On March 25, 2020, Dave Jeppesen, Director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, issued an Order to Self-Isolate for the State of Idaho, which requires all Idaho residents to self-isolate and all non-essential businesses to close from 1:30 p.m. on March 25, 2020, until 11:59 p.m. on April…
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Employers can’t use prior salary history to justify paying employees less than their opposite-sex colleagues, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed. The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) allows employers to explain pay differences between men and women performing equal work by pointing to seniority, merit, production, or any “factor other than…
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January 1, 2020, the date your employees will be able to apply for Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (WPFML) benefits, is right around the corner. Here’s an update on where things stand and a reminder about our resources: Rulemaking: The Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) has completed its rulemaking (click the…
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Nonexempt employees must be paid for all time worked under California’s Labor Code, even very brief periods of work, according to a recent opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In general, nonexempt employees (often called hourly employees) must be paid for all time spent performing work, but federal law…
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Due to a technicality, the U.S. Supreme Court recently threw out the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2018 decision that barred employers from using prior salary history to justify paying employees less than their opposite-sex colleagues. The federal Equal Pay Act allows employers to explain pay differences between men and women…
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Washington’s new “ban the box” law, which takes effect June 7, 2018, prohibits private employers from asking about criminal history before deciding whether an applicant meets the basic criteria for the position. It also prohibits job ads that automatically exclude people with criminal histories from applying (e.g., by saying “no felons” or “no criminal…
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Join Vigilant members and selected guests as we discuss current issues facing businesses in the area, have questions answered by Vigilant staff, and get to know one another. Sean Brown, Employment Attorney, and Jayson Ballentine, Safety Professional, will be on hand to facilitate the discussion and answer questions. Topics will include: Washington's…
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Question: We just received an application from a candidate who’s clearly qualified, but we know he sued his last employer for discrimination and we’d rather not hire someone who goes around suing people. Can we get in trouble for rejecting him?
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The Question: One of our employees is saying his coworkers are using very obscene racial slurs in casual conversation. We trust our supervisors and they’ve said they can’t imagine this is actually happening. What should we do?
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Q: Is there an exemption from Washington’s paid sick leave law for truck drivers? If not, how do we comply with Washington’s paid leave requirement of providing 1 hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked when we pay our truck drivers in Washington on a cents per mile basis, rather than hourly?
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