Sexual Harassment in the Weekend Papers

From the QuadCitiesOnline to the Seattle Times, the weekend papers have stories about women who have chosen to fight back against sexual harassment. In Quad Cities, it is a support group started by a woman who didn't file a suit, while in Seattle it is a women who has already collected nearly a million dollars. You would think after all the news media attention and the corporate training, the problem would be diminishing, but it doesn't seem to be. Then on the other hand, who would think that politicians with great careers would risk them for sexual dalliances e.g. Gary Hart, Henry Cisneros and the list goes on. Maybe it just shows that there is more truth than we would like to think in the old joke about what (many) men really think with.

Update on Texas Legislative News, To Let You Know There Will Be No News

At least not for awhile. In a replay of a strategy used in the Texas Senate more than 20 years ago, 53 Democratic House members have absented themselves from the State Capitol, resulting in a lack of a quorum. Although there whereabouts is unknown, they are rumored to be beyond state bounds to avoid the reach of searching DPS officers. The immediate bill to cause the bolt was a Congressional redistricting bill which needs to be considered by Thursday. Check out the story in the Austin American Statesman. Update on actual legislative actions soon.

Texas Supreme Court Trying to Reign In Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress is often a struggle because of the way people act and because of the variable nature of the standard, "extreme and outrageous conduct". In an effort to avoid having that merely be based on the opinion of the last court to hear the matter, the court has chosen to give in great detail the behavior of a party to a construction contract during the dying days of the owner of the other party. Tiller v. McClure (Tx May 8, 2003). Noting that the most outrageous act was the owner's demand that the construction project not be shut down for the day of the funeral, the Court still found that this did not rise to the high level of misconduct necessary to support an intentional infliction of emotional distress verdict. Instead the Court seemed to put renewed emphasis on physical threats as a keystone to such findings. Although it is better to have the standard tightened, it will remain problematic until the Court makes it crystal clear that it is only to be allowed in the most severe cases, only where there is clear physical threat or danger, and then is a remedy of last resort.

Sarbanes-Oxley - One Company's Approach

A known "whistle blower", but also an employee you feel strongly should be terminated, what do you do in face of certain civil charges, and possible even criminal ones? Check the BizJournals story for how IDX Systems Corp. is handling it. Their approach is to seek a declaratory judgment that they can terminate Dr. Mauricio Leo who they claim is a "prickly malcontent". 10 days after their declaratory judgment was filed Leon filed a charge with the DOL under Sarbanes-Oxley. The jurisdictional fight alone on this one should be interesting.

Always Nice to Report a Non-Million Dollar Verdict

And it looks like UPS has one here in Texas. UPS wins discrimination case And it wasn't like the EEOC wasn't trying to hit a home run according to the story: "The EEOC had filed the suit and asked the jury to award the employees $248,000 in back pay and up to $300 million in punitive damages." A San Angelo jury took less than an hour to toss the case according to the story in the San Angelo Times. Julie Schlabs, the staff writer for the Times had stories featuring the testimony of a union steward , the wife of one of the plaintiffs, and about the former UPS manager who was apparently the source of many of the complaints.

A New Source of Legal Information For Employees

The internet really serves as a great dispenser of information, some of it good, some of it not so good. For those who think the best way of dealing with workplace problems is to keep workers in the dark about their rights and ways of obtaining a relief have clearly been fighting a losing battle for a long time. If there were ever any doubt about the outcome, the internet clearly is going to make employees aware of their rights. A recent addition to the already plentiful sources of information is TexasLawHelp.org, a sight sponsored by the Legal Services Corp. and designed for low income individuals who might not have access to legal help. One section is on Work (Employment) and it probably wouldn't hurt to check it out, just to see what is available.

Back, With Apologies

Once again having failed to comply with the blogger's creed of letting visitors know of an unusually long delay in posting, I return from a sojourn to Los Angeles, via a wonderful long week end at Jazzfest in New Orleans. Just in time for a speech today at the 10th Annual Conference on Labor and Employment Law sponsored by the University of Texas School of Law. Today's topic, ARBITRATION: NOW THAT WE CAN HAVE IT, HOW DO WE DO IT? Designing, implementing and administering an arbitration program.