Employee Relations Law Journal articles from June 2004

Employee Relations Law Journal archives from June 2004

Grutter v. Bollinger, et al.: affirmative action lessons for the private employer.
June 22, 2004... In two recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed affirmative action by the state in the educational context. Nonetheless, as explained in this article, corporate America can glean several useful lessons from these decisions as it...

The good, the bad, and the ugly: delegating fiduciary responsibility after Enron?
June 22, 2004... In the wake of the collapse of Enron, WorldCom, Kmart, and other large corporations, the federal district courts have applied a laser-like focus to the questions of who is an ERISA fiduciary and why corporate officials may (or may not) enjoy...

Location awareness technology and employee privacy rights.
June 22, 2004... Technological advances allow employers to track the location of company vehicles and company-provided cell phones at all times. Employers welcome this location awareness technology as it increases productivity and efficiency. Employees...

Employment roundtable: attitudes toward, and fairness in, contractual arbitration clauses.(Panel Discussion)
June 22, 2004... A number of courts, including the California Supreme Court, have mandated the existence of many due process provisions in employment arbitration clauses under penalty of invalidation on unconscionability grounds. At a recent roundtable,...

Non-competition issues for multistate employers.
June 22, 2004... In this article, the author explains what "small" employers, and companies operating in mom than one state, need to know about non-compete agreements. ********** Non-competition agreements, non-competition clauses, and noncompetes...

The offshore IT provider is under fire - will the US company be next?(information technology)
June 22, 2004... As the authors explain, U.S. businesses that use offshore providers need to step carefully to avoid legal risk spilling over into their own operations or having their reputations used as leverage in a political fight. ********** ...

Employment practices liability coverage: time to reevaluate coverage to consider expanded liability laws.(California)
June 22, 2004... New legislation in California should cause prudent HR directors and corporate management to re-evaluate not only their employment practices, but also their company's insurance for employment-related claims. As Alison S. Hightower explains, in...

Employers' duty to accommodate breast-feeding, working mothers.
June 22, 2004... In recent years, a number of states have adopted legislation that serves to accommodate the breast-feeding needs of female employees. This article reviews and analyzes those laws. ********** "The promotion of family values and infant...

Taking out the garbage.(expert witnesses in harassment or discrimination lawsuits)
June 22, 2004... The scenario is all too familiar. A plaintiff in a harassment or discrimination lawsuit puts an "expert" witness on the stand to testify that in his or her opinion, the defendant employer discriminated against the plaintiff, or that a...

HSAs - the new consumer health plan: is this the real thing?(health savings accounts)
June 22, 2004... Tucked into the closing pages of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (1) that was signed into law in December 2003, is authorization for new consume>driven health accounts, called "health savings accounts"...