Beginning January 1, 2018, employers in California may no longer inquire into prospective employees’ compensation history. The goal of this measure is to reduce the substantial gaps in pay for female and minority employees. On October 12, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 168 into law. The Bill adds a new section containing several important protections to the California Labor…
When a private party brings an action under the False Claims Act, he or she sues not “only for himself but the king” in what is known as a qui tam lawsuit. The private plaintiff is called the relator. United States ex rel. Eisenstein v. City of New York, 556 U.S. 928, 932 (2009). As a synopsis, the process works like…
Revelations that Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly entered into serial confidential settlements with women who claimed they were sexually harassed in the workplace have brought a great deal of attention to non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in settlement agreements. Indeed, this increased attention has lead lawmakers in certain states to propose changes in the law to address concerns about secrecy,…
Absent a contract of employment, “at-will employment” is the predominant employment relationship in the United States. Under the system, an employer can fire an employee for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. However, an employee may not be fired for an illegal reason, such as racial, gender, or other types of discrimination forbidden by law. And an…
Posted October 18th, 2017. Nashville, TN—The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (“MNAA”) Board of Commissioners voted during today’s meeting to terminate President and CEO Rob Wigington. On September 5, 2017, MNAA relieved Wigington of his duties when Wigington attempted to return to work after taking medical leave. In June 2017, Wigington notified the board that he would require medical leave to…
Sexual harassment is all over the news. Harvey Weinstein, the cinematic giant, has been exposed as a loathsome lothario, a serial abuser of women, and a poster child of male privilege and abuse in the movie industry. Weinstein and sexual harassment are now inextricably linked in the public imagination, and, it seems, never the twain shall part. Sexual harassment is…
Most, if not all, states have insurance fraud prevention statutes designed to punish those who defraud private insurers. California, however, has enacted a law that takes insurance fraud prevention a step further. The California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act (“IFPA”) contains qui tam provisions that allow individuals or entities, known as relators: i) to blow the whistle on fraud against private…
You may remember that about a year a half ago, the Department of Labor, under President Obama, issued a rule that was going change what’s called the “salary level” for “white collar” workers. The salary level is part of the federal overtime rules. Those rules basically say: if you’re a white collar worker and you make less than the salary level you…
Equal pay for equal work has been the law in the United States for over 50 years. Both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibit employers from paying women less than men for equal work. When Congress passed these important protections in the 1960s, women made about 59 cents for every dollar…
We all know that resignations are not always by choice. For example, it is hardly voluntary if an employer tells a worker that she can either resign or be fired. But even resignations which at first blush appear voluntary may legally be no different than a firing. The term is “constructive discharge.” Contrary to the common meaning of the word…