Amendment to the Labor Commission’s Antidiscrimination Regulations. In the Utah State Bulletin for September 1, 2014, the Utah Labor Commission proposes an amendment to its antidiscrimination regulations (R606-1). The amendment repairs an inadequate, ten-day time limit, and provides for the release of information held by the Division of Antidiscrimination and Labor. Rule R606-1-3 extends […]
The Utah Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s summary judgment dismissal of a former employee’s claim against Target for breach of contract, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and defamation. In a twenty page opinion, the court said that the employee, who had been caught on camera taking a customer’s wallet, had no […]
In a case decided on June 20, 2014, Dorsey v. DWS, 2014 UT 22, the Utah Supreme Court held that the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) had “erroneously interpreted” a statutory provision to ban seasonal employees who receive work-search deferrals from leaving the country. As in many cases as discussed in an earlier post, the unemployment […]
The Utah Department of Workforce Services has apparently begun a campaign of alleging that unemployment applicants are committing fraud when applying for benefits while out of the United States. Relying on Utah Administrative Code Rule R994-403-112c(2)(i), the Department of Workforce Services has claimed that any travel outside of the United States makes a person ineligible […]
In Sandoval v. Martinez-Barnish, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s decision to refuse to substitute the United States as the defendant in a case brought by a contract worker against the federal employee assigned to supervise her work. The contract worker brought a claim for assault, battery, and outrageous conduct against […]
In Issa v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the Workforce Appeals Board which denied unemployment benefits to an employee who attempted to rescind his resignation. The employee had resigned his employment after he was told he would be suspended for three days while the company investigated a second customer complaint. […]
On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the federal appellate court having jurisdiciton over Utah—determined that the correct standard to be assessed on retaliation claims arising under the First Amendment is whether the alleged retaliatory actions are actions that “would deter a reasonable person from exercising his . . . First Amendment […]
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 […]
In a case decided on Thursday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the appellate court having jurisdiction over Utah— upheld the dismissal of a complaint brought by a woman against the Colorado Department of Transportation for sexual harassment and retaliation she claimed occurred while she was working for the agency as an administrative assistant. In the […]
