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According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, a California jury recently awarded a hospital employee $168 million, including $125 million in punitive damages, to a female physician assistant who endured two years of sexually inappropriate behavior and then was fired for reporting the harassment as well as patient care violations.  The perpetrators included cardiac surgeons.  The plaintiff claimed the hospital tolerated their behavior because of the large revenues they generated. 

The verdict, one of the largest ever recorded in a sexual harassment case, highlights the need to conduct regular training and education, to take seriously and investigate complaints, and to think long and hard about terminating or taking other action against an employee who has filed a sexual harassment complaint. 

In follow up to our previous post (May 9, 2011) regarding the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) treatment of social media, the NLRB released further guidance in an effort to assist employers in evaluating the legality of social media policies and practices.  The NLRB’s social media report analyzes 14 cases, involving both social media policies and employee discharge for posting comments to Facebook.  The cases covered provide examples of both lawful and unlawful policies and conduct.  The NLRB released a similar compilation of cases in 2011, making clear that there has been no shortage of alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) stemming from the realm of social media. 

According to the NLRB, the report underscores two main points:

1. Employer policies should not be so sweeping that they prohibit the kinds of activity protected by federal law, such as the discussion of wages or working conditions among employees; and
2. An employee’s comments on social media are generally not protected if they are mere gripes not made in relation to group activity among employees. 

The NLRB continues to track and evaluate all cases involving social media and this will undoubtedly continue to be a hot topic for the foreseeable future.  Employers are advised to consider the NLRB’s new guidance and to ensure that their social media policies and practices are in accordance with the law.

If you have any questions, please contact Berchem, Moses & Devlin.

In what will no doubt be viewed as a landmark decision, an interest arbitration panel has issued an award which will allow the New Haven Public Schools to privatize 86 of the 186 positions in its custodial and maintenance union, and in the process save nearly $4 million dollars.

Faced with skyrocketing pension and health insurance cost which are expected to outpace the growth in revenues over the foreseeable future, the City of New Haven and its Board of Education were forced to look for ways to substantially cut operating costs.  Having already laid off nearly 300 employees over the last two fiscal years, the Board and the City began to look at other options.

Among the options considered was outsourcing services that could continue to be provided at a substantial savings.  An option that emerged was the outsourcing of school custodial and related services, which cost the Board $16 million per year.  As a result of an RFP, the Board found a national firm willing to perform the same services for just $8 million, which would mean a net savings to the budget of $8 million per year. 

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Currently on the table is a bill which would allow employers to require employees hired after October 1, 2011 to choose between direct deposit and a payroll card as their payment method, and which would also allow employers to provide employees with an electronic record of their hours worked, gross earnings, deductions, and net earnings, as long as (1) an employee can access and print it for free, and (2) it incorporates safeguards to ensure confidentiality.  The full text of the bill can be found here.  Unlike many other states, current law requires employers to pay their employees in cash or by negotiable check and only permits direct deposit if the employee submits a written request.  Wage and hour information must currently be furnished in writing.  This is surprising considering Connecticut already uses prepaid debit cards to deliver a variety of benefits including unemployment compensation.   

Under the bill, as amended, a “payroll card” is a stored value card or other device, but not a gift certificate, used by an employee to access wages from a payroll card account. A “payroll card account” is one that an employer directly or indirectly establishes to transfer employee wages, salary, or other compensation, for the employee to access with a payroll card. In practice, the cards operate like debit cards.  The bill sets forth numerous conditions for their use, such as notice requirements, allowing one free withdrawal per pay period, limiting fees, and requiring employers to provide employees with access to their account balances. 

Proponents of the bill say it will not only decrease the cost to employers of providing paper checks, but will also allow employees to avoid costly check-cashing services and obtain their wages even when they are away from the workplace.  One critic, the Connecticut Food Association, is concerned about the potential increase in “interchange fees” or the fees that banks charge retailers when consumers pay for their groceries with a debit card, while the Connecticut AFL-CIO voiced concerns about liquidity. 

Attorney Jeffrey Mogan will be presenting a seminar entitled “A Legal Roadmap to Operating Efficiently in Unionized Health Care Facilities” at the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities (CAHCF) annual Educational Conference on November 9, 2011 in Cromwell.  Discussion topics include key provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and avoiding common pitfalls of employee discipline in a union workplace.  Additional information on the conference can be found on the CAHCF website.