Recent News

One of the more challenging laws against discrimination involves workplace accommodations for transgender employees. This particular protected class has been the law in Washington State since 2006 but only recently been spotlighted with some help from Caitlyn Jenner. It is estimated that more than 700,000 adults in the U.S. are transgender. Under Washington law, "gender… Read More

Last month, Viacom, Inc., the world’s sixth largest mass media company, settled a class-action lawsuit with 12,500 former interns. Viacom, the owner of Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, will have to pay out $7.21 million to interns who claim that they were paid less than minimum wage or not paid at all. While the initial… Read More

Costco recently found out the hard way just how important every policy, every word, in your employee handbook is. This past week, in Marini v Costco Wholesale Corp., a long-term Costco employee with Tourette’s syndrome made this point against the warehouse superstore. Marini alleged that he was harassed by his co-workers for his disability, asked… Read More

In an interesting effort to accommodate non-Judeo-Christian public employees, a new Washington law, which took effect on June 12, 2014, gives public employees an additional two unpaid holidays per calendar year "for reasons of faith or conscience." The measure amends RCW 1.16.050, which had granted public employees one paid floating holiday per calendar year in addition… Read More

An independent contractor truck driver named Larry Currier heard another driver “yell ... at a Latino driver ... ‘[h]ey, f**ing Mexican, you know why you have to go to Portland and I don’t? Because f**ing Mexicans are good at crossing borders.’” Currier also reports previously having heard other racially motivated slurs and comments directed at a… Read More

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously to adopt a new ordinance that grants criminal offenders special rights in job application processes.  Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) 14.17 regulates the use of criminal background information in employment decisions.  Absent a “legitimate business reason”, employers are prohibited from using criminal convictions as the basis for denying employment for… Read More

In response to growing issues related to privacy and an employee's online presence, Governor Jay Inslee recently signed s new law making it unlawful for employers to require an employee or applicant to disclose social networking website usernames or passwords, or to force an employee or applicant to add any person to the employee’s list… Read More

The job interview process can be a legal minefield for both employers and prospective employees when it comes to what can and cannot be asked in an interview.  There are both state and federal laws setting the parameters of job interviews.  Beresford Booth has counseled both employers and employees through the interview question minefield, but… Read More

Companies can request ‘content’ from employees’ social media sites as part of corporate investigations, but the employee is under no obligation to provide such content to the employer. As social media continues to evolve in our society, so too evolves its boundaries when applied to the workplace.  Washingtonians experiences with the new law will undoubtedly… Read More