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From: 	"BNA Highlights" <bhighlig@bna.com>@ENRON [mailto:IMCEANOTES-+22BNA+20Highlights+22+20+3Cbhighlig+40bna+2Ecom+3E+40ENRON@ENRON.com] 
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Subject:	July 5 -- BNA, Inc. Daily Labor Report

______________________________

DAILY LABOR REPORT
Highlights & Table of Contents
July 5, 2001
______________________________

ISSN 1522-5968

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HIGHLIGHTS
__________


"GARRETT" CONTROLS STATE WORKER'S SUIT CHARGING VIOLATION OF
TITLE V OF ADA

Sovereign immunity bars a former California state senate
committee staffer's federal lawsuit alleging he was fired in
violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act after
telling a state senator that the committee's refusal to hire
a disabled campaign worker violated federal law, the Ninth
Circuit rules ("Demshki v. Monteith,  "9th Cir.,  No.
00-15599,  7/2/01).

Reversing a trial court's refusal to throw out David
Demshki's claim against the California Senate Rules
Committee, Judge G. Silverman finds that the U.S. Supreme
Court's recent holding in "Board of Trustees of the
University of Alabama v. Garrett, " which found unconsenting
states immune from suits brought under Title I of the
ADA--prohibiting disability-based employment
discrimination--also is applicable to cases brought under
Title V of the act. Title V prohibits discrimination against
those who oppose discriminatory acts or practices made
illegal by the ADA. . . . Page AA-1

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g2p3_


RETIREMENT PLAN WITH LOWER HEALTH BENEFITS DID NOT VIOLATE
ADEA

A voluntary retirement plan initiated as a cost-savings
measure by the University of Rhode Island did not violate
the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, even though it
provided a lower health insurance stipend for participants
over the age of 65 when they became eligible for Medicare
coverage, a federal judge rules ("Gutchen v. Board of
Governors of Univ. of Rhode Island, "D.R.I., No. 99-319,
6/22/01).

"In short, the health benefit stipend component of the
voluntary retirement incentive plan complies with the ADEA,"
Judge Lagueux of the U.S. District Court for the District of
Rhode Island writes. "The ADEA ensures equal, not
preferential treatment for older employees. There is no
violation of the ADEA when the employer provides the same
level of benefits to older workers as to younger workers."

He grants summary judgment to the university and rejects the
claims of two professors, whose challenge to the plan was
supported by the AARP Foundation Litigation, the nonprofit
legal advocacy arm of AARP, the senior citizens'
organization. . . . Page A-6

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g5x2_


BEST BUY AGREES TO PAY $5.4 MILLION TO SETTLE OVERTIME
DISPUTE

Best Buy Inc., the national chain of electronic products
stores, has agreed to pay $5.4 million to settle a dispute
regarding its payment of overtime to employees, the Labor
Department announces. The Minneapolis-based firm was charged
with not properly compensating some 70,000 current and
former workers as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to DOL, workers were not paid for hours worked on
their days off, time worked during meal breaks, hours worked
after they punched out on the time clock, and time they
waited for managers to unlock doors at the end of shifts.
Best Buy also did not keep an accurate record of hours
worked by employees as required by the FLSA, the Labor
Department says.

Best Buy "disputes the Labor Department's findings, but
decided to resolve the case to avoid protracted litigation,"
a company spokeswoman says. The company expects that
"qualified employees will receive a letter and checks in
approximately six to 10 weeks," she says. Best Buy has
"agreed to comply with the federal overtime pay law in the
future and cooperated fully during the investigation," says
Denise Scharlemann, director of DOL's Wage and Hour Division
in Minneapolis. The nationwide agreement covers employees of
the company's 400 stores who worked from February 1998 to
February 2000. . . . Page A-1

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9a2j1_


ASARCO, FOUR UNIONS REACH AGREEMENT TO COVER 1,450 COPPER
WORKERS

 Asarco Inc. and four unions reach a tentative agreement on
new three-year contracts to cover some 1,450 employees at
the company's Southwest copper mining and refinery
operations. Union members are voting on the proposal and a
tally of votes is expected to be completed July 5.

The proposal calls for two wage increases and some
improvements in benefits. The first increase of 50 cents per
hour would occur when the price of copper reaches $1 a pound
or on July 1, 2002, whichever occurs first. The second wage
increase, also 50 cents per hour, would become effective
July 1, 2003.  A union representative says the price of
copper is currently in the 70-cent per-pound range. The four
unions that are party to the agreement are the United
Steelworkers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the
Operating Engineers. . . . Page A-1

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9d2c9_


NO NEED FOR LAYOFF NOTICE IN WISCONSIN IF BUSINESS CONTINUES
DESPITE SALE

A company that sold its business assets to another firm that
continued operations without interruption was not required
under Wisconsin law to provide employees 60 days' advance
notice of a permanent or temporary shutdown, the state
supreme court rules (" Wisconsin v. T.J. Int'l Inc., "Wis.,
No. 99-2803, 6/28/01). Norco Windows Inc. did not violate
Wisconsin's business closing law when it sold its window
manufacturing plant to Jeld-Wen Inc., which continued to
operate the company without interruption, the court says.
The court's decision overrules the state workforce
development agency's determination that the law covered the
company's sale and that both the seller and buyer should be
penalized for failing to give advance notice to the 47 Norco
employees Jeld-Wen failed to hire.

The Wisconsin Business Closing and Mass Layoff Law's
definition of "business closing" does not include "the sale
of business assets where there is no actual operational
shutdown--permanent or temporary--of the employment site,"
the court says. "Where, as here, the transfer of ownership
continues rather than interrupts or ceases the operation of
the employment site, there is no 'business closing' under
the statute, and no 60-day notice of the sale is required,"
according to the court. . . . Page A-7

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9e6r5_


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TODAY'S EVENTS
______________

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: Weekly data on initial claims for
unemployment benefits released, 8:30 a.m., Labor Department.

________________

ALSO IN THE NEWS
________________


RACIAL HARASSMENT: Beverly Enterprises Inc. agrees to pay
$1.2 million to settle racial harassment allegations brought
by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the
chain's Bridgeton Nursing Center in St. Louis. Under the
consent decree, Beverly also agrees not to rehire a former
administrator and to take disciplinary action against
another human resources employee. . . . Page A-1

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8x3x4_

RETAIL FOOD STORES: Some 3,000 Meijer Inc. supermarket
employees at eight stores in the Columbus, Ohio, area--who
are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local
1059--are working under a recently negotiated five-year
contract that calls for hourly wage increases averaging 40
cents each year, extends pension coverage to recently hired
workers, and modifies the health care plan. . . . Page A-3

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8v1w2_

COMPENSATION: Employees of Hewlett-Packard Co. are being
asked to use up additional vacation days and take pay cuts
until Oct. 31 to help the computer giant improve its balance
sheet. The nonmandatory program asks employees worldwide to
choose between taking a 10 percent pay cut that would last
until Oct. 31, using eight additional paid vacation days, or
a combination of the two involving four vacation days and a
5 percent pay cut. . . . Page A-3

http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9b4h9_


_________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS
_________________

LEADING THE NEWS

DISABILITIES
   Ninth Circuit rules sovereign immunity bars former
   California state senate committee staffer's ADA suit
   alleging he was fired after telling state senator that
   committee's refusal to hire disabled campaign worker
   violated federal law . . . Page AA-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g2p3_


____

NEWS
____

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
   Eleventh Circuit rules group of male applicants for
   entry-level firefighter positions in Miami-Dade County
   failed to prove hiring preference granted female
   applicants under voluntary affirmative action plan
   violated equal protection clause . . . Page A-4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j5f7p9_

AGE DISCRIMINATION
   Federal judge rules University of Rhode Island's
   voluntary retirement plan did not violate ADEA even
   though it provided lower health insurance stipend for
   participants over age 65 when they became eligible for
   Medicare coverage . . . Page A-6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g5x2_

CHILD LABOR
   House approves amendment to agriculture appropriations
   bill (H.R. 2330) to give FDA $250,000 to create labeling
   requirement on imported cocoa indicating no child slave
   labor was used in growing and harvesting product . . .
   Page A-2
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9e7v6_

COMPENSATION
   Hewlett-Packard Co. asks employees to use up additional
   vacation days and take pay cuts until Oct. 31 to help
   computer giant improve its balance sheet . . . Page A-3
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9b4h9_

DISCRIMINATION
   Study by Rutgers University Law professor and veteran EEO
   specialist Alfred W. Blumrosen finds "clear appearance of
   widespread intentional discrimination against minorities
   and women by thousands of establishments" . . . Page A-5
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9f1w6_

FLSA
   Best Buy Inc. agrees to pay $5.4 million to settle
   dispute with Labor Department regarding overtime payments
   to employees . . . Page A-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9a2j1_

HEALTH CARE
   PWBA to hold compliance assistance seminar on Health
   Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and other
   health laws July 10 in Los Angeles . . . Page A-7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8x8j0_

MINING
   Asarco Inc. reaches tentative agreement with four unions
   representing some 1,450 employees at company's Southwest
   copper mining and refinery operations . . . Page A-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9d2c9_

RACIAL HARASSMENT
   Beverly Enterprises Inc. to pay $1.2 million to settle
   racial harassment allegations EEOC filed against
   Bridgeton Nursing Center in St. Louis . . . Page A-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8x3x4_

RETAIL FOOD STORES
   UFCW members ratify five-year contract with hourly wage
   increases averaging 40 cents each year for some 3,000
   Meijer Inc. supermarket employees in Columbus, Ohio, area
   . . . Page A-3
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8v1w2_

SAFETY & HEALTH
   OSHA cites Sterling Heights, Mich., construction company
   for 16 alleged violations of workplace safety and health
   standards with proposed penalties of $416,000 . . . Page
   A-5
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9c7q2_

TRANSPORTATION
   Three-member panel to report to California Gov. Gray
   Davis (D) July 6 with findings on issues involved in
   labor dispute between Bay Area Rapid Transit system and
   three unions representing workers . . . Page A-2
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9b4g2_

WARN ACT
   Wisconsin Supreme Court rules state law did not require
   company that sold business assets to another firm that
   continued operations without interruption to provide
   employees 60 days' advance notice of permanent or
   temporary shutdown . . . Page A-7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9e6r5_


______________

TABLE OF CASES
______________

Danskine v. Miami-Dade Fire Dep't (11th Cir.) . . . Page A-4
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j5f7p9_

Demshki v. Monteith (9th Cir.) . . . Page AA-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g2p3_

EEOC v. Beverly Enterprises-Mo. Inc. (E.D. Mo.) . . . Page
A-1
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j8x3x4_

Gutchen v. Board of Governors of Univ. of R.I. (D.R.I.) . .
. Page A-6
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9g5x2_

Wisconsin v. T.J. Int'l Inc. (Wis.) . . . Page A-7
   http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/dlr.nsf/id/a0a4j9e6r5_

   __________
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