Recent News

Daily, the news brings us word of another celebrity termination for allegations of workplace harassment. We’re hearing of politicians, actors, and coaches terminated. It seems no male superstar is safe (we’ve yet to see a woman accused but I feel certain it is coming). We are living in what is being called the “Weinstein Era”… Read More

Employers face increasing litigation risks from the wrongful acts of their employees as the law of negligent hiring and retention expands. Employers are potentially liable for negligent hiring when employing an unfit applicant who poses an unreasonable risk of harm to others. If an employer should have known of an employee’s unfitness at the time… Read More

Delivering presents to the good little boys and girls all over the world in a single night is hard work. Of course, Santa Claus makes it look easy with his twinkling eyes and merry dimples, magical sleigh, and team of eight tiny flying reindeer. But does that mean he is any less entitled to compensation?… Read More

The world of workforce management includes a multitude of “terms of art;” These are words or phrases that have taken on special meaning to human resources professionals and their counsel. Those terms related to disability discrimination law are particularly distinctive. Even those who are well-versed in other areas of human resources law, often find it… Read More

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