Employee Relations Law Journal articles from March 22 2007

Employee Relations Law Journal archives from March 22 2007

In a class by themselves: the legal status of employee appearance policies under title VII after Jespersen v. Harrah's Operating Co.
March 22, 2007... This article discusses the status of appearance rules under Title VII after Jespersen. ********** For 20 years, Darlene Jespersen was a competent and popular bartender at Harrah's Casino in Reno, Nevada. In 2000, Harrah's launched a...

Obesity-related "perceived disability" claims: legal standards and human resource implications.
March 22, 2007... This article discusses evolving federal and state legal standards pertaining to obesity-elated perceived disability claims, identifies specific evidence that has been found to either support or refute such claims, and provides employers...

Gender as bona fide occupational qualification.
March 22, 2007... This article discusses the category of "sex" as a bona fide occupational qualification and focuses on two general situations where employers have attempted to justify gender exclusion on the basis of a BFOQ: customer preference and...

Did you hear the one about the dumb blonde who hired an attorney? can telling dumb blonde jokes constitute sexual harassment?
March 22, 2007... While more employers have been hesitant to regulate jokes in the workplace because they do not want to be perceived as humorless, jokes can be considered offensive and even be a potential form of sexual harassment. This article examines the...

Designing a bonus plan that rewards attendance and productivity without violating the FMLA.
March 22, 2007... Since the passage of the FMLA in 1993, employers have struggled with the impact of the law on employee bonus plans. Their efforts have run the gamut from plans that expressly (and illegally) penalized FMLA usage, to plans that rewarded...

Seeking a definition of "supervisor" - a critical issue in sexual harassment cases.
March 22, 2007... This article reviews judicial decisions which dealt with defining the word "supervisor" in the context of sexual harassment cases. The authors conclude that the courts are divided on the issue, and they propose the use of the National Labor...

Electronic notices and consents: the IRS issues final regulations.
March 22, 2007... The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations interpreting how the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) applies to the requirements that certain plan documents be "in writing." The regulations may not...

LaRue v. DeWolff and the Fourth Circuit's clarification of civil enforcement provisions under ERISA.
March 22, 2007... The question of what circumstances, if any, entitle individual subsets of plan participants to the legal remedy of damages under Section 502(a)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) has been an area of considerable...