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Employment Law Cases – Identifying Trends
from:There is one heck of a lot going on in the rapidly changing world of employment law cases. Virtually daily the courts are handing down decisions that can affect you dramatically in many different areas.
Although employment law cases aren't exactly something you would elect to cruise on a daily basis, there are sites on the Internet that you can search for employment law cases that have been summarized for you – just the highlights and what it could mean. The summaries are likely the best route to go as they make a great deal more sense than the legal versions of employment law cases.
Here are some recent employment law cases that could be of some interest to you – highlights only. If you want to look up the whole case, you can just search for AARP v. EEOC (3rd Cir. 2007)
What it says in a nutshell is, employers and retirees may be able to design retiree health plans and early retirement incentive programs to take advantage of the retirees' eligibility for Medicare benefits. This is a landmark decision.
Why is this of potential importance to you if you are a retiree? It is important because fewer and fewer employers provide health benefits for retirees. The reasons for this are corporations wanting a bigger profit, rising health care costs and of paramount importance, is if you qualify for Medicare on retirement, whether they can reduce/eliminate health benefits for retirees without violating federal age discrimination laws.
Many of the employment law cases you will find in your search are older cases, but are of great importance in terms of ratio decidendi – meaning the precedents they set for case law across the nation. The ratio decidendi is the ground or reason of the decision in a case.
Another area of employment law cases raising a few eyebrows are cases dealing with what happens when key employees leave a company and then begin to compete with the firm they just left. There is an important decision in this area in this case: Aero Fulfillment Services, Inc. v. Tartar (Ohio 2007). This case deals with rights and limitations employers face when a key worker leaves. It also lays out steps for employers to take if and when such an employee leaves, dealing primarily with company trade secrets, confidential information and customer retention/fishing.
As you can see, if you have an interest in this area, you could definitely learn a lot about various decisions that directly and distinctly affect the labor laws in the US. While they may not apply to you presently, chances are that later down the road, you just may be in a position where you need to know things like this.
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