New law mandating employers to provide unpaid time off to parents for their children’s educationOn August 5^th, 2009, employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to 18 hours of unpaid leave for parents to attend parent-teacher meetings and other school-related events. The bill, Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act, was signed into law by Gov. Ritter on June 1^st of this year. Parents must be allowed to take up to 6 hours of leave each month, and a maximum of 18 hours in a year. The parent must “make a reasonable attempt to schedule academic activities… outside of regular work hours” and schools “shall make their best efforts to accommodate the schedules of employees”. The parent must give notice to the employer no later than one week in advance of the needed time off.

See Also

• House Bill 09-1057, Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act
  Parental Involvement in Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Education

The IRS has amended it’s rules on Safe Harbor contributions to allow employers to terminate the match during these hard times.On May 18 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published proposed regulations that could provide relief to employers whose plans provide for safe harbor non-elective contributions. The relief allows employers to amend their plan to reduce or suspend future safe harbor non-elective contributions without terminating the plan if the employer is encountering a "substantial business hardship" (as set forth in certain criteria established by the IRS). While the suspension of employer contributions may potentially have an impact on employee morale and the perception of the employer’s benefits program by potential employees, employers who meet the criteria may find that these regulations provide welcome and necessary relief from future safe harbor non-elective contribution funding requirements and a viable alternative to terminating the plan.

Recent judgment confirming final arbitration award issued in Los Angeles County, becomes largest award on record.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court filed on May 28, 2009, a final judgment agreeing with the final arbitration award against a company in a wage and labor dispute with its former employee.  The employee was acting as the chief marketing officer for the company. The final arbitration award is calculated to be $4.1 billion. Yes, I said billion, that is a “b” and it is not a typo. Damages included unpaid salaries, commissions (including estimated commissions for up to 7 years after termination), stock, unreimbursed expenses, interest, and penalties. On top of this the company had punitive damages charged to them calculated as three times the damages. The defending company refused to participate in the arbitration hearing which obviously allowed such a large award. With no effort to defend itself, the company was found by the arbitrator to have been “engaged in a pattern of despicable conduct that constitutes oppression, fraud and malice”.

See Also

• Link to Judgement
  Case # BC353567, Paul Thomas Chester v. iFreedom Communications Inc; Timothy Ringgenberg