"The Bench"

Most people know that federal law prohibits discrimination based on sex. Current law also prohibits discrimination based on family responsibilities. Family Responsibility Discrimination, or FRD, is a term used by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and legal professionals to broadly refer to employment discrimination against employees who are caregivers. In short, FRD is a form of discrimination in which workers are treated worse at work because of their caregiving responsibilities for children, elderly parents, or ill relatives.

This issue has been widely covered in the press, and although it’s not a newly-created protected class, it is an area which overlaps with already existing laws, such as Title VII, FMLA, or state laws. As such, in hundreds of cases, courts across the country have ruled that taking negative employment actions because of a worker’s family responsibilities is unlawful under a variety of legal theories and in a variety of factual contexts.

Because FRD-related charges and lawsuits against employers are increasing, it is important that employees understand their rights. In the event that a worker reasonably believes that his or her employer, or one of its representatives, is guilty of FRD, they may attempt to gain relief. The EEOC is flooded annually with discrimination charges and takes on only the most legally-compelling cases. So that a worker can file a more legally-compelling case, he or she may want to consult with their SEAG attorney. As such, be sure you know the most supplemented FRD guidelines.

Employer Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities (May 2009)

Enforcement Guidance: Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities (May 2007)

On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (NDAA 2010), amending some of the family military-leave provisions in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) by expanding the availability of both qualifying exigency leave and military caregiver leave.

Summary of Details:

Exigency Leave. Prior to the passage of the NDAA 2010, an eligible employee could take qualifying exigency leave only when his or her son, daughter or parent was a member of the Reserves or National Guard and had been called to active duty in support of a “contingency operation.” Qualifying exigency leave had not been available for employees with family members who were active members of the Armed Forces.

Now, under the NDAA 2010, qualifying exigency leave has been expanded to permit an eligible employee to take FMLA leave for a qualifying exigency related to the deployment of a son, daughter or parent who is a member of a regular component of

the Armed Forces. Furthermore, the call to active duty is no longer limited to “contingency operations” - it now relates to when a member of the regular or reserve components of the Armed Forces is deployed to any foreign country.

Caregiver Leave. Under the prior law, “caregiver leave” provided 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for the serious injury or illness of a “covered servicemember” in the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves who is the employee’s spouse, child, parent, or next of kin.

Now, under the NDAA 2010, this leave is expanded to include veterans, provided they were an active servicemember within five years of the date the veteran undergoes the medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy for a serious injury or illness. Furthermore, the definition of “serious injury or illness” has been expanded to include aggravations (in the line of duty while on active duty) of preexisting injuries, not just those injuries that occurred for the firth time while on active duty.

The NDAA 2010 takes effect immediately.

From seven guaranteed paid sick days to domestic violence leave to parental involvement leave, there are 4 other new employment law bills expected to pass in 2010 that could significantly expand FMLA. They are:

·	The Health Families Act which could dramatically change paid sick leave policies, and could give employees paid time off for a doctor’s appointment.

·	The Family Leave Insurance Act which could require employers to provide for a paid family and medical leave insurance program.

·	The Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act which could expand the current FMLA to include employee leave for attending a child’s extracurricular activities.

·	The Balancing Act of 2009 would improve the lives of working families by providing family and medical need assistance, child care assistance, in-school and after-school assistance, family care assistance and encourages the establishment of family-friendly workplaces.

Employees who expose corruption or wrongdoing on the part of the employer are granted certain legal protections under Florida’s Whistleblower Act. Employees are punished all too often by their employer for:

·	objecting to or refusing to commit or participate in illegal activity;

·	threatening to “turn the boss in;”

·	cooperating with authorities investigating acts of wrongdoing.

SEAG protects the rights of these employees. If you yourself are being harassed or intimidated by your employer because you’ve exposed wrongdoing, or if you’ve been denied promotion or have been unexpectedly transferred SEAG will initiate immediate legal action against any employer who attempts retaliation. We’ll protect you and your reputation.

Hrhero.com has made available a useful White Paper titled “Avoid Costly Litigation, Agency Action with Employee and Supervisor Training.” It is a ‘must read’ in a time when every day carries news of significant numbers of employees being laid off.

According to the White Paper, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that “employees filed 87,792 more discrimination charges against private-sector employers in 2008 than in 2007,” making it the “biggest single-year increase in EEOC history!”

With today’s economic downturn, employers are reducing or eliminating the costs of employment law training because they don’t seem essential to the day-to-day operations. But this is proving to be a big mistake as it can end up costing much more in potential litigation than it would cost to have the appropriate training.

This White Paper will show how to prevent costly discrimination claims with proper training for supervisors and employees and how the costs of such training can be justified. READ IT HERE

AFL-CIO Has
Launched It’s 2010

Executive PayWatch

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