story on a Third Circuit decision: “Conduct No Bar To Continued Pay; Employee Misdeeds Can’t Trump Contract, 3rd Circuit Says”
A broad contract guaranteeing pay and benefits to an employee must be honored, even if the worker commits misdeeds that warrant termination.
That is the lesson in a ruling by [...]
Missouri noncompete decision highlights significant procedural point
In Hair Kraz, Inc. v. Schuchardt (Mo. App. E.D. 4/06/04), the Missouri Court Of Appeals held that a preliminary injunction order enforcing a covenant not to compete (in the business of cosmetology, hairdressing, and related services within a fifty-mile radius of Arnold, Missouri) was not a final, appealable judgment because no permanent injunction had been [...]
Interesting study on role of women in union organizing
Carol Kleiman writes in the Chicago Tribune (free reg. req’d): “Labor sees women as force for change”
The title is a bit misleading. It’s not necessarily unions who see this. Rather, it’s the view of a partisan pro-union professor who studies union organizing.
“The face of the American labor movement is changing–women gradually are becoming [...]
New York Times expose on altering of time records
Steven Greenhouse recently wrote in the New York Times:“Altering of Worker Time Cards Spurs Growing Number of Suits” (republished here on the Lakeland, Florida Ledger’s website)
As a former member of the Air Force military police, as a play-by-the-rules guy, Drew Pooters said he was stunned by what he found his manager doing in the [...]
Sexual harassment editorial misses the mark
Writing with reference to the upcoming Supreme Court decision on constructive discharge as a tangible employment action [see this post] Guest columnist Gus Cochran writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “It’s employers’ job to stop it”
After discussing the background and issues in the case, Cochran concludes:
Employee advocates fear that not recognizing forced resignation as equivalent to [...]
Indian outsourcing not all it’s cracked up to be?
David E. Gumpert writes for Business Week Online: “Misadventures in Indian Outsourcing”
If you own a small business and are thinking of outsourcing info tech or call-center work to India, read this column before taking another step. Signs are mounting that India’s outsourcing industry has become overheated — and less competitive in important respects — for [...]
Another strike over health care cost sharing and outsourcing in California, elsewhere?
SFGate.com reports: “Union warns it may strike SBC soon; State’s largest phone company in nationwide contract talks”
SBC Communications, the state’s largest telephone company and one of the Bay Area’s biggest employers, could face a nationwide strike next month over its efforts to shift jobs to contractors and force employees to pick up a greater share [...]
Whistleblower case results in large verdict
Wilmington Delaware News Journal (Mary Allen) reports on a “whistleblower” case:
“Psychiatrist wins $998,000 settlement,” (actually referrring not to a settlement, but to a federal court jury verdict ).
A federal jury awarded a former Delaware Psychiatric Center doctor more than $998,000 . . . , finding that he lost his work contract after speaking [...]
Costs of employee mental health issues: obvious and hidden
Harvard Business Review has a case study entitled “Losing It” [reprint/download available here for $6.00] on a common problem: a sudden and disturbing employee mental health crisis.
Many practical and legal issues are raised by such situations. These are discussed here in the context of a hypothetical manic episode experienced by a stellar [...]
Losing after going all the way to the Supreme Court and winning there; what a bummer for Raytheon
A few months back, the Supreme Court remanded to the Ninth Circuit the case in which Raytheon refused to rehire a former employee terminated for failing a drug test. [link to Supreme Court opinion on Findlaw]
A victory for the employer, but the holding was rather narrow, focusing on the Ninth Circuit’s procedurally improper [...]
Health care cost control and HSA updates
Last week I ran across this excellent white paper by Eric M. Parmenter on the Grant Thornton web site: “Health Care Benefit Crisis: Cost Drivers and Strategic Solutions”
Packed with facts and figures, this document begins with a comprehensive, yet concise analysis of sources of increases in health care benefit costs, including: the aging of the [...]
My article on Computer Fraud and Abuse Act published
Today’s mail brought the latest edition of the St. Louis Lawyer, a monthly published by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. I was about to toss it in a pile of reading to take home, when I remembered that my article was to appear in this issue, as part of a special edition [...]
