If you observe the U.S. Senate at all these days, you know it’s a very fractured and partisan institution, with hardly anyone agreeing on anything, much less bills that benefit workers. So it may surprise you to learn that the Senate recently passed a civil rights bill with a 98-0 vote. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination …
Genetic Discrimination: Why Is Nothing Happening in the House? Read More »
There were a lot of people stunned by this week’s announcement by Boeing that its CEO, Harry Stonecipher, was being given the boot in response to the disclosure of his affair with a fellow Boeing employee. Those used to the usual paradigm, where the less powerful subordinate (generally a woman) is considered more expendable, may …
Is Corporate America Finally Starting to Get It? Or Will They Miss the Point? Read More »
Class action lawsuits may not be the most critical problem facing our democracy, but you wouldn’t know that from what happened recently. On February 18, the President signed the so-called “Class Action Fairness Act” into law. This law will remove most class actions from state to federal court, which might not sound so bad until …
Class Action Bill Sails Into Law Without Labor Exception Read More »
If you follow employment trends, you’ve probably seen more than one story in the past two weeks about Weyco, an Okemos, Michigan company that recently adopted a no-smoking policy so strict that employees who refused to quit smoking and/or submit to a smoking test were fired after the policy went into effect January 1. For …
Flash in the Pan, or Threatening Trend: Workplace Smoking Restrictions Read More »
Late last year, when a measure to reduce the taxation of plaintiffs’ discrimination awards by eliminating taxation of attorneys’ fees was passed, those currently in legal battles against their employers, and the advocates who represent them, had a reason to celebrate. No longer would their victories run the same risk of being completely undone by …
Discrimination Victims’ Hopes Dashed With Supreme Court Decision on Taxes Read More »
Did you know that: Wal-Mart offers affordable health care benefits to its associates? Or that Wal-Mart does not encourage its associates to apply for public assistance? Or that currently, 74 percent of Wal-Mart’s hourly associates in the United States work full-time? (See walmartfacts.com for similar juicy tidbits) If this does not match your understanding (or …
Special-Interest Groups, Stop Picking on Poor Wal-Mart Read More »
Regular readers of this blog are well aware of the ongoing battle to prevent new overtime regulations from going into effect. You may have noticed, however, that Workplace Fairness, as well as other groups working in opposition to the new regulations, have not been focusing so much on this issue lately. Now we are hearing …
Much Ado About Nothing? Just Look at Your Next Paycheck Read More »
I realize that I, and many of the readers of this blog, manifest some bias in favor of workers who take on their employers in the legal system. After all, it’s why we do what we do. However, even recognizing this bias, every once in a while, a case comes along that makes even a …
It’s supposed to be the time of year when things slow down a little. But often it doesn’t work out quite that way, with year-end quotas and court deadlines that won’t budge even for the holidays. But new research is finding out that taking time off isn’t just a luxury, but a necessity for good …
In “What’s the Matter With Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America,” a book published earlier this year by Thomas Frank, we learn about how the state of Kansas over the last hundred years was transformed from a hotbed of political populism—and even radicalism–to a hotbed of conservative activism, which also purports to be …
I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas Anymore. Or Are We? Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
