KMK Law Management Rights Blog

In the last week, both in practice and in my daily review of labor and employment law websites and blogs, two issues have come up so frequently, I feel compelled to blog about them myself.

An issue that seems to come up weekly in my practice is whether employers may monitor employee e-mail, text messages and internet use.

If you follow the news, you’ve probably heard about the resurgence of bedbug infestations around the country...  Unfortunately, the bedbug problem has moved beyond hotels and into theaters, retail stores and the workplace.

As we head into the long weekend, I suspect that very few people contemplate the meaning of Labor Day.

In my last post, I discussed the pros and cons of arbitration of employment disputes, concluding that the pros outweigh the cons. I also noted that the Arbitration Fairness Act, which would ban forced arbitration in employment disputes, is looming on the horizon. I ended with the question: What should you do if the Arbitration Fairness Act passes? As promised, here are a few suggestions.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge proponent of arbitration of employment disputes as beneficial to employers. Frankly, I do not understand why more employers do not use arbitration. After some internet research on the topic, I have identified the following commonly stated pros and cons of arbitration.

Sad news from Connecticut yesterday as another workplace shooting claimed 9 lives.

I’m not going to suggest that it could have been prevented, and in fact I have my doubts that such incidents can be completely prevented in a free society such as ours. Moreover, it would be inappropriate to second guess the company involved based on news stories that may or may not be complete and accurate. Nevertheless, it is timely to consider what steps employers can take to minimize the risk of workplace violence.

According to recent news stories, Mel Gibson is in trouble again. This time because of certain calls that his former girlfriend recorded in which Mel makes several inappropriate comments, including racial slurs, death threats, etc. I know what you’re thinking, “a Hollywood celebrity behaving badly — this is news?” I agree, but within this messy story there is an employment law issue.

The NLRB announced today that the Texas Dental Association has distributed $900,000 in back pay awards to two former employees who were fired in relation to a petition complaining of poor management and unfair treatment.

According to The New York Times, Google is going to begin covering a cost that gay and lesbian employees must pay when their partners receive domestic partner health benefits.