(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense
Find a Local Lawyer
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402
Employment Advisory 
Employment Law Observations for Employers and Employees in Washington State
Post Frequency: 2.3/day Last Entry: March 13, 2011 at 21:01:00 Recent Entries: 121
Go to Employment Advisory, find other Labor & Employment Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Jury Award in Spanking Case Reversed
Posted on January 22, 2008Jury Award in Spanking Case Reversed Many of you will remember the case. Janet Orlando sued her employer, Alarm One, due to the company's conduct during "team building" exercises. The company, allegedly, would pit sales teams against each other and the winning team was permitted to make fun of the losers, throw pies at them, feed the losers baby food, make them wear diapers and swat them on the buttocks...
Think before you Fire and then
Posted on January 18, 2008Think before you Fire and then Think Again In 1998, Debbie Bonidy was hired as dental assistant at a dental clinic, in Vail, Colorado. The dental clinic was run by Dr. Harding. About year after Debbie was working there, Dr. Harding changed the employees? schedules...
New Microsoft PatentAccording to
Posted on January 16, 2008New Microsoft PatentAccording to the TimesOnline, Microsoft has just published a patent application for software that will allow an employer to remotely monitor an employee's heart rate, movement, body temperature, facial expression and blood pressure...
Seattle Law Bloggers MeetOn January
Posted on January 16, 2008Seattle Law Bloggers MeetOn January 15, 2008, the Seattle Law Bloggers got together for their first meeting. Thanks to Michael Atkins (Seattle Trademark Lawyer) for hosting the event. Michael is "livin large" in his office at Graham and Dunn, right on Pier 70 looking out at Elliot Bay...
What do you do when the unspeakable
Posted on January 16, 2008What do you do when the unspeakable happens? Business owners are good at planning for expected and unexpected business contingencies. Some even go so far as planning for a disaster such as an earthquake and terrorist attack. (More on earthquakes and other disasters in a later post...
Wednesday's ExcuseCall received
Posted on January 15, 2008Wednesday's ExcuseCall received by the boss on a Sunday. "Dude, I am still trippin', I dropped some LSD on Friday night. There is no way I can work today." Well, you have to admire his honesty. I wonder if he is related to the guy who was late for work because "my drug dealer showed up late...
Starting today, each Wednesday
Posted on January 09, 2008Starting today, each Wednesday we will publish one real life work excuse. If you have used an especially creative excuse or know of one that was used, send it to me for consideration in future posts. I am not condoning these excuses, but sometimes you have to give credit for creativity and/or candor...
Lack of documentation loses case
Posted on January 09, 2008Lack of documentation loses case for employeeHolly Staunch was a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. One of the issues in her lawsuit was whether she had worked 1250 in the past year which would have qualified for FMLA benefits. Continental took the position that she did not...
Harassment by jilted boyfriend
Posted on December 28, 2007Harassment by jilted boyfriend is "because of sex"Allison Forrest was a server at Chilli's Bar and Grill in Portland, Maine. She had an "on again off again" intimate relationship with a coworker, who was a line cook. Once Allison began dating another man, her ex-boyfriend began to call her vulgar names that are highly offensive to females...
Year End Reminders from UsEffective
Posted on December 27, 2007Year End Reminders from UsEffective January 1, 2008, the minimum wage will be $8.07 per hour.Effective January 1, 2008, Washington will prohibit text messaging while driving. In July of 2008, all drivers in Washington will have to use a hands-free cell phone while driving...
Severance Agreement Cannot Waive
Posted on December 27, 2007Severance Agreement Cannot Waive USERRA RightsThe Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) protects members of the military from adverse employment action based on their military status or military service. It also protects a service member's job in the event they are called into service...
Pregnancy Related Discrimination
Posted on December 06, 2007Pregnancy Related Discrimination is Sex Discrimination under the WLADOn November 30, 2007, the Washington Supreme Court decided Hegwine v. Longview Fibre. This case stands for two important propositions. The first is pregnancy discrimination claims should be analyzed, under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), as sex discrimination claims rather than as a failure to accommodate a disability...
Washington Supreme Court decides
Posted on November 12, 2007Washington Supreme Court decides ?drive time? case In Stevens v. Brinks, the Washington Supreme Court was asked to decide if service technicians who were provided with company trucks that they took home every night were entitled to be paid for their drive time from home to a job site and back...
Washington Minimum Wage Increase
Posted on October 12, 2007Washington Minimum Wage Increase Coming UpI know that employers have many items on their plate at this time of year. In Washington, this is the time of year is when employers learn the results of the annual recalculation of the state minimum wage that occurs as a result of the voter approved Initiative 688...
Screening: Do it RightWashington
Posted on September 23, 2007Screening: Do it RightWashington employers who perform background or credit checks on their employees have to be well versed in their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the federal law) as well as the Washington State Fair Credit Reporting Act...
Screening ConsiderationsEmployers
Posted on August 19, 2007Screening ConsiderationsEmployers have been slow to recognize that performing background, reference and credit checks trigger obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Many employers, mistakenly, believe that since the FCRA states it applies to ?consumers? they do not have to satisfy the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act when performing a reference credit history and/or criminal background checks...
Background Checks: Are they necessary?According
Posted on July 31, 2007Background Checks: Are they necessary?According to the Workplace Violence Research Institute, every day, in workplaces throughout the country, approximately 16,400 workers are threatened, 723 employees are attacked and 43,800 employees are harassed. Annually, there are approximately 600 homicides that occur each year within the workplace...
Exit Interviews: How to Handle
Posted on July 24, 2007Exit Interviews: How to Handle Bad News All things being equal, why wouldn't an employer conduct an exit interview? Fear. They fear they will learn information that might be detrimental to their company. Let?s take that fear head on. If there is a problem that led to the departure of an employee, that problem won?t go away just because you didn?t ask about it...
Conducting an Exit Interview
Posted on July 15, 2007Conducting an Exit Interview To maximize the effect of an exit interview it should be held in a private office, away from the employee?s usual work area and be conducted by an individual outside of the employee?s supervisory chain. The individual selected to conduct the interview should be neutral, non-threatening, and a good listener...
Scam Alert-Workplace Posters
Posted on July 15, 2007Scam Alert-Workplace Posters We recently received the following press release from the office of Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna. As you will note, salesmen are taking advantage of business owners who do not know that required workplace posters are available for free over the Internet or can be ordered by phone...
Exit Interviews Easily Overlooked-Too
Posted on July 06, 2007Exit Interviews Easily Overlooked-Too Valuable to Disregard What is an exit interview? Exit interviews are individual meetings to question departing employees about their reason for leaving as well as their attitudes and observations about the company...
Washington adopts Family Leave
Posted on June 09, 2007Washington adopts Family Leave Insurance ProgramWashington recently enacted a Family Leave Insurance Program that will go into effect July 1, 2008. (Although the law is effective on July 1, 2008, no benefits will be paid out until October 2009.) Under the Family Leave Insurance Program (FLIP) employees are entitled to time off for the birth or adoption of a child, with up to five weeks of pay to be supplied by a state fund...
College gets ?schooled? on wages
Posted on May 25, 2007College gets ?schooled? on wages and handbooksWhitworth College was sued by Dr. Mega after he was terminated from a tenured position as a professor. At the heart of Dr. Mega?s claim was whether Whitworth complied with promises made in its handbook when he was terminated...
Is that cell phone worth the risk?
Posted on May 15, 2007Is that cell phone worth the risk? Cell phones have become an integral part of business. With the advent of the BlackBerry and Nextel, and countless other variations on those concepts, we can be connected to our jobs 24 hours a day. I have had people tell me they feel lost if they leave home without their cell phone or BlackBerry...
Employee HandbooksTen Mistakes
Posted on May 09, 2007Employee HandbooksTen Mistakes Should your company have an employee handbook? Absolutely. A properly drafted employee handbook allows management to communicate their expectations to their workforce. Unfortunately, all handbooks are not created equal...
New USERRA CaseThe 11th Circuit
Posted on March 26, 2007New USERRA CaseThe 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in its decision in Tully v. Department of Justice, provided employers with insight into the application of those portions of the USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994) that relate to leave benefits while on furlough or leave of absence...
Concluding the Investigation
Posted on March 18, 2007Concluding the Investigation Once the investigation has been completed, it is time to prepare a written report. Remember, your notes are evidence and once you have notice of a claim, your destruction of those notes could be viewed as spoliation of evidence...
New Ninth Circuit Case on IRCAThe
Posted on March 18, 2007New Ninth Circuit Case on IRCAThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a new opinion in which it clarified a portion of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). The IRCA requires an employer not to ?continue to employ? a person once the employer learns the person is not authorized to work in the U...
Wal Mart Class Action CertifiedThe
Posted on February 20, 2007Wal Mart Class Action CertifiedThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a the certification of a class of individuals, comprising approximately 1.5 million women, who were employed by Wal Mart since December 26, 1998, who, it is alleged, were discriminated against in pay and promotions based on their sex...
Washington Supreme Court clarifies
Posted on February 20, 2007Washington Supreme Court clarifies Blaney The successful plaintiff, in an employment discrimination case, has to pay taxes on past and future wage loss (back and front pay) and emotional distress damages (non-economic damages). In Blaney v. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Washington Supreme Court allowed successfully parties, in a claim under the Washington Laws Against Discrimination (WLAD) to ?gross up? their damages award to include taxes that have to be paid on that award...
Previous | Next
USCIS Expands Premium Processing to Employment Based 3rd Preference Category
On August 18, 2006 the United States Citizenship and Immigration S...
Employment-Based Visa Retrogression - How Does It Effect You?
Cause-effect is defined by Webster’s dictionary as, “the conce...
British Employment Discrimination Amendment About To Become Effective
An amendment to the definition of "religion or belief" in Britain'...
Employment Authorization Document -- What Is It?
What is an Employment Authorization Document?Employment Authorizat...
Teaching of Evolution, Rejection of Creationism Pressed By US Advisory Groups
Reuters reports that yesterday the U.S. National Academy of Scienc...
Employment Contracts
General Contract Law Principles
Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
1. Sub contractor started up a compe...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
How can an employer defend themselves for firing an employee who contends the company exposed him to hazardardous atmospheres although medical testing has been negative?
You'll need to contact OSHA to determine your responsibility as far as the work ...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
#1 Online Legal Resource
On 08-25 at 15:46PM
Acute perpendicular parking #NYPD #NYFD
On 08-18 at 22:18PM
Parallel parking gone bad. Too much gas UES NYC
On 08-18 at 21:41PM
UES NYC
On 08-18 at 21:25PM
Twitter suspends journalist critical of broadcast partner's coverage on dubious grounds @guyadams #nbcfail #twitterfail
On 07-30 at 17:57PM
Model example of 1st Amendment suppression by the People of New York City's Michael Bloomberg #OWS #NYPD
On 07-12 at 21:07PM
AG Holder lackadaisical on Operation in our Sites domain name seizures & RIAA lobbied free speech suppression @dajaz1
On 06-08 at 22:44PM
Why is the Catholic Church going to court over Obama contraception policy? @NewYorker commentary
On 05-31 at 10:08AM
Monks sue Louisiana for right to sell caskets made from forrest destroyed by Katrina
On 05-31 at 07:47AM
Are the abortion ultrasound laws headed for the Supreme Court?
On 05-15 at 21:52PM
Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
1. Sub contractor started up a compe...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
How can an employer defend themselves for firing an employee who contends the company exposed him to hazardardous atmospheres although medical testing has been negative?
You'll need to contact OSHA to determine your responsibility as far as the work ...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
 |
|
Contact Us | About Us | Celebrity Law Blog |
Our Partners | Disclaimer
| Law Blog Directory
| Law Jobs
| Law Tweets
| GoDaddy Hosting
All original material � 1999-2011 by USLaw.com. |