By George J. Miller
On June 29, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its eagerly anticipated decision in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano. This case involved the issue of racial bias in connection with the use of test results for purposes of promotion to the ranks of lieutenant and captain in the New Haven, Connecticut fire department. In 2003, the city ...
By Debra H. Dawahare
Until June 2009, the City of Bozeman, Montana required job applicants to list login and password information for social networking sites in which the applicants participated. This, of course, meant that even if the applicant (or the applicant’s contacts on the site) had privacy controls on their accounts, the City could ...
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has just published The Kentucky Employer’s Guide to Downsizing, with the help of our Labor & Employment Service Team’s Chair Debra H. Dawahare, who edited the book. The book may be purchased from the Chamber’s website, www.kychamber.com, at the tab labeled “Bookstore.”
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP ...
By Latoi Mayo
Each year, employers file a Wage and Tax Statement (Form W-2) with the Social Security Administrator (“SSA”) and the Internal Revenue Service to report how much they paid their employees and how much they deducted in taxes from employees’ wages throughout the year. In the past, Social Security has sent a “no-match” letter ...
By Kim Koratsky
On July 16, 2009, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Jacqueline Berrien to be the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Berrien, currently associate director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Prior to the position with the NAACP, which she ...
By Kim Koratsky
The Memphis, Tennessee, newspaper, The Commercial-Appeal reports that FedEx has added gender identity as an additional protected class covered by its corporate nondiscrimination policy. FedEx already included sexual orientation in its workplace non-discrimination policy, but it has now expanded the language.
By Kristie Alfred Daugherty
On June 18, 2009, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., No. 08-441. The case involved the determination of whether a “mixed motive” analysis is available in a suit brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). In a 5-4 decision, the ...
By Edwin Hopson
It was reported on July 17, 2009, by the New York Times that several key Democratic moderate Senators are working on a revised Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) bill so as to obtain the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster. The original legislation to amend the National Labor Relations Act’s union representation ...
By Ed Hopson and George Miller
On July 9, 2009, the White House announced that it was sending the U.S. Senate the nominations of Craig Becker, Mark Gaston Pearce, and Brian Hayes to be members of the National Labor Relations Board. If the Senate confirms these nominees, the NLRB will have a full complement of five members for the first time since ...