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News & Updates


Littler Mendelson ASAPs and Insight Newsletters
August 2005 - Present

March 2006

December 2005

  • Court Clarifies Circumstances When Employee "Bounty Hunters" May Collect Penalties for Employer's Violation of Labor Code Provisions
    By: Marlene Muraco
     http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =13129&childViewID=250&type=all     Summary: Class claims dismissed by California Court of Appeals for failing to comply with California's Private Attorneys General Act notice requirements.

  • Toward the End of the French Exception?: Overcoming Challenges of Establishing a Global "Whistleblower" Hotline
    By: Garry G. Mathiason and Ariel D. Weindling
     http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =13130&childViewID=249&type=all     Summary: The adoption on November 10, 2005 of guidelines for the implementation of whistleblowing schemes by the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés ("the CNIL") - the French independent administrative authority protecting privacy and personal data - should end a legal impasse with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that had left many international companies, with operations in both the U.S. and France, at risk of either violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or French laws.

  • IN THE HOME STRETCH: Huggers, Instructional Designers, and the Pending Draft of the FEHC's Proposed Regulations for California's Required A.B. 1825 Sexual Harassment Training
    By: Christopher E. Cobey and David N. Goldman
     http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =13090&childViewID=250&type=all
     Summary: California's Fair Employment and Housing Commission announces release of draft regulations for complying with the state's mandatory harassment training requirements. A.B. 1825, passed in the 2003-2004 session of the California Legislature, requires employers who do business in California, and who have 50 or more employees, to provide harassment prevention training to all supervisors. The first round of training must be completed by December 31, 2005.

  • Statute of Limitations Shortened - Meal and Rest Period Remedy Held to Be Penalty and Not Wages
    By: Rod M. Fliegel
     http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =13081&childViewID=250&type=all     Summary: A California Appellate Court holds that a one year (rather than three or four year) statute of limitations applies to violations of California’s stringent meal and rest period rule because the available one-hour of pay remedy is a penalty and not wages.

  • Giving Employees Gifts May Require Giving to the Tax Collector Too
    By: William Hays Weissman GJ Stillson MacDonnell
     http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =13055&childViewID=235&type=all
     Summary: Traditional year end employer gifts to employees are generally treated as supplemental wages and subject to income and payroll taxes. This Insight provides employers guidance on giving taxable and nontaxable gifts to employees this year end.

November 2005

October 2005

  • New Applicant Rule & New OFCCP Audits Are Coming!
    By: Christopher E. Cobey, Cathy S. Beyda hhttp://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItemID
    =12621&childViewID=249&type=all
     Summary: In the current edition, Littler attorneys George Chaffey and Jeff Adams break down the new OFCCP notices for 2005-06 audits of selected establishments which "will" be audited, and the new final rules defining 'Internet Applicants.

  • Mostly Quiet on the Sacramento Front: The Results of the California Legislature's 2005 Session
    By: Christopher E. Cobey, Cathy S. Beyda http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItem
    ID=12602&childViewID=250&type=all
    Summary: The 2005 session of the Democratically-controlled California legislature ended in early September. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his second full year in office, signed and vetoed the Legislature’s products through the first week in October. The resulting new laws affecting California private employers were largely anticlimactic, compared to the legislative production earlier this decade when a single party controlled both the Legislature and the Governor’s office.

September 2005

  • Labor's New Organizing Tactic: Demands by "Minority Unions" for "Members Only"
    By: James T. Winkler
    http://www.littler.com/presspublications/index.cfm?event=pubItem&pubItem
    ID=12450&childViewID=255&type=all
    Summary: Partly in reaction to their failure rate in union elections, unions have changed their organizational tactics in recent years and are now trying a new tactic - demands for bargaining on behalf of union members, even where the union admittedly does not represent a majority of the employer's employees. This unsettled area of law under the NLRA should make employers cautious when dealing with "minority-union" organizing.

  • I Don't Know Why They Picked Me: 10th Circuit Broadens Requirements For Waiving Age Discrimination Claims
    By Nancy N. Delogu and Gary D. Shapiro http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_OWBPAandKruchkowski_9_05.htm
    Summary: Employers seeking waivers or releases of age discrimination claims under the ADEA and the Older Workers' Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA) must now clearly explain not only who has been selected for layoff but also why the selections were made.

  • Men's Temper Tantrums That Bother Women May Be Sex Discrimination
    By Margaret Hart Edwards http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_MaleTantrums_9_05.htm
    Summary: Ninth Circuit finds that yelling and bullying in the workplace that adversely affects women may be gender discrimination even if not sexual in nature or gender specific.

  • Hospitality: New Jersey Confirms That General Managers of Chain Restaurants are Executive Employees Who are Exempt from Overtime
    By Eric A. Savage http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_NJ_NoOvertimeforGMs_9_05.htm
    Summary: New Jersey's Appellate Division holds that centralized control over menus, prices and control procedures does not deprive managers of discretion and make them eligible for overtime pay.

  • Court Ruling Clears Smoke Regarding Medical Marijuana and Pre-employment Drug Tests
    By Rod M. Fliegel and Nancy N. Delogu http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_ca_PreemploymentDrugTests_9_05.htm
    Summary: At least for now, California employers no longer face the Hobson's choice of hiring an applicant who is using medical marijuana or refusing to hire that applicant and risking an expensive lawsuit.

  • Beware Misleading and Overbroad EEO-1 Filing Requirements
    By George E. Chaffey http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_EEO1FilingRequirements_9_05.htm
    Summary: It's time again for the annual EEO-1 filing. But, beware! The misleading EEO-1 website can force some companies to be wrongly characterized as "government contractors" subject to OFCCP audits.

  • Department of Homeland Security Temporarily Relaxes I-9 Documentation Standards for Hiring Hurricane Victims
    By Susan A. P. Woodhouse
    http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/DHSTemporaryI-9Documentation.htm
    Summary: The Department of Homeland Security issued a press release stating it will temporarily relax the I-9 standards against employers for hiring individuals evacuated or displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina otherwise eligible for employment but who currently lack personal documents.

  • Employers' Responsibilities In the Wake of a Natural Disaster
    By Tanja L. Darrow and Frederick J. Barrow http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/ASAP_WakeofHurricaneKatrina_9_05.htm
    Summary: While the nation copes with the unprecedented devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, there are many legal and business issues to consider in response. This ASAP offers guidelines for employers to follow not only in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but also in response to other natural and man-made disasters including steps to take to prepare for such calamitous events.

August 2005:

  • Benefits Insight: It's Baaack: The Reemergence of Withdrawal Liability and Its Impact on Employers Participating in Multiemployer Pension Plans
    By Kevin L. Wright http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/benefits_Insight_WithdrawalLiability_8_05.htm
    Summary: With the lagging performance of equity markets since 2001, many of our clients who participate in Taft-Hartley multiemployer pension plans are finding that withdrawal liability is reemerging as a significant issue. Withdrawal liability can be significant not only in expected areas like collective bargaining, organizing and decertification, but is also becoming a critical issue in corporate transactions, where a failure to anticipate, or account for, withdrawal liability can delay or outright derail a transaction.
    "The Reemergence of Withdrawal Liability and Its Impact on Employers Participating in Multiemployer Pension Plans," is essentially a primer on withdrawal liability, and is ideally suited for any clients or contacts who participate in multiemployer pension plans or who are organized and bargain over pension and retirement issues.

  • Hospitality: Texas Bar & Restaurant Owners Compelled to Take Measures to Prevent Identity Thefts by Employees
    By John O'Donnell and Kerry Notestine http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_hospitality_TexasIdentityTheft_8_05.htm
    Summary: Texas law effective September 1, 2005, requires warning sign about identity theft for restaurant and bar employees.

  • Global: Advanced Passenger Information Rule
    By Sandra N. Sheridan, Esq., Littler Mendelson Bacon & Dear http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/global_asap_AdvancedPassengerInformation_8_05.htm
    Summary: Department of Homeland Security to require additional information from passengers prior to trips to the U.S., effective October 4, 2005.

  • Global: U.S.A: H-1B Cap Reached: CIS Imposes August 10, 2005, Cutoff Date
    By Bonnie Gibson, Esq., Littler Mendelson Bacon & Dear http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/global_asap_H1BCapReached_8_05.htm
    Summary: Without notice or fanfare, the Citizenship and Immigration Service has announced that all available H-1B visas, the visa of choice for highly skilled professional foreign national employees to enter and work temporarily in the U.S., have been allocated for Fiscal Year 2006. This means that employers will not be able to commence employment for any new H-1B visa holder before October 1, 2006. There are a very few thousand H-1B visas remaining for masters' and PhD. degree holders from U.S. universities, but these openings will likely be filled very soon. Congress may act to provide relief to the employer community, but there is no guarantee.

  • Global: General Pool of H-1Bs for FY06 Close to being Exhausted
    By Lori S. Melton, Littler Mendelson Bacon & Dear http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_global_H1Bs_FY06_8_05.htm
    Summary: The USCIS has announced that the number of available H-1B visas are rapidly declining for FY2006; companies wishing to sponsor people for these H visas should file immediately in order to be included in the FY2006 cap.

  • Arizona Supreme Court Strikes Down Denial of Workers' Compensation Benefits Due to Presence of Alcohol or Drugs
    By Neil Alexander and Laurent Badoux http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_az_Grammatico_8_05.htm
    Summary: The    Arizona Supreme Court has rejected provisions of the state workers' compensation statute precluding any award of benefits when alcohol or controlled substances contributed to injury.

  • Then and Now: The California Supreme Court Rules Corporate Officers and Directors Were Not Personally Liable for Non-Payment of Wages, but Individual Defendants Are Now At Risk
    By R. Brian Dixon, Michael E. Brewer and James Y. Wu http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_ca_ReynoldsvBement_8_05.htm
    Summary: The potential personal liability of corporate agents in wage and hour class actions is a matter of great concern. In Reynolds v. Bement, the California Supreme Court concluded that there was no such personal liability under the state Labor Code at the time the case arose. There is, however, potential personal liability under provisions of the Labor Code not at issue in Reynolds, under changes made in the Code since Reynolds filed suit, under principles of corporate law and under long-established federal law. The risk of personal liability makes wage and hour compliance a priority of every manager.

  • Whistleblower Protection Without Blowing the Whistle? The California Supreme Court Says That Employees Can Silently Oppose Discrimination and Still Sue for Retaliation
    By Nancy E. Pritikin and Philip L. Ross http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_ca_WhistleblowerProtection_8_05.htm
    Summary: Employees in California need not explicitly say they are opposing discrimination in order to claim retaliation, and can show opposition simply by refusing to comply with an employer's directives.

  • For The California Supreme Court, Predispute Contractual Waiver of Right to Jury Trial Are Not Enforceable in Civil Actions Under California Law
    By Robert S. Blumberg and Ariel D. Weindling http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_CA_GraftonPartners_8_05.htm
    Summary: On August 4, 2005, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in Grafton Partners L.P. v. The Superior Court of Alameda County (PriceWaterhouseCoopers L.L.P.), Case No. S123344, and held unequivocally that a predispute contractual waiver of the right to a jury trial is not enforceable in a civil action in California.

  • Labor Management: The Splitting of the AFL-CIO: What It Means to the Nation's Employers
    By Gavin Appleby, Andrew Marks and Gerald Hathaway http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/asap_lm_aflcio_split_8_05.htm
    Summary: The splitting of the AFL-CIO and the emergence of a separate union coalition, Change to Win, means employers must prepare themselves to operate in this new, aggressive union environment.

  • Benefits: Compliance Update: The Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program
    By J. René Toadvine http://www.littler.com/nwsltr/BENEFITS_asap_VFCP_7_05.htm
    Summary: The revisions to VFCP make it easier for retirement plan fiduciaries to proactively correct certain fiduciaries violations with the DOL and avoid DOL penalties that may otherwise apply. The revised VFCP also adds several transactions to the list of fiduciary violations that are eligible for relief under VFCP. Clients with retirement plan fiduciary compliance issues may wish to consider using VFCP as a vehicle for compliance resolution.
   
 
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