Skip to main content
Continuing pressures on the global economy, exacerbated by the tragic events of September 11, have forced many employers to reduce expenses in an effort to enhance their prospects for long-term profitability. In some...
Dec 31, 2001
Employment Discrimination
Changes in California Labor and Employment Law to Take Effect on January 1, 2002
During the year 2001, several pieces of significant legislation were enacted in California that effectively expand employee rights and legal protections. Recent legislation also requires California employers to post new...
In 2000, New York City enacted the Gender-Motivated Violence Act (“GMVA”), N.Y.C. Code § 8-101, et seq. The GMVA went into effect on December 19, 2000. While the GMVA has now been in effect for a year, it has...
Dec 31, 2001
General Employment Issues
Staying Out of Court: Mandatory Arbitration of Employment Claims
The past year has seen significant developments in the law governing employer-created dispute resolution programs that provide for mandatory arbitration of employment-related claims, including discrimination and harassment...
Dec 20, 2001
Employment Discrimination
California Appellate Court Disallows Faragher/Ellerth Affirmative Defense
In Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998) and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998) the United States Supreme Court outlined an affirmative defense available to an employer sued for sexual...
Nov 29, 2001
Labor Relations
Eighth Circuit Finds that News Producers and Assignment Editors Are Not Supervisors under the National Labor Relations Act
In a 2-to-1 decision of particular significance to employers in broadcast industries, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that television assignment editors and news producers are not supervisors...
On October 14, 2001, California Governor Gray Davis signed legislation requiring that employers provide certain benefits to domestic partners of employees and otherwise extending to domestic partners certain protections that...
Nov 15, 2001
General Employment Issues
Second Circuit Refuses to Enforce Department of Labor Regulation Which Effectively Broadens Class Of Employees Eligible for FMLA Leave
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has joined several other federal courts in refusing to enforce 29 C.F.R. § 825.110(d), a regulation promulgated by the Department of Labor under the Family and Medical Leave Act (the...
In its seminal decision in NLRB v. J. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251 (1975), the U.S. Supreme Court, affirming a decision of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”), ruled that an employer violates the National...
Oct 29, 2001
Employment Discrimination
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Narrowly Construes ADA’s “Direct Threat” Defense
Many employers, especially those in safety-sensitive industries, express concern that hiring applicants with certain disabilities could pose hazards in the workplace. The Americans with Disabilities Act (the...