March 14, 2008

All-employment-law edition:

• Wage-and-hour suits keep perking away: 75,000 Wal-Mart employees in Washington state [Post-Intelligencer]; $100 million demanded for tip-sharing Starbucks baristas [The Recorder]; Canada has it too as in huge overtime suit against Bank of Nova Scotia [CP/AsianCanadian.net]
• California managers heave sigh of relief as state high court, 4-3, spares them personal exposure in retaliation claims [The Recorder]
• Speaking of retaliation, before departing Gov. Spitzer passes into private life, spare a moment to recall one interestingly aggressive legal position he took as AG: that employees' walking off job to march in immigration-amnesty demonstrations was protected activity immune from employer discipline [Malkin]
• Local governments across England obliged to "remortgage their town halls and raid reserves" to meet sweeping L2.8 billion retroactive comparable-worth order [Guardian]
• EEOC "acutely disappointed" by court decision last fall curbing its quest for punitives in "pattern and practice" sex harassment charges [ChiTrib/TradingMarkets.com]
• No age discrimination charge was ever more credible ["Speed Bump" cartoon]