Employment Law Newsletters

Arbitration -- Labor Disputes -- Hearsay

Because they are not bound by the legal rules of evidence, arbitrators have significantly more discretion that judges to determine what will be considered admissible information. One of the greatest areas of discretion is with evidence classified as hearsay. Of course, this is also one of the areas of greatest contention; since the guidelines are much more fluid, parties in arbitration proceedings may spend a great deal of time arguing for the inclusion or exclusion of specific information.

Federal Employee Labor Union Rights and Duties

Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, known as the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, sets forth the law under which federal agency employees may be represented by a union or other labor organization for collective bargaining purposes. Pursuant to the Statute, most federal agency employees are entitled to join or organize labor unions.

Privacy - Polygraphs - General Issues

A recent aspect in the history of polygraph testing is its use as an employment screening tool. In such situations, pre-test and post-test interviews between examinee and examiner are combined. The interviews measure the examinee's heart rate, perspiration, and blood pressure. Changes in these body functions, presumably caused by emotional stress provoked in the examinee, are noted in graphs. The examiner reads the graphs and interprets the results, which apparently measure the veracity of the examinee's statements.

Refusing to Hire Striking Workers and the

National Labor Relations Act)

Unemployment Benefits - Protest -- Disqualification

The most frequent reasons for protest are those involving a protest against the payment of unemployment benefits chargeable against the employer because the claimant either voluntarily quit his employment or he was discharged for misconduct connected with his work. In regard to these bases of protests, the employer is in a unique position to know the facts because the employer was involved in the circumstances surrounding the discharge at the time it occurred and also because the facts will have occurred prior to the separation from the employer's employment of the claimant. Several other bases of protest (such as available to work and actively seeking work) are all items which may transpire subsequent to the date of separation from the employment and the circumstances of them may not even be within the knowledge of the employer.