News You Can Use

Revised EEO-1 Report - Employers are reminded that beginning in 2007, there is a revised EEO-1 form which covered employers must use to collect and report data about the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of their workforce.

The current EEO-1 report requires that workforce data be broken down using five race and ethnic categories and nine job categories. The revised EEO-1 form contains changes to the race and ethnic categories. There is a new category titled "two or more races," and the category "Asian or Pacific Islander" has been divided into two categories - "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander." The revisions also include more job categories because the old "Officials and Managers" category is divided into two subgroups - "Executives/Senior Level Officials and Managers" and "First/Mid Level Officials and Managers." The new form also states a strong preference that employers use voluntary employee self-identification rather than employer visual identification to report race and ethnicity. Further information is available on the EEOC Website.

WK&G Labor & Employment Alerts - Our attorneys keep an eye out for changes in federal and state regulations that may have an impact on your business. Take a look at the most recent email alerts.

Ask the Legal Professionals - The attorneys in WK&G's Labor & Employment Practice Group publish the answers to common questions about employment law once-a-month in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Take a look at WK&G's latest answers to the questions that you yourself may have been asking.

Featured Articles

As discussed in a previous article, "NLRB Issues Significant Decision on Supervisory Status," the supervisory status of employees under the National Labor Relations Act may have huge implications. The recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board entitled SNE Enterprises, Inc., reveals an important one. In SNE Enterprises, the involvement of lead persons in the solicitation of authorization cards for a union certification election was found sufficiently coercive for the Board to set aside a successful union result and direct a second election. Read the full article.

The Department of Transportation (“DOT”) regulates the drivers of covered vehicles, including requiring that they periodically pass a DOT physical. Employees who drive smaller vehicles are not required to meet DOT standards for commercial drivers, including the one which requires passing a DOT physical. However, UPS decided to voluntarily require all of its drivers to pass a DOT physical including drivers of both larger (over 10,000 pounds) covered and smaller non-covered vehicles. Read the full article.

In an unpublished decision, the Washington Court of Appeals upheld certification of a class estimated at 53,000 non-management Wal-Mart employees in Washington State. The class was certified as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of current or former employees working at 35 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Clubs in Washington State since September of 1997, alleging that Wal-Mart failed to pay them for all time worked, including rest and meal breaks. Read the full article.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . . despite the fact Initiative I-841 was passed by the voters of Washington in 2003, ergonomics are baaaack! All courtesy of the October 19, 2006 holding in the Washington State Supreme Court decision in SuperValu, Inc. v. Department of Labor and Industries. Read the full article.

In Cerrillo v. Esparza, the Washington Supreme Court held truck drivers delivering agricultural commodities to market need not be paid overtime and were covered by the statutory exclusion from overtime wages for agriculture-related employees, regardless of who employed them. In doing so, it rejected the Department of Labor and Industries interpretation of the overtime exemption as applying only to those employed on a farm or by a farmer as being too narrow and contrary to the clear language of the statutory exemption. Read the full article.

Seminars

What's In Your HR Toolkit? A Three-Part Workshop Series - Seattle, WA. WK&G's Labor & Employment Practice Group is proud to present a three-part series of breakfast seminars aimed at assisting HR personnel in preparing and reviewing three common HR tools: employee handbooks, employment agreements and collective bargaining agreements. This series enables HR personnel to understand and utilize important provisions in each that can directly impact an employer's right to hire, fire, subcontract and protect its proprietary information. Even if you do not intend to implement these agreements, you may be hiring individuals who are bound by such agreements and you should understand the impact these agreements may have on your business operations. Register for the first part in the series, and keep an eye out for email invitations to the other two workshops.

WK&G's Labor & Employment Breakfast Seminar: Tips and Traps in Employee Handbooks - Seattle, WA (January 24, 2007). Seattle Members Sheryl Willert and Jo Vestal will present the latest advice on how to prepare, review, and make the most of these common HR tools.

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