By Burton J. Fishman

In a prior notice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that its new Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) regulations would be issued this month and that new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations should be out in July. It now appears those dates were overly optimistic.

In a public session before the District of Columbia Bar’s Labor and Employment Committee on Wednesday, May 26, EEOC Commissioners Victoria Lipnic and Stuart Ishimaru indicated that with three new members and a new general counsel coming onto the board, there is certain to be a period of reexamination of the public comments about the regulations before the commissioners are prepared to vote on them.

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Please don’t read this list literally! Vermont employment law attorney Jeffrey Nolan with Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew had his tongue firmly planted in cheek when he first shared this list with listeners during a national audio presentation on performance evaluations earlier today.

Conference attendees asked us to send them a copy, and we thought you’d enjoy seeing it, too. So, with apologies to David Letterman, here is Jeff’s “totally sarcastic” top 10 list of reasons why employers should NOT do comprehensive legal issues training for supervisors. Drumroll, please!

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The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 changed the scope of claims for pay discrimination, stating that each additional paycheck issued under a discriminatory pay decision constitutes a new act of discrimination, which then resets the clock on the limited time during which employees may file suit. In a unanimous decision issued Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court has applied a similar theory to discrimination claims filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In Lewis v. City of Chicago, a group of black firefighters filed race discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that the way the city used a written application test unfairly eliminated a significant number of black applicants. The city argued that the charges were filed outside the statute of limitations because they were filed more than 300 days after the initial announcement of the examination results.

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FedEx recently announced that it will offer health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners, according to The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis, Tennessee, newspaper. The Memphis-based company plans to begin offering the new insurance benefits beginning January 1, 2012.

In the Appeal article, FedEx spokesperson Sandra Munoz noted that: read more…

By Alan King and Tony Kessler

At first glance, you might think a TV show featuring plane crash survivors on a remote Pacific island — with time travel and an evil smoke monster thrown in to boot — would yield few if any insights into how to run a great workplace. But as the six-year run of the hit series Lost comes to a climactic conclusion this weekend, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out some important HR and employment lessons we’ve noticed along the way.

Some lessons have been obvious. For example, when hiring-agent Rose Nadler earlier this season looked askance at John Locke’s application to tackle a construction foreman position, apparently because he was sitting in a wheelchair and wasn’t “being realistic” about his job abilities, she appeared to be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As much as we have loved Rose both on the island and off (in the parallel universe that sprang up after Juliette apparently detonated the atomic bomb in the final episode of Season 5), she didn’t appear to take the time to consider whether Locke could perform the foreman job duties with a reasonable accommodation.

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The National Mediation Board (NMB) has finalized a new rule that is expected to make unionization easier for airline and railroad workers, but an airline industry group has filed a lawsuit to try to stop the change.

The NMB, which regulates labor issues at airlines and railroads, changed its rules so that unions will need to win only a majority of votes cast by workers who bother to vote in the election instead of having to win a majority of votes cast by all workers eligible to vote. The new election procedures are set to go into effect for union applications filed on or after June 10. The NMB published the final rule in the Federal Register on May 11.

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by Joanna R. Vilos

President Barack Obama today nominated Elena Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. Stevens has a reputation for making employee-friendly decisions in cases that have reached the high court, but most employers don’t have much familiarity with Kagan or her views on employment-related issues.

So how would the confirmation of Kagan change the Supreme Court’s composition and the world of employment law? Frankly, there’s not much information to guide this inquiry. Kagan has never been a judge and is therefore somewhat of an unknown quantity. While I can’t promise an accurate prediction of Kagan’s judicial tendencies, I can promise to equip you with just enough information about her to impress your colleagues at the next cocktail party if the topic of Supreme Court nominations should arise.

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Last weekend, we experienced one of the worst disasters ever to hit Middle Tennessee as historic floods ravaged the state. M. Lee Smith Publishers, the company that produces HR Hero and other HR products including the state Employment Law Letters, is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

On May 1 and 2, record rainfall pushed area waterways to unheard of levels, destroying lives and homes. As of Friday morning, May 7, the death toll in Tennessee had reached 21 with 10 of those in Nashville. Many businesses and their employees in our community have been devastated, and it will be a long and slow recovery.

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A part of the massive health care reform law aimed at encouraging employers to offer health insurance to early retirees is set to launch June 1.

Regulations for the Early Retirement Reinsurance Program were issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 4. The program will provide $5 billion for employer health plans that offer coverage to early retirees who are ages 55 to 64. That’s a group the White House considers particularly vulnerable because they aren’t eligible for Medicare until they reach age 65 but they’re in an age bracket that makes them more likely to report fair to poor health.

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During a series of Web chats held last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) unveiled an ambitious prevention program as part of its spring regulatory agenda. The program, known as I2P2, is a major paradigm shift for the department, and as a result, input on the development of the program will be worked out through a series of stakeholder meetings.

Yesterday, OSHA announced details on these stakeholder meetings. The meetings will be held June 3 in East Brunswick, New Jersey, June 10 in Dallas, Texas, and June 29 in Washington, D.C. All meetings will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time. Those interested in participating in the meetings should submit a notice of intent to participate at https://www2.ergweb.com/projects/conferences/osha/register-osha-I2P2.htm.

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