Workers' Compensation

Last week, President Barack Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (S. 181) (the "Act"), substantially expanding the time limit within which a worker may bring a claim for unlawful pay discrimination.  The revised statutory language of the Act rendered the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), invalid.  In Ledbetter, the Supreme Court held that a plaintiff bringing a claim for discriminatory pay practices had to show that the discriminatory acts affecting his or her pay occurred during the 180 days (for states without a fair employment agency) or 300 days (for states with a fair employment agency) prior to the filing of a discrimination charge.  The Act eliminates this required showing by amending Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.  Each statute will now permit the period for a worker to file a charge of pay discrimination to be triggered each time the worker receives an allegedly discriminatory paycheck, even if the pay decision was made much earlier.

Employees who complain about sexual harassment are protected from retaliation by federal and state laws.  Under a January 26 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, employees who provide information in the employer’s investigation of the complaint have the same protection.  Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, No. 06-1595 (Jan. 26, 2009).

Are you an employer that sometimes sends workers based in other states to perform work in California? Have you thought about whether California wage law applies to that work? If you haven’t considered the question before now, a new decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gives you a good reason to do so.

On September 17, 2008, the House approved the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (S. 3406).

The Washington Legislature has passed, and the governor has signed into law, two new types of employee leaves that all Washington employers, regardless of size, will be required to provide.

The Washington Legislature has passed, and the governor has signed into law, two new types of employee leaves that all Washington employers, regardless of size, will be required to provide.