Corporate, Litigation, and Labor & Employment Lawyers

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions September 11, 2016 to September 17, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

District court did not err by granting summary judgment against race and gender discrimination claim, because employee did not show employer treated similarly situated employees who were not a member of his class differently.  Lal Dev v. EFB Patrick R. Donahoe, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 17011 (9th Cir. Sept. 16, 2016). District court erred by...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions September 4, 2016 to September 10, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

District court erred by deciding whether drivers' arbitration agreements were enforceable, because that question was clearly delegated to the arbitrator.  Court venue provisions for actions to enforce arbitration agreements and obtain other remedies did not make the arbitration agreements ambiguous.  The drivers' right to opt out of the agreements prevented them from being procedurally unconscionable....

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions August 28, 2016 to September 3, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

District court did not err by certifying class of domestic farm workers who claimed farm employer violated Agricultural Workers Protection Act by failing to inform them of the availability of agricultural work performed by temporary foreign workers under the federal H-2A visa program, and failed to pay the domestic workers the same wage as foreign...

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NLRB Decisions Week of August 22-26, 2016

Public Service Company of New Mexico, 364 NLRB No. 86 (August 22, 2016) The employer violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally implementing a policy limiting the union's access to its facility and announcing a change to its respiratory fit-test rule and by failing to provide requested information, but did not violate Section 8(a)(5) and...

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NLRB Decisions Week of August 15-19, 2016

In Retro Environmental, Inc./Green Jobworks, LLC, 05-RC-153468, 364 NLRB No. 70 (August 16, 2016), the Board applied its Browning-Ferris standard for joint employers and ordered an election, ruling the staffing agency and its construction company client were joint employers even though the companies' projects were scheduled to end shortly at the time of the hearing. ...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions August 21, 2016 to August 27, 2016 – Jeffrey S. Harris

Court of Appeals was skeptical of disability insurer's denial of benefits, because independent physician consultants on which insurer relied performed substantial numbers of reviews for and received significant compensation from the insurer.  Insurer therefore had burden of maintaining records on the reviewer's findings on claims to show their neutrality in practice.  Insurer abused its discretion...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions August 14, 2016 to August 20, 2016 - Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Seller's employees were not entitled to past service credit under the plain terms of the buyer's retirement plan.  Seller's employees could seek reformation of the plan based on claim buyer breached fiduciary duty by not adequately informing them they were not entitled to past service credit.  Seller's employees could...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions August 7, 2016 to August 13, 2016 - Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court did not err in issuing a preliminary injunction against employee's attempt to arbitrate employment claims, pending litigation of the claims.  Court correctly decided whether employee waived his right to arbitrate his employment claims by litigating them, because the parties did not agree to submit the issue to...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions July 31, 2016 to August 6, 2016 - Jeffrey S. Harris

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court erred by granting summary judgment against ADEA retaliation claim, because employee received hostile treatment from supervisor shortly after he agreed to testify on behalf of a coworker's ADEA claim, and employee offered evidence suggesting his negative performance reviews, supervisor's hostility towards him and ultimate decision to fire him...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions July 24, 2016 to July 30, 2016 - Jeffrey S. Harris

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court erred by granting summary judgment against claim for long term disability benefits, because psychiatrists determined former employee could not work in any occupation, not just her own occupation limiting benefits to 18 months.  Plan's later denial of benefits past 18 months inadequately explained what evidence former employee could...

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