Teresa McQueen is Corporate Counsel for Western Growers. In that capacity she provides advice and counsel to the organization on employment law matters and commercial trade practices. She also provides legal guidance to Western Growers members on employment law, human resources, and commercial agreements, as well as providing law-related educational opportunities and overseeing annual updates […]
A Salinas labor contractor has been ordered to pay more than $460,000 in damages and penalties for allegedly withholding the final paychecks and transportation expenses of hundreds of domestic and H-2A farmworkers after a U.S. district court awarded the U.S Department of Labor (DOL) a consent judgment against the company. The consent judgment follows a DOL investigation and…
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Fed-OSHA) has announced the withdrawal of its prior proposal to revoke final approval of Arizona’s state ADOSH program. On April 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor published a notice of Proposed Reconsideration and Revocation of Arizona’s State Plan. As discussed here, on August 10 2022, the DOL reopened public comment on…
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a new ruling reversing prior precedent on an employer’s use of severance agreements. In McLaren Macomb1 the employer offered severance agreements to unionized employees permanently furloughed at the beginning of the pandemic. The agreement contained broad non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions2. In overturning prior decisions on…
Arbitration is the process of resolving disputes outside the court system. Employment arbitration agreements can be used to ask employees to agree to individually arbitrate employment-related claims and waive their right to bring any class or collective claims in court. In an employment arbitration, each party (the employer and the employee) presents their side of ...
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated and re-released the resource document, “Hearing Disabilities in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act.” The document explains how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to job applicants and employees who are deaf or hard of hearing or have other hearing conditions. The newly ...
As discussed here, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted on December 15, 2022 to adopt non-emergency COVID-19 prevention regulations. A certificate of compliance allowed the existing COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) to remain in effect while the state’s Office of Administrative Law conducted its 30-day review. The newly adopted regulations…
On February 5, 1993, then President Clinton, signed into law the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Thirty years later the U.S. Department of Labor is marking the occasion with events across the nation including the launch of a dedicated FMLA website providing new and updated resources.[i] FMLA requires covered employers to provide eligible employees with ...
A request by the UFCW and Teamsters to allow the use of electronic authorization cards and signatures in a labor organization’s proof of support when engaged in the organization of workers in the cannabis industry has opened the door to speculative use in the broader agricultural worker population. A January 23, 2023, memorandum by Board ...
