"This & That" Tuesday: Wage Theft, Retaliation, Disability Discrimination

March 3, 2015

 

Here is the latest issue of “This & That” Tuesday. I hope you find it to be informative and useful.

 

Announcements

You can always check out my website for upcoming speaking engagements that are guaranteed to be of value to business owners or for a list of topics that I can speak on at Chambers, Clubs, Business Associations, etc. More details about the events, topics and Human Resources 4U, in general, can be found on my website.

 

Upcoming Events

March 11, Labor Law Update 2015, National Association of Women in Construction

Information at Human Resources 4U 

 

March 16, 2015,         

• Coaching to Improve Performance,
• How to Build a Hiring Process
• Human Resource Issues for Business Owners
• Leave of Absence Laws in California

Mt. Sac Community College

Information at: (909) 274-4027 or workforcetraining@mtsac.edu

 

March 23, 2015,       

• How to Create and Conduct a Formal Discipline Discussion
• How to Build a Salary Structure & Merit Pay System
• Cal-OSHA & IIPP Basics
• AB 1825 Mandated Harassment Training for Supervisors

Mt. Sac Community College

Information at: (909) 274-4027 or workforcetraining@mtsac.edu

 

Maids Fired for Cooperating in Wage Theft Investigation

California’s Labor Commissioner recently fined a maid service company $394,944 in unpaid wages and premiums to be paid back to affected workers, plus civil penalties. After a lengthy investigation, the Labor Commissioner determined that 18 employees were not paid for all hours of work and were not provided meal or rest periods.

 

The Labor Commissioner launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous complaint alleging wage theft at the business. For instance, the employees worked 10-hour days but were paid only for eight hours.

 

According to the Labor Commissioner, three of the workers were fired in retaliation for cooperating with the investigation. The Labor Commissioner ordered reinstatement for these three workers and pay for lost hours while wrongfully terminated.

 

The three workers fired for participating in the Labor Commissioner’s inspection and related interviews became a key part of the investigation. The Labor Commissioner ordered the employer to:

• Immediately reinstate these workers;
• Pay the workers a combined $6,200 for wages lost while unlawfully discharged;
• Acknowledge the workers’ right to pursue additional wages for unpaid overtime and missed meal and rest periods; and
• Post a notice to all employees admitting the retaliation and agreement to compensate the workers for their losses.

 

Other citations issued to the owners of the maid service include:

• Minimum wage violations totaling $208,107;
• Rest period premiums of $69,172;
• Unpaid meal period premiums of $28,634;
• Unpaid overtime amounting to $89,030; and
• Civil penalties in the amount of $61,200 in for additional violations including failure to provide employees with itemized wage statements as required by law.

 

Upper Chesapeake Health System Pays $180,000 to Settle Disability Discrimination

Upper Chesapeake Health System, Inc., a leading health care provider in northeastern Maryland, will pay $180,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle an EEOC disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

 

According to the EEOC's suit, Deborah Ropiski consistently received good performance evaluations and positive patient feedback during her 19 years of employment with the Upper Chesapeake Health System. The EEOC charged that the health care system failed to reassign Ropiski as a reasonable accommodation after it removed her from her position as a pulmonary function technologist based on its perception that her disability, Usher's syndrome, interfered with her ability to do her job. Usher's syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by varying levels of vision and hearing loss. According to the lawsuit, Upper Chesapeake Health System terminated Ropiski because of her disability and in retaliation for her requests for accommodations.

 

The EEOC also charged that the health care system later failed to rehire Ropiski into a vacant position for which she was qualified because of her disability and in retaliation for her filing a discrimination charge with the EEOC.

 

In addition to the $180,000 in monetary relief to Ropiski, the three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit enjoins Upper Chesapeake Health System from future discriminating on the basis of disability or engaging in retaliation in violation of the ADA. The health care system will implement and disseminate to all employees an ADA reasonable accommodation policy and will provide training on the ADA and its requirement to provide reasonable accommodations, including reassignment. Upper Chesapeake Health System will provide a positive letter of reference for Ropiski and post a remedial notice.

 

Factoids

70 million Americans have a criminal record (about 1 in 4)

75% of employers lose negligent hiring cases where the average jury award exceeds $1 million

 

Employees who suspect hearing loss:

• 37% have trouble hearing over the phone
• 42% often misunderstand what is being said
• 61% ask people to repeat what they said
• Less than 1 in 4 employees have had their hearing checked in the past 2 years
• 36% say their workplace is noisy more than 3 hours per day
• 16% or men and 6% of women report a diagnosed hearing problem

 

Quote of the Blog

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.”

~W. P. Kinsella~