Arizona Republic: “The former owners of Bell Road Auto Mall, who still own Big Bell Road Kia in Phoenix, have agreed to pay $500,000 to settle longstanding sexual and racial harassment charges brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of five former employees. It’s one of a string of similar cases brought by the Phoenix EEOC office against auto dealers in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.”
Workplace Prof Blog: “Continuing their recent focus on the potential discriminatory effects on racial and ethic minorities from employers’ use of criminal background checks in hiring, EEOC filed a class action law suit on September 30, 2009. EEOC alleged that a Dallas-based convention and corporate events planning company unlawfully discriminates against black, Hispanic and male job applicants by using credit histories and certain types of criminal arrests or convictions as selection criteria in hiring.” Does this mean that a children’s day care could not refuse to hire a convicted child molester?
Forbes.com: “The Senate health care reform bill, released last month, is over 2,000 pages long. It would generate nearly $850 billion in new federal spending over 10 years, cut over $400 billion from currently scheduled Medicare spending and levy $372 billion in new taxes. Washington is abuzz, dissecting the bill, analyzing and demagoguing it, trying to figure out what it all means . Meanwhile, in certain parts of Beverly Hills and Manhattan, a much smaller provision will be generating much debate and discussion: a 5% excise tax on cosmetic surgery and related procedures, colloquially known as the ‘Botox Tax.'”
Boing Boing: “A woman who tried out her new pocket camera by video-recording a few minutes of her sister’s surprise birthday party at a showing of ‘New Moon’ has been charged with a felony — ‘camcordering’ a movie.”
The Blog of Legal Times: “The judge who ruled that lawyers can’t be forced to comply with new federal rules meant to prevent identity theft released his written opinion today. The 40-page document is pretty much in keeping with U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton’s Oct. 29 comments from the bench. But it provides a lengthy explanation of his on-the-spot decision, made just days before the so-called ‘red Flags Rule’ ad been scheduled to go into effect. In short, Judge Walton of the District of Columbia found that the Federal Trade Commission overreached when it tried to define lawyers as ‘creditors.'”