Delaware Employment Law Blog

Delaware is all a-frenzy with the announcement of our very own Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee for vice president. If you’ve seen The News Journal over the several days, you’ve seen the almost front-to-back coverage of Joe. With Barack Obama still fighting to win over many Hillary Clinton’s women supporters, there’s been considerable focus in the media already as to Joe Biden’s record on women’s and work-life balance issues.

We’ve previously posted on Barack Obama’s position on women’s and work-life balance issues. What kind of work-and-family experience has Joe Biden had, both in his personal life and as a policy maker?

The Wall Street Journal’s blog “The Juggle” noted Biden’s personal family tragedy: the 1972 car accident which killed his wife and infant daughter and left his two sons badly injured. To care for them while continuing his political career, he commuted daily by train between Wilmington, Del., and Washington, never securing a Washington residence.

As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, some alleged that he was too easy on Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and too hard on Anita Hill, a former co-worker of Thomas' who had accused the federal judge of sexual harassment. Some even maintain that "he very self-consciously tried to shore up his support from women voters after the Anita Hill episode."

Although Biden is perhaps best known for his focus on foreign policy, he has also had a hand in legislation targeting work-and-family issues. According to a cached version of Biden’s senatorial campaign Website (which since this weekend has automatically referred visitors to the Obama-Biden campaign site), the Senator is a co-sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which would require employers with more than 15 employees to offer seven paid sick days a year. In the 1990s, he was the primary sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act and supported the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member.

Want to know what it takes to be voted best place to work?  Ask the healthy employees of Wilmington, Delaware-based internet bank, ING Direct.  The healthy-factor is no coincidence.  ING takes its employees' wellness very seriously.

The bank has a full-time doctor and nurse in the building for employees' immediate access.  And employees can use the company's full-scale gym.  Known as The Energy Zone, the gym offers a variety of group fitness classes such as yoga and spinning, and even organizes a running club.  For $10 per month, employees can use the gym before, during, and after work--including weekends.  The Wellness Center offers weight-loss programs, access to personal trainers and cholesterol monitoring. 

According to the respondents, the good stuff doesn't stop at the doors of the Wellness Center, though.  81% think they have a great physical work environment.  And 85% feel their benefits package is good compared to others in their industry.  92% said they are proud to work for ING and 81% said they are motivated to give their best.  86% believe in the mission and the strategy--reporting that they feel that the company is moving in the right direction.

The bank is known for doing things its own way, which has turned out to be a very effective way for ING.  Since it opened in 2000, the bank has grown to more than 6.8 million account holders.  All without a single branch.  ING also prides itself in treating all of its 1,108 employees equally.  Instead of formal titles, employees work in a certain department--where managers sit in cubicles next to their direct reports.

Innovation is working for ING--and for its healthy employees.

Lou Michels and Halima Horton of McGuire Woods will be presenting a free webinar about state gun laws that prohibit employers from outlawing firearms on company property--including employee-owned guns kept in personal vehicles.  This is a topic we've covered here a number of times and are likely to hear more about as incidents of workplace violence continue to occur across the country.  I'd encourage you to take advantage of this free, 1-hour program.  It is scheduled for July 29th at 12:30 EDT and you can register online.

For previous posts on Guns in the Workplace and Workplace Violence, see:

Georgia Takes One Step Backwards in the Fight Against Workplace Violence

Employee Shooting Results in Unusual Liability for Workplace Violence

Florida Law Permits Guns at Work; Delaware Initiates an Anti-Workplace Violence Training Program

Local Violence & Workplace Violence: Keeping It Safe

Employees' privacy rights.  They're everywhere.  Lately, they've been in the KYW-3 TV Newsroom.  Two former Philadelphia co-anchors have put e-mail privacy in the spotlight.  Larry Mendte, who is accused of reading and leaking Alycia Lane's private e-mail account, was fired today.  His termination comes in the middle of a federal investigation, which involved a raid of Mendte's home and office and the removal of "computer equipment," and follows just days after Lane filed her long-threatened suit against their shared former employer.

This scandal is a big deal in the Philadelphia local news.  And perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Lane had lost her sugary-sweet charm after the third or fourth scandal.  Or maybe it's because Philly is known equally just as much for relentlessly jeering unpopular sports figures as it is for brotherly love.  But maybe it's because this is a story that so many people already know.  They've lived it themselves.

Mendte is suspected of accessing Lane's account "possibly hundreds of times" and then leaking the information to their boss, the news station, or the press.

So what happens to Mendte if it's later found out that he did secretly sabotage his former partner at the news desk?  Not much.  Mendte isn't a supervisor so, unless the station is found to have known about the snooping or somehow endorsing it, the station will not be held responsible for the acts of Mendte.  Obviously, losing his long-time job, where he spent many years enjoying the favor of Philadelphians, is a big deal and probably one of the most severe consequences he could face.

And Lane could certainly sue Mendte, as well as the station.  It's unlikely that she will, though, given the low value of any possible recovery for privacy claims brought against an individual, as opposed to an employer.

But the real question is not who will be victorious in the media or in the courtroom.  The real question is whether your organization faces similar risks to the potential espionage of trade secrets and confidential information or to a Jerks-at-Work campaign where a bully secretly accesses a target-coworkers' emails with bad intentions.

What safeguards do you have in place to automatically monitor technology use of company computers?

What policies do you utilize to ensure employees' data is protected with regular password changes and by communicating that an employee who shares her password with another may be subject to serious discipline?

What about the specifics of what an employee may and may not take from the workplace, which includes sending it out of the organization and into the world wide web?  Have you expressly told employees about the consequences of such action?  Do you know what the consequences are?

Take the Mendte-Lane debacle as a cue for you to review your policies, practices, and how those messages are communicated to employees.

Michael Klein and John Shiffman at the Philadelphia Inquirer, have more on this story.

Prior Related Posts:

More Drama at the News Desk

Employee Embarrasses Employer, Who Fires Employee, Who Sues Employer

What do News Anchors, Sports Figures, and Corporate Executives Have in Common? Employment Agreements and Risk-Avoidance Clauses

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha' Gonna Do . . . When They Work for You?

Managers, be thankful that you don't work in news television.  Apparently, news anchors aren't the easiest employees to manage.  Local news celebrities just might have the market cornered on employee off-duty conduct that causes employers the biggest headaches.  And now, employees' off-duty conduct is at the heart of an employee-versus-employer lawsuit.

Oh, those crazy news anchors!  Always making news of their own! You may recall from earlier posts the saga involving the once anchorwoman for KYW-TV Philadelphia.  Hmmm. Scandals, actually, would be more accurate. 

Let's start with Alycia, seeing as she's the trophy-holder in the scandal department.  First there was the "Dr. Phil episode." She spilled her heart (and lots of tears) on national television during an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show and discussed in detail her failed marriage and the prospect of dating.  Then she was busted sending pictures of herself clad in a skimpy bikini to NFL Network sports anchor Rich Eisen. Eisen's wife was the so-called busting party. 

Then, in December 2007, Lane was arrested in New York and charged with assaulting a police officer.  There also were allegations that she'd verbally attacked the female officer with degrading and homophobic slurs. 

The officer was in plainclothes when the incident occurred.  Oops.

KYW terminated her a month later and issued a fairly quiet (and gentle) press release. 

Then, last month, after the story trail had gone cold, Lane was back in the news.  But this time, it was her former co-anchor, Larry Mendte, who had the spotlight.  In May, FBI officials searched Mendte's home and office computers triggering speculation that Lane may have pointed the finger at Mendte for leaking the Eisen email.  It hasn't been confirmed by Lane, Mendte, or the FBI that the search may have been the result of suspicion that he'd secretly read Lane's emails or otherwise accessed her computer.

The latest?  Lane has filed suit in Philadelphia against KYW.  The lawsuit against her employer alleges that the station's management had a pattern of "deep-seated gender-discriminatory animus" towards women in the workplace. 

Today's Wilmington News Journal reports:

The lawsuit says the station told Lane to interview TV psychologist Phil McGraw in 2004 and suggested that she talk about some of her past relationships. She said she understood that inappropriate personal elements would be removed and was mortified when footage of her crying about her divorce was included in a heavily promoted KYW newscast.

The suit says that because of those decisions, Lane "was branded in the press as someone who sought to make herself the news, rather than to merely report the news.

The defamation suit alleges that the station invaded her privacy and spread malicious gossip that eventually caused her to lose career opportunities and destroying her reputation. 

Stay tuned, viewers, I feel that it's safe to say there's more to come in this drama suited for prime-time TV.

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News at Philly.com:  Alycia Tells Her Side In Suit

(AP) The Wilmington News Journal:  Alycia Lane Sues Former Reporter

Related Posts:

What do News Anchors, Sports Figures, and Corporate Executives Have in Common? Employment Agreements and Risk-Avoidance Clauses

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha' Gonna Do . . . When They Work for You?

In addition to the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS), where Adria Martinelli, William W. Bowser, and Scott A. Holt, will be presenting on several employment law topics, attorneys in the Employment Law Group has several seminars on the calendar this summer.  To keep you in the loop, here's a short recap. For more information, just give us a call or use the links below.

Delaware Contractors Association, June 25

William W. Bowser and Molly DiBianca will be presenting a breakfast seminar to the Delaware Contractors Association (DCA) on June 25, 2008 on Hot Topics In Employment Law.  The recent amendment to the Family Medical Leave Act, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which imposes new leave requirements for employees with servicemembers in the family who are called to active duty or who are returning from active duty and who require medical care.  The recent (and sudden) passage of the Construction Industry Independent Contract Act through the Delaware House of Representatives will also surely be on the agenda.

Developing Your Employee Handbook, October 23 & 30

Molly DiBianca will be presenting this seminar, which is sponsored by Lyons Companies Insurance, twice in October.  The first seminar is scheduled for October 23, 2008, from 1-3 p.m. and will be held in Georgetown, Delaware. The second is set for October 30, 2008, from 9 - 11 a.m. and will be hosted by Young Conaway Stargatt and Taylor in the firm's Wilmington, Delaware offices.  The seminar is free to clients of Lyons Companies but limited spaces are available for non-clients.  Just be sure to contact Molly DiBianca or Lyons Companies representative Jenn Miller early because Lyons' seminars are always well attended and fill up quickly. 

Good leaders are difficult to come by.  Good leadership in government, some might say, is even more difficult to find.  I'd guess that some of the citizens of the Illinois town of Cahokia might just feel that way right about now. 

Cahokia Mayor, Frank Bergman, filed a workers' compensation claim after taking a fall down the stairs while fulfilling his duties as a civil servant. This claim has resulted in payment to Mayor Bergman for more than $20,000. 

And what's wrong with that, you ask?  Certainly, there is nothing un-leader-like about utilizing a government service for its intended purpose. 

But, the trouble here is, Mayor Bergman appears to be an unusually clumsy government official. This was his fourth workers' comp claim since he began working for the small town. In all, the Mayor has collected no less than $145,000 in workers' comp payouts since he came to work for local government in 1986.  The Mayor's annual salary is $40,000. 

Well, maybe the Mayor can try to avoid walking under ladders and crossing paths with black cats in the future.  Surely, bad luck must be to blame for his ongoing series of unfortunate accidents. 

Source: Chicago Tribune:  Small-town mayor gets $20,000 for his 4th workers' compensation claim