News and viewpoint for working people and advocates

Could recent sexual harassment cases change office design?

MarketWatch

Workplaces might do well to take ideas from college campuses and after-school programs by adding better lighting, cameras and security personnel , said Laura Palumbo, the communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, a nonprofit based in Harrisburg, Penn. This, plus open plan offices, might deter workers from having sexually explicit or offensive conversations, said Paula Brantner, a senior adviser at Workplace Fairness, an employment law nonprofit.

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. Nassco Holdings, Inc.

Affirming the superior court's decision that an employer failed to comply with the California WARN Act, requiring 60 days notice to affected employees prior to a mass layoff, holding that this obligation arises even if the layoffs were not permanent and were for less than six months.

Turman v. the Superior Court of Orange County

Granting a petition for writ of mandate in the case of former employees suing their former employer, its president and sole shareholder, and a corporation held by the same man in the same manner claiming labor violations and unfair competition, holding that the trial court erred by granting a motion to certify a class action that limited its members because they used the wrong criteria, that the court erred by sanctioning plaintiff's counsel and denying a revised motion to compel responses, vacating findings that the companies are not alter egos, and finding other errors in the interpretation of caselaw and the definition of the term 'employer.'