Jay Hollander's Weblog - Commercial Law

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Wed Jan 12, 2005

Minimum Wage Increase in NY State

The New York State Senate overrode Governor Pataki's veto and raised the minimum wage in the state to $6.00/hr beginning January 1, 2005. Starting January 1, 2006, the minimum wage goes up to $6.75/hr and the following year to $7.15/hr. For certain employees who earn tips, the minimum wage will gradually increase from $3.30 to $4.60/hr.

The New York Enterprise Report has some tips for employers from Chason P. Hecht, President of Retensa: Tell employees who will be getting an increase that the hourly rate has gone up because the law has changed. Then take steps to make sure you don't lose employees you want to keep due to the "trickle up" effect. Those making a little more than the new minimum wage may have new employment opportunities within 3-6 months after each increase in the minimum wage.

http://www.nyreport.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=191
Retensa: http://www.retensa.com/
Retensa's Talent Raids Are On: Protect Your Human Capital:
http://www.retensa.com/press/retentioneers/TalentRaidsAreOn.pdf

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Wed Jul 14, 2004

Morgan, Stanley Agrees to EEOC Settlement of Sex Discrimination Suit

Without acknowledging wrongdoing, Morgan Stanley settled a sex discrimination suit July 12, on behalf of 340 women for $54 million, the second-largest payment ever in a case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the first settlement of its kind on Wall Street.

The woman who initiated the lawsuit, Allison Schieffelin, receives $12 million for settlement of all her claims regarding termination of her employment in addition to her right to submit a claim for her share of the pot for any claim for discrimination on the basis of sex in promotion, compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment or retaliation; and the rest will be available to pay claims from others among the class of female executives of the firm worldwide and for a mandatory training program Morgan Stanley must implement to educate their employees and a mentoring program to help women to advance in the firm.

By settling, Morgan Stanley will avoid a trial, which would have aired such complaints as that the company had a special phone, "the rude wire", for male employees to tell lewd jokes, an apparent attempt to get around anti-harassment measures, and women being excluded from company golf outings. Plaintiffs in such cases must prove that defendants treated them differently from other employees and must prove motive - that the company condoned behavior that damaged the plaintiff.

http://news.findlaw.com/csmonitor/s/20040714/20040714081533.html

Settlement: http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/morganstanley/eeocmorgstan71204cd.pdf

Posted by: Jay Hollander
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Mon Jul 12, 2004

Before You Hit "Send", Check Your Company's Email Policy

More and more folks are losing their jobs because of email they send at work, as companies tighten up their policies. It's an outgrowth of the fact that companies are increasingly either being sued or becoming targets of regulatory investigations over employee email. An astounding 20% of all companies polled had email records subpoenaed in the last year, up from 14% last year. 13% say they've been sued over an employee's email. As a result, some 25% of companies said they have fired workers for violating their email policies.

The survey was done by the American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute, which polled 840 US firms. Instant messages are beginning to be subpoenaed too, although only 5% of companies surveyed reported it has happened to them. 60% of the companies acknowledged that they monitor their employees' emails.

So employees might want to think before they hit "send", and companies need to do a better job of training their employees on their email policies, according to the survey's sponsors.

http://tinyurl.com/4u3m5

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Tue Jun 08, 2004

Early Retirees' Accrued Pension Benefits Can't Be Cut If They Go Back to Work

The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled that a company violated the "anti-cutback" rule of federal pension law when it changed the rules to reduce or eliminate pension benefits to two workers who took early retirement and then went back to work. What was at issue in the case, which involved two construction workers who retired early and then went to work as construction supervisers, was the interplay between the "anti-cutback" rule, that generally bars plans from cutting or eliminating benefits midstream, and another part of the law, which allows plans to suspend payments to those who are reemployed in specified circumstances.

In 1998, the company changed its pension plan to bar early retirement benefits to those who worked in second careers in construction. They tried to retroactively apply the change to the two workers, who had by then received the pension benefits payments for two years. The Supreme Court agreed with the appellate division that this was a violation of the anti-cutback rule.
http://news.findlaw.com/news/s/20040607/courtpensiondc.html

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