Employees Given New Cause Of Action For “Guns In Trunks”

Posted on April 23, 2015 by SW Law

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam this week signed into law a “clarification” of the state’s so called “Guns In Trunks” Law.

The original law, passed in 2013 (Tenn. Code Ann. 39-17-1313) gave individuals with a carry permit the right to store their handguns in their cars on any parking lot they were entitled to be on, including their employer’s.

An Attorney General’s opinion stated that while the law legally allowed permit holders to store their guns, nothing in the law prohibited employers for firing individuals who did so in violation of company policy.

This week, Governor Haslam signed Tenn Code Ann 50-1-312, which, in part states “No employer shall discharge or take any adverse employment action against an employee solely for transporting or storing a firearm or firearm ammunition in an employer parking area…”

The law does specifically state that an employee bringing a cause of action under this statute has the burden of proof of showing that adverse employment action was based solely on the employee’s possession or transportation of a handgun or ammunition.

The “solely” standard is often a difficult one for a plaintiff to meet, but employers do need to be cognizant of this new law and be sure that terminations or other adverse actions are for articulable, genuine reasons other than an employee’s lawful storage of a weapon in their car.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

Tennessee employers should review their handbooks and potentially tweak any weapons policies they may have in place.

The new law goes into effect July 1, 2015.

Photo by http://flickr.com/photos/glasgows/ (http://flickr.com/photos/glasgows/432945997/) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

EEOC Issue Proposed Rules on Employer Wellness Programs

Posted on April 20, 2015 by SW Law

By R. Joseph Leibovich
(901) 328-8269

The EEOC today published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding employer wellness programs and the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Many employers have started instituting wellness programs aimed at a healthier workforce, which could also have the effect of lower health care costs.

Under proposed rules, wellness programs that offer incentives to employees for achieving certain health goals would be permissible. However, there would be limitations on them.

Such programs are aimed at issues such as weight loss, getting employees to stop smoking, and monitoring cholesterol levels.

The EEOC has not been terribly supportive of these programs – or at least in how they have been implemented, and the agency has sued employers over them.

Under the EEOC’s proposed rules, wellness programs would be significantly restricted.

According to a Fact Sheet published by the agency, such programs would have to meet the following criteria:

1. Wellness programs would have to be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease.

According to the EEOC, such programs must actually have a reasonable chance of improving participants’ health or preventing disease for participants. The programs must otherwise be compliant with the EEOC.

Furthermore, if such a program collects medical data, that data must actually provide feedback to the participants with that data or use it to properly design a program.

2. Participation must be voluntary.

According to the EEOC, this means that employees who refuse to participate cannot be denied health benefits or face discipline, and employers cannot coerce, intimidate or threaten employees to achieve health goals. Furthermore, there would have to be notice of what medical information will be collected, how it will be used, and how it will be kept confidential.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

3. Limited incentives would be allowed.

Under the proposed rules, an incentive in the form of lessened insurance costs to the employee may not exceed 30 percent of the cost of employee-only coverage. The example given by the EEOC explains that if employee only coverage costs an employee $5,000, the maximum reduction due to an incentive would be $1500.

4. Medical information must be kept confidential.

Wellness programs could not disclose individually identifiable medical information for employment purposes, and there would have to be appropriate training on dealing with confidentiality.

5. Reasonable accommodations for wellness programs would be required.

Thee EEOC gives examples of some possible accommodations, such as providing an interpreter for hearing impaired employees at nutrition classes, braille on program materials, and alternatives to blood testing if an employee’s disability would make blood testing dangerous.

The proposed rules are now in a 60 day public review period, during which individuals can provide their commentary. This is set to expire June 19, 2015. A final rule would follow.

Cover Photo By Brandon.wiggins (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

EEOC “Celebrates” Equal Pay Day

Posted on April 14, 2015 by SW Law

By R. Joseph Leibovich
(901) 328-8269

The EEOC has noted that today is Equal Pay Day for 2015. Equal Pay Day is the day into a new year that, on average, a woman must work to equal the wages paid to a man in just the prior year. In other words, according to the EEOC, if a statistically average man and a woman both started work on January 1, 2014, the woman would have to work until April 14, 2015 to make the same amount of money the man did in just 2014.

This is based on statistical data which shows, nationwide, women make on average 78.3 cents for each dollar a man makes.

To address the disparity in pay, the EEOC has put out a fact sheet on Equal Pay, which can be found here. The EEOC notes that wage disparity “not only includes discrimination in the regular rate of pay but also in overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit-sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses, and other benefits.”

Of course, the 78.3 cent figure is a national average. CNN has put together a chart showing the average disparity state by state. Women in Tennessee, for example, make on average 82.7 cents for ever dollar men earn.

EEOC chair, Jenny Yang this week sent out a message indicating that the EEOC has taken and will continue to take action to address pay disparity through education and enforcement procedures.

According to Ms. Yang, employers can, and should, take the following steps to help eliminate pay disparity:

– Evaluate compensation systems annually and take action to correct problems;

– Designate individuals to monitor pay practices;

– Provide training to supervisors;

– Ensure that job related criteria are used to determine base pay, raises, overtime, and bonuses and in making decisions about performance evaluations, job assignments, and promotions;

– Set starting salaries that eliminate discriminatory pay gaps on the basis of prior salary or salary negotiations.Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

Employers should carefully look at their pay practices to make sure that they have not unintentionally created pay practices that maintain or widen the gender gap in pay instead of reducing it.