In Rzepiennik v. Archstone-Smith, Inc., the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal circuit having jurisdiction over Utah, considered the question of when a retaliation claim under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is considered timely. The employee in the case contended that his employer had retaliated against him when he reported financial irregularities internally by terminating […]
The Utah Employment Selections Procedure Act was amended in the recent special legislative session. The amendment clarifies and expands the times that birthdates, social security numbers, and drivers license numbers can be requested. However, the law continues to restrict the use of this information and continues to require a document retention policy.
Many employers use background checks to investigate the background of their employees who have fiduciary obligations, such as money management, driving duties, or have high-profile positions with the company. The Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to any of these background checks performed by a consumer reporting agency for an employer. The act requires that, if […]
On Monday, May 18, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a pension plan that paid out benefits to pension receipients based upon calculations that did not equally credit women who had taken pregnancy leave prior to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) were not presently violating the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The Court explained in its […]
The Stimulus Package that was enacted in February, otherwise called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, provides sweeping whistleblower protections to any employee of an employer who receives any stimulus money. The protections found in section 1553 of the Act prohibit any demotion, discharge, or other discrimination of an employee when he or […]
Section 3001 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that was enacted by Congress in February 2009 provides that for certain eligible employees who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, an employer must cover 65% of COBRA continuation coverage premiums, which employers may then take as a tax […]
The new Employment Selection Procedures Act became effective yesterday, May 12, 2009. As discussed in an earlier post, the Act requires an employer to “maintain a specific policy regarding the retention, disposition, access, and confidentiality of information” gathered in the “initial selection process,” i.e, the application process. In fact, the new law requires that an […]
In Merrill v. Utah Labor Commission, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the Utah Workers Compensation statutory provision that requires the reduction of workers compensation benefits by 50% of the Social Security retirement benefits received by an injured worker was unconstitutional under the “uniform operations of law” clause or article I, section 24 of the […]
In Creative Consumer Concepts, Inc. v. Kreisler, the Tenth Circuit—the federal court having jurisdiction over Utah—discussed several evidentiary matters arising out of a severance agreement gone bad. Creative Consumer Concepts, Inc., terminated the employment of one of its vice presidents in 2004. In terminating the relationship, the company offered the vice president a severance agreement. […]
Many people will dismiss recordkeeping as a less-than-important topic that can easily be discussed in a few minutes at the beginning of a relatively short staff meeting. No matter how prevalent this view, it is wrong. In fact, aside from responsibilities that businesses have to keep records about contractual and formation issues, businesses that employ […]
