In a decision issued today, 114 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate [Age Discrimination in Employment Act] ADEA claims is enforceable as a matter of law.” In doing so, the Court acknowledged that it had previously expressed […]
The Utah Legislative Session ended earlier this month and the Governor has signed many of the bills that passed. Following is a list of legislation that may have an impact on employers and employees. (For a link to the language of the relevant bill language as passed, click here.) House Bills: House Bill 12, County […]
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—the circuit having jurisdiction over Utah—held on March 19, 2009, in a case entitled Avila v. Jostens, Inc., that a supervisor’s statement to an employee that he “should get out of the country if he couldn’t speak English” at approximately the time the employee was fired was “circumstantial evidence of […]
As has been discussed in earlier posts, the Utah legislature is considering many bills and resolutions that may have impact on Utah employers and employees. Here are additional bills: House Legislation: House Bill 331, Health Reform – Health Insurance Coverage in State Contracts. This bill proposes to require certain state entities who contract with third […]
The Tenth Circuit (the federal appeals court having jurisdiction over Utah) decided last week that three employees did not have a retaliation claim when they were unable to establish that the alleged actions taken against them by the Wichita Police Department would not dissuade a reasonable worker from making a charge of discrimination. In the […]
On February 17, 2009, the Utah House Business and Labor Committee voted against recommending House Bill 267 to the House. As indicated in an earlier post, House Bill 267 proposed to include a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity as factors that could not be considered by employers in making employment decisions. Click here to […]
All employers know that one of the most important decisions that they make is who to hire or who to let go. Despite this fact, many employers approach the employee selection process in a haphazard manner. This is very troublesome because the selection process is one of the most fertile areas for employment litigation. Hiring […]
President Obama signed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act this morning. Prior to the passage of the Act, an employee was required to sue within 180 days of the day that an employer decided to pay an employee a smaller wage or salary for a discriminatory reason. The problem with this prior interpretation of the law […]
The Utah legislature is now considering a bill that proposes to include a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity as factors that cannot be considered by employers in making employment decisions. Besides prohibiting most employers in the state from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identify, House Bill 267, Antidiscrimination Amendments, proposes […]
The Utah Labor Commission has proposed rules to govern the process for the adjudication of discrimination claims filed by parties in the Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division and the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Division. The comment period for he proposed new rules for Discrimination claims and Utah Occupational Safety and Health claims ends on […]
