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| A study released in January by
Vault Inc., a career media company based in New York, found that 66 percent of workers surveyed said
their co-workers candidly discuss politics, but political debate in the workplace can have a
downside, workplace experts said. Not only can it affect productivity, but it could lead to lawsuits
if the discussion about the candidates shows evidence of discrimination based on race, sex or age,
experts said. |
| (Source: The (Del.) News Journal,
2008-05-05) |
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| A landmark bill to forbid
discrimination against people whose genetic information shows a predisposition to certain illnesses
won final U.S. congressional approval. Thirteen years after such legislation was first introduced,
the House of Representatives passed the bill, 414-1, and sent it to President George W. Bush, who
has promised to sign it into law. |
| (Source: Reuters, 2008-05-01) |
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| Forcing companies to use a
government system to verify the legal status of workers would cause thousands of citizens and legal
residents to be initially rejected for work and cripple the Social Security Administration, critics
told Congress. The system, known as E-Verify, is currently voluntary, but several proposals in
Congress -- including an immigration enforcement measure known as the SAVE Act -- would make it
mandatory. |
| (Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (free reg. req'd), 2008-05-07) |
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| The U.S. government fined a
consulting firm $45,000 for placing online job ads for computer programmers that said only H-1B visa
holders should apply. The case is just the tip of an iceberg of H-1B abuses, according to a lobbying
group that filed the original complaint. |
| (Source: EE Times, 2008-05-02) |
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| A lawsuit has been filed
against Kilgore Flares Co. accusing the company of discrimination in its hiring practices. The class
action lawsuit states that the company uses a nerve test to determine who it hires. The test is
supposed to determine the risk of potential employees' developing carpal tunnel syndrome, according
to the suit. |
| (Source: Jackson Sun, 2008-05-02) |
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| A federal judge has approved a
settlement under which Citigroup Inc agreed to pay $33 million to about 2,500 current and former
female brokers at its Smith Barney unit to resolve a gender discrimination lawsuit. The plaintiffs
had accused Smith Barney in the original March 2005 complaint of preventing female brokers from
competing fairly for new accounts, promotions and pay and of depriving women of equal training and
sales support. |
| (Source: Reuters, 2008-04-30) |
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| In a rare win for a plaintiff
alleging employment discrimination, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a woman can
bring a harassment claim for language not referring specifically to her. |
| (Source: law.com, 2008-05-05) |
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| The Rev. Derrick Gomez alleges
that in his job with the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America he was
subjected to an intolerable pattern of racial discrimination that ultimately led him to resign. But
the suit may never be heard because of a First Amendment exemption that protects the church from
government interference in matters of hiring or firing. |
| (Source: newsobserver.com,
2008-05-05) |
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| Shareholders have been up in
arms lately about huge CEO paychecks, but so far that fervor hasn't translated into much action.
Based on early tallies, proposals aimed at giving stockholders a vote on executive pay -- the "say
on pay" movement -- have failed to win widespread support in recent weeks. |
| (Source: CNNMoney.com, 2008-04-30) |
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| Conectiv Energy and three
subcontractors will pay $1.65 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by four black workers
who said they were subjected to racial slurs, Ku Klux Klan graffiti and a noose that was left
hanging for more than a week. The men alleged the harassment took place in 2002 and 2003 on a
construction site at the former Bethlehem Steel site, where Conectiv was the general contractor and
property owner on a project to build a new gas-fired power plant. |
| (Source: Chicago Tribune (free reg. req'd.),
2008-05-06) |
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| Ryan McCabe
Poor |
Eric
Singer |
Illinois Legislature Clamps Down On Employee Misclassification in Construction Industry
(But Danger Lurks For All Employers)
Two workers are sitting in your office. Which one is the independent contractor? No, not the
start of a joke but the inability to answer that question could cost you a great deal of money. The
Illinois Employee Classification Act (Act), 820 ILCS 185/1 et seq., became effective January
1, 2008. The Act is intended to prevent the misclassification of employees as independent
contractors in the construction industry – an effort likely to garner national attention as states
and the federal government are putting increasing scrutiny on the proper classification of workers.
The new law is designed to prevent contractors from avoiding overtime pay, unemployment
compensation, payroll taxes and other costs that can otherwise be avoided by classifying workers as
independent contractors as opposed to employees.
Read the entire article about employee
misclassification.
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School's (Almost) Out for the
Summer!
Perhaps you are hiring some young summer workers. Remember that teens, and temporary
summer or seasonal employees, can also benefit from on-site training in risk awareness and safety.
More than 150,000 teens have work injuries every year. Keep your teen workers safe!
Please contact Kathleen Shortridge or Ann
Stewart if you have any worker's comp questions.
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