Tol On July 25, 2011, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court having jurisdiction over federal cases in Utah, decided an issue that had yet to be decided by that court—whether an employee claiming a violation of his or her right to association was required to show that the association involved an […]
In Lowery v. Workforce Appeals Board, a tattoo parlor, Happy Valley Tattoo, claiming to be a religious entity affiliated with UBU Ministries that “considered tattooing to be one of its core religious tenets,” asserted that it was exempt from Utah’s unemployment insurance statutes. Acknowledging that such an exemption exists, the Utah Court of Appeals held […]
On July 29, 2011, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld a Workforce Appeals Board determination that an employee who failed to follow his work schedule was not terminated for just cause and was, therefore eligible for unemployment. In Prosper Team, Inc. v. Department of Workforce Services, the Utah Court of Appeals stated that, although it […]
In McLeod v. Retirement Board, the Utah Court of Appeals refused to reverse the Utah State Retirement Board’s decision that a Davis County sheriff deputy’s “retirement benefits from two periods of public employment must be calculated separately.” The Court disagreed that the plain language of the statute required the Board to treat the two separate periods as […]
In Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, the United States Supreme Court determined that an Arizona law enacted in 2007 that allows Arizona courts to suspend or revoke licenses to do business in Arizona if an employer knowingly or intentionally employs an unauthorized alien and requires all employers in the state to use E-verify was not […]
In InnoSys, Inc. v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld an Administrative Law Judge’s [ALJ’s] determination to grant a discharged employee unemployment insurance. One of the issues before the court was whether the ALJ had improperly denied a motion for continuance because a witness was confined to bed because of her medical condition. In […]
In Borde v. Board of County Commissioners, the Tenth Circuit Court upheld a trial court’s order denying immunity to County Commissioners for violating former employees’ due process rights when, among other things, they failed to put on the agenda of the meeting that they would be considering the employment contract of the employees. Stating that […]
In Stampin’ Up, Inc. v. Labor Commission, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the Labor Commission’s finding that an employee was entitled to temporary disability benefits after he was fired for distributing pornographic images to other employees. Reasoning that, because there was no evidence that the employee had not intended his acts to get him fired, the […]
In EEOC v. C.R. England, Inc., the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by an HIV-positive truck driver. The truck driver, who had been hired to train new truck drivers for C.R. England, Inc., disclosed his HIV-positive status to C.R. England. After doing so, C.R. England prepared a form that […]
In Kline v. Utah Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to overturn a Utah District Court’s ruling that the Utah Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division (UALD)—the agency charged with investigating claims of discrimination in Utah—did not illegally discriminate against one of its former discrimination investigators. Concluding that the UALD acted appropriately […]
