The Presidential debates and Vice-Presidential debate are coming up later this month. A lot has 
been written about what the candidates’ respective positions are (and a lot has been written on everything BUT the issues). For some recent discussions of various issues, check out posts this week from the Delaware Employment Law Blog, Ohio Employer’s
“Lipstick on a Pig”? Congress and Courts Have Used The Term Before Relating to Employment Discrimination
The McCain campaign last night was trying to make much of a comment that Sen. Obama made on the campaign trail on Tuesday about the concept of Sen. McCain bringing about change. "You know, you can put lipstick on a pig," Obama sa
id, "but it’s still a pig." In fact, Sen. McCain made similar
Numbers Galore, Part II: Seven Full-time CHRO Human Rights Referees for Six Referee Decisions
AS UPDATED (9/9)
Last week, I posted about the statistics released by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. (You can view the CHRO’s Annual Report here.) Today, I continue to take a look behind the numbers and the implications for employers in Connecticut.
Among the most striking of the statistics is this fact: Human Rights Referees issued only six referee decisions for the entire fiscal year (2007-2008) that closed cases after public hearings. 48 other cases were closed through a stipulated agreement.
Why is this number significant? Because there are seven human right
s referees that are employed full-time by the State of Connecticut to handle these cases. (UPDATE: Although the statute does provide for seven, a reader noted that only five or six have actually been appointed — which may be a post for another day). And yes, for those doing the math, that works out to about one referee decision for each human rights referee for the entire year.
Now you may be asking if 6 referee decisions is actually a lot when compared with past years. The answer is unequivocally no. In 2000-2001, there were 87 public hearing referee decisions. In 2002-2003, there were still 67 referee decisions. Even for the year ending 2004-2005, 30 referee decisions were issued. That’s a drop of over 90 percent since 2001.
Despite the decreasing numbers, effective July 1, 2004, the legislature approved of seven human rights referees to serve for three year terms (Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 46a-57.) Unlike their predecessors (who served part-time), these human rights referees serve on a full-time basis. (46a-57(b)).
It’s obvious from the most recent numbers that a review of the staffing levels of the human rights referees is in order by the General Assembly — which is where the blame clearly lies for its passage of the statute requiring certain staffing levels. Perhaps the General Assembly, which is looking for ways to trim the budget, can review the CHRO’s staffing levels and determine whether having five to seven full-time human rights referees who issue a total of six decisions in a year on public hearings is the best use of taxpayer funds. (For a fairly scathing review of the CHRO, the Law Tribune has a column this week by Karen Lee Torre.)Continue Reading Numbers Galore, Part II: Seven Full-time CHRO Human Rights Referees for Six Referee Decisions
ABA Conference on Labor & Employment Law Begins Wednesday in Denver
The American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section’s Annual Conference on Labor & Employment Law begins Wednesday in Denver, Colorado. 
Last year’s conference in Philadelphia was a big success and given what the ABA has planned for this year, I expect things to be bigger and better than ever. To give you some perspective, over
Is Connecticut’s Economy “Glass” Half Full or Half Empty? Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
For employers in Connecticut, this isn’t exactly the best of times. But it isn’t the worst of times either. That seemed to be the message of a variety of economists at a conference I attended yesterday sponsored by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
In fact, a CBIA survey released yesterda
y (and sponsored by
Learning More About the Potential Vice Presidents from Employment Blogs In Delaware and Alaska
With Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s speech last night, it makes sense to try to learn a little more about each of the vice presidential candidates and how each of them have impacted the state that they represent.
For that reason, I wanted to suggest a few blogs that cover their states pretty well.
EEOC Issues FAQs for Employees and Employers on Performance/Conduct Issues Under the ADA
The EEOC today released a "comprehensive question-and-answer guide" (but not regulations) addressing how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should be applied to a wide variety of performance and conduct issues. You can download the FAQs at their website here.
In a press release accompanying the document, the EEOC noted that it released the guide in response
Numbers Galore: CHRO Statistics Reveal Interesting Trends – Part I
Last week, I publicized the release of federal court statistics; that story has now been picked up by the American Lawyer which crunches the numbers in more detail.
But now you can break out your abacus again. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has also just released their annual rep
ort (
Whatever Happened to….That Lawyer Who Penned an Anonymous Letter?
As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes cases hit the headlines for a day only to disappear into oblivion. But thanks to some followup reporting, there’s one story that we can give an update on.
Readers may recall a post from May of this year about a state attorney, Maureen Duggan, who wrote an anonymous letter about the state’s Ethics Chief
Happy Labor Day!
Just asMemorial Day signals the start of summer, Labor Day signals the end.
But what is Labor Day really about? To many of us now (and I don’t pretend to be different), it means one last picnic, getting the kids ready for school, and perhaps watching the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon or a