A federal district court in California recently awarded Wal-Mart employees $102 million in damages and penalties for missed meals and insufficient wage statements. The class action claim was divided into three parts: missed meals, wage statements missing hourly rates, and final pay statements without pay period start and end dates.…
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Employers may need to offer leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) even when employees don’t ask, ruled a federal district court in Michigan.
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The Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) is in the process of rulemaking for Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (WPFML). As we previously reported, WPFML provides leave benefits starting in 2020, with tax assessments on employees and employers beginning January 1, 2019. Phase 1 Complete ESD has divided rulemaking into six phases.…
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Question: I just found out that an employee posted a hateful comment toward immigrants on her personal Facebook page. We’re afraid of the bad PR impact on our business. Can we fire her for violation of our policy against discrimination?
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On March 21, 2018, Washington officially joined the multitude of states tackling pay disparity as Governor Jay Inslee signed the Equal Pay Opportunity Act (Second Substitute House Bill 1506). The Act significantly expands Washington’s existing pay equity law for the first time since its adoption in 1943. Applying to all employers with…
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Question: We recently instituted a no-beard policy to ensure that men can securely wear their required safety masks. However, one of our Muslim employees refused, citing the Prophet Muhammad. I’ve studied the Quran, and I know that it doesn’t require beards. Can we discipline or fire him for not shaving?
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On September 21, 2017 Vigilant hosted a Washington Paid Sick Leave webinar. Find a list of FAQs from the webinar below.
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Finding no evidence of discrimination under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a railroad terminated a train engineer because of his poor attendance, not his diagnosed sleep disorder. Although this case was brought under FEHA, the analysis was the same as it…
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Q: We just got a call from a business that wants to check on a former employee. They faxed a release she signed waiving liability for information we share. Are we safe telling them the truth about what a bad employee she was?
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In a report released May 16, 2017, Quest Diagnostics revealed that American workplace drug testing has reached its highest positivity rate in 12 years. After analyzing more than ten million drug test results in 2016, Quest found that workers tested positive in 4.2 percent of all urine tests—a 5 percent jump from…
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