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KOKOMO, Ind. -- Workers at DaimlerChrysler's Indiana Transmission Plant I and Plant II better allow more time to walk in from the parking lot if they drive Fords or General Motors vehicles. A new policy that takes effect today designates about 80 percent of employee parking spaces for Chrysler vehicles only and forces workers to park much farther away if they drive a car or truck made by a competing manufacturer. In case employees forget, there's new blue lines painted on the parking lot and signs that declare ''DaimlerChrysler Parking Only'' and ''DaimlerChrysler Vehicle Parking.'' 'Wide support from employees' Workers...

Text of Steve Ballmer E-Mail to U.S. Microsoft Employees Regarding Public Policy Engagement REDMOND, Wash. -- May 6, 2005 -- In response to widespread public interest in the company's position on anti-discrimination legislation, Microsoft Corp. today released the following text of an e-mail sent today from Steve Ballmer, CEO, to all Microsoft employees in the United States: Date: May 6, 2005 To: All Employees of Microsoft in Puget Sound; All Employees of Microsoft in MSUS Subject: Microsoft’s principles for public policy engagement During the past two weeks I’ve heard from many of you with a wide range of views on...

No more smokers. Is the next step no more Democrats? So the CEO of a Michigan company announced a no-more-smokers policy. Employees of Weyco Inc. could not smoke at the office, in the parking lot, in an ally or even at home. Weyco founder Howard Weyers gave his employees who smoked 15 months warning and offered them smoking cessation courses. Weyco eventually fired or forced out workers who refused to take nicotine tests to show that they did not smoke. "We're not telling you, you can't smoke," said Weyco CFO Gary Climes. "We're telling you, you can't smoke and work...

SEATTLE, April 26 - Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, has indicated he may reconsider his company's decision not to support a Washington State gay rights bill amid the growing firestorm inside and outside the company that exploded after the recent disclosure that Microsoft had changed its position on the bill. In an interview with The Seattle Times on Monday, Mr. Gates, who rarely grants interviews and declined through a spokesman Tuesday to grant one to The New York Times, indicated that he was surprised by the backlash to the company's turnaround on the legislation. He also suggested that Microsoft,...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The City-County Council on Monday night rejected an ordinance that would have prohibited businesses with at least six employees from considering sexual orientation and gender identity in employment decisions. The ordinance, which also would have prohibited the refusal of housing and real estate opportunities for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, was turned down by an 18-11 vote. Conservative groups and gay-rights advocates had lobbied council members about the proposal. Some opponents of the proposal said current laws were adequate. Before Monday's meeting, council member Scott Schneider said he opposed the plan because it elevated a...

Norway's Supreme Court supported decisions refusing Conoco Phillips the right to fire two workers who surfed the Internet for pornographic images on company time. The two workers on the Ekofisk field lost their jobs after being caught peeping at porn on the job in the summer of 2002. The pair took their case to court and won at both the municipal and appeals level, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports. Conoco Phillips appealed the decisions to the Supreme Court in order to have a clarification of what employees can do on company time and what employers can do to enforce violations of...

Single mom files pregnancy discrimination suit By Domingo Ramirez Jr. Star-Telegram Staff Writer In the two months that she worked for a Saginaw sports-lighting company, Mellissa Brucker says, she didn't get a bad performance review. Brucker, a single mother, said she got a raise and had her benefits enrollment moved up by several days. But on Oct. 29, the 32-year-old Fort Worth woman said, KMA Associates fired her just days after she told company officials that she was pregnant. This week, Brucker filed a sex and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit in federal court in Fort Worth against the company, seeking undisclosed...

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A woman who was fired by Costco in 2001 for refusing to remove her eyebrow ring has accused the company of religious discrimination, saying she is a member of the Church of Body Modification. Kimberly M. Cloutier said she wears her eyebrow ring as a sign of faith. She has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider hearing the case. The church, established in 1999, counts about 1,000 members who participate in practices such as piercing and tattooing, according to a December ruling by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a trial judge's...

It's nice to hear Americans talk about privacy and fighting for their rights. But sometimes I have to say: Do you know what you're talking about? In Okemos, Mich., a 71-year-old health nut named Howard Weyers runs a health-care benefits company called Weyco. Weyers thinks his employees should be healthy, too, so years ago, he hired an in-house private trainer. Any employee who works with her and then meets certain exercise goals earns a $110 bonus per month. So far, so good. But then, in November 2003, Weyers made an announcement that shocked his staff: "I'm introducing a smoking policy,"...

It's nice to hear Americans talk about privacy and fighting for their rights. But sometimes I have to say: Do you know what you're talking about? In Okemos, Mich., a 71-year-old health nut named Howard Weyers runs a health-care benefits company called Weyco. Weyers thinks his employees should be healthy, too, so years ago, he hired an in-house private trainer. Any employee who works with her and then meets certain exercise goals earns a $110 bonus per month. So far, so good. But then, in November 2003, Weyers made an announcement that shocked his staff: "I'm introducing a smoking policy,"...

<p>One-third of the employees at a Goshen plant that makes campers lost their jobs after they tested positive for illegal drugs, company officials said. Keystone RV Co. Inc. tested all 120 employees at the Goshen plant #304 last week after receiving a tip from police, company officials said. That information was shared during the firm’s ongoing relationship with law enforcement, a spokesman said. “We care about our employees and we value the safety of our employees,” said Ken Julian, human resources director. “We took steps to back up what we say,” he said of the drug testing. A total of 40 of the workers tested positive for either marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine or methamphetamine during the plantwide drug screening April 11, the company said. Testing positive for one or more of the illegal drugs is reason for dismissal at Keystone. “We even had individuals who were disciplined come back and give us praise for what we did,” Julian said. The Goshen plant 304 is a site where fifth wheel camping trailers are built. Keystone, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Thor Industries, is the largest employer in Elkhart County, with about 3,000 workers. The company makes travel trailers and fifth wheels under several brand names and has 20 plants in Goshen and two in Oregon. “There was some feedback from the police that one of our plants was having troubles with drugs. We responded to this,” Keystone president Ron Fenech said. Julian said it was the first time Keystone had tested all the workers at one plant at the same time. Workers at the plant were sent home for the day with pay after occupational health care staff took urine samples from them. The factory resumed normal production the following day. A police officer was on hand in case of problems, but Julian said the tests went smoothly. “It was a very cooperative group of individuals,” he said. Workers were informed of the preliminary test results immediately, and the samples then were sent to the South Bend Medical Foundation for confirmation, he said. “Those who tested positive were put on unpaid leave until we got confirmation,” he said.</p>

Workers Dismissed After Rejecting Employer's Smoking Policy April 8, 2005 — If you don't like your job, you can quit. Does it work the other way? Can my boss quit me if he doesn't like, say, something I do at home? An employer in Michigan has done that, and it's making lots of people say Give Me a Break. Howard Weyers runs WEYCO, a health-care benefits company in Okemos, Mich., and he's a health nut. He's 71 years old, but still lifts heavy weights. One day, he decided his employees should be healthy too. First, he hired an in-house private...

HAZLETON -- Timothy Cerullo believes Luzerne County transportation officials fired him because he’s fat. The 500-pound Hazleton man says his bosses were constantly on the lookout for mistakes, and refused to allow him to drive a van that was easier for him to get in and out of and drive – all because they didn’t like his appearance. Cerullo, 44, said he can’t easily swing his legs up to climb steps because one of his calves remains sore from a blood clot surgery, and both legs often swell up with fluid. “The vans the county got are too high, and...

It was easy to miss with so much else happening in the world, but there was a hugely important decision last week by the U.S. Supreme Court involving older workers and how they're treated on the job. The justices made it easier for workers age 40 and older to sue employers for age discrimination, even if the workers can't prove that the employer deliberately intended to discriminate. All that is needed for proof, the court said, is that a given policy, requirement or practice in the workplace has an "adverse impact" on older workers. That includes layoffs that seem to...

A federal judge today ordered an employer who fired a juror in the middle of a fraud trial to appear in court to explain himself or face arrest.U.S. District Judge David Hittner issued the order after juror Mike Borowski, a construction superintendent, complained last week that he had been fired from a construction job in River Oaks.Hittner ordered Sam LeComnte, owner of Multi Building Inc. of Lewisville, to appear in court Thursday to explain why Borowski was fired. The order said that if LeComnte failed to appear, an arrest warrant would be issued.Michael Bradshaw, area superintendent for Multi Building, said...

Workers 40 or older can sue their employers for practices that favor younger workers even if there was no intentional bias, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an important age discrimination case. The decision upheld the reach of the 1967 federal law that bars discrimination based on age and covers an estimated 75 million workers 40 or older, who account for about half the U.S. civilian labor force. By a 5-3 vote, the justices ruled the law did cover policies that have a "disparate impact" on older workers, even if the employer was not motivated by intentional discrimination....

WILMINGTON, N.C. - A former sheriff's dispatcher who quit her job after her boss found out she lived with her boyfriend is challenging North Carolina's law against cohabitation. Debora Hobbs said she was told to get married, move out, or find another job after her boss found out about her living situation. The legal arm of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed the lawsuit Monday on her behalf. The lawsuit seeks to abolish the nearly 200-year-old - and rarely enforced - law that prohibits unmarried, unrelated adults of the opposite sex from living together. North Carolina is...

White women lag in pay among college graduates Associated PressPosted March 28 2005 WASHINGTON -- Black and Asian women with bachelor's degrees earn slightly more than similarly educated white women. A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released Monday by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women earned $37,600 a year. The bureau did not say why.  

Black and Asian women with bachelor's degrees earn more money than similarly educated white women, and white men with four-year degrees still make more money than anyone else. A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and about $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released today by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home slightly less at about $37,600 a year. The bureau did not say why the differences exist. Economists and sociologists suggest some possible factors: the tendency of minority women,...