February 17, 2010 – 7:25 am
United Parcel Service has been hit hard in a sexual harassment lawsuit. After years of refusing to address multiple allegations that its Shrewsbury, Massachusetts warehouse is run amok with abusive supervisors who lack even a fundamental understanding of discrimination laws, the company will now pay dearly. It was not only ordered to pay $50,000 in damages to Thomas Sobocinski — a figure that ballooned to more than $125,000 with interest and legal fees — but now must train hundreds of supervisors across Massachusetts on the basics of sexual harassment and discrimination law. The training order alone will likely cost UPS hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To those familiar with UPS’s approach to manager/employee relations, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination judgment is no suprise. UPS is reputed to run roughshod over its workers and punish those who dare to complain. Its Shrewsbury, Massachusetts warehouse, where Mr. Sobocinski works, is rife with abusive and sexually explicit language, as described by UPS managers themselves. Despite broad training on internal UPS systems, managers there are not taught about discrimination laws or held accountable for violating them. The result is broad anecdotal evidence of abuse by management that may have persisted for decades. Read More »
January 29, 2010 – 12:35 pm
The federal government has extended the subsidy for health insurance expenses for employees who are involuntarily separated from their jobs. The law, which was enacted in February 2009 as part of President Obama’s Recovery Act, now requires employers to pay 65% of health insurance continuation costs for employees they terminate prior to February 28, 2010. It provides up to 15 months worth of this benefit, an expansion of the 9 months provided by the bill in early 2009.
The bill still is aimed solely at helping workers and does not require employers to foot any additional health insurance expense. Though businesses may initially lay out the 65% subsidy, they quickly recoup it via a credit against their payroll tax filings. The original statute provided the health insurance subsidy only to workers who were fired prior to December 31, 2009. Information on the law, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, is available at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/cobra.html.
November 9, 2009 – 9:28 am
A tough new data protection law is on the books and will soon require virtually all Massachusetts businesses to implement comprehensive policies to protect against identity theft. The statute applies so broadly that employers of every size and shape will be subject to it. All must create, implement, monitor and regularly update internal data protection procedures and encrypt information that is either transmitted via the internet or stored on portable devices.
Though the data security law became effective in October 2007, enforcement has been delayed until March 1, 2010 to permit Massachusetts companies time to become compliant. Doing so is a daunting task, since the statute’s broad reach captures virtually every every piece of what’s called “personal information.” That phrase refers to a combination of an individual’s name and either a social security number, driver’s license number, or financial account/credit card number or password. Employers must be certain to protect against both external data thefts and internal breaches. Not surprisingly, the latter sort is far more common. Read More »
