Alaska Employment Law

Alaska Employment Law covers employment and labor law in Alaska state and federal courts. Posts appear daily, except Sundays.

Author: William Schendel is a solo practitioner in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Blawg Related Categories: Labor & Employment • States • Alaska • Solo / Small Firm

Recent Posts from Alaska Employment Law

The Weekend: Game Six, 1975
It has an awkwardly long title, but as game 6 of this year’s World Series approaches, I just finished reading Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America’s Pastime, by…
9th Cir: Attorney Fees in SSA Litigation
The 9th Circuit, en banc, has strongly endorsed a contingency fee approach, and rejected a lodestar approach, to attorney fees for prevailing Social Security litigants. Here, the prevailing attorney had a 25 % fee agreement,…
Alaska Legal Miscellanea: Immigration Law for Employment Lawyers, and Discovery in Federal Court
ELS meeting: Today’s meeting of the Employment Law Section will host Margaret Stock’s presentation on “Immigration for Employment Lawyers.” Margaret’s materials may be found here. Discovery of computer software: U. S. District Judge John Sedwick has ordered…
Update on Fred Meyer Sweetie Case
Last August an Alaskan federal jury returned a $200,000 verdict for a woman, Martha Johnson, who claimed that her Fred Meyer supervisor had fired her in order to hire his hoped-for paramour. The jury relied on the covenant of good faith and…
The Weekend: Burke’s Rain Gods
James Lee Burke, age 73, is perhaps best known for a series of successful novels featuring Dave Robicheaux, a likeably complicated but ethically challenged Vietnam veteran who is also a recovering alcoholic and New Orleans…
Alaska Legal Miscellanea: Catholic Church Abuse Litigation, and the Unborn
Catholic Church abuse litigation: District of Alaska Bankruptcy Judge Donald MacDonald’s October 11, 2009, Order finding no insurance coverage for the critical 1973-1976 period is here. Initiative on the unborn: AAG Michael Barnhill’s October 22, 2009,…
9th Cir: States May Bar Discretionary Clauses in ERISA Plans
Montana’s insurance commissioner has historically disapproved insurance policies that grant discretion to the insurer concerning actions on applications for benefits. The 9th Circuit has upheld that practice, rejecting an insurer’s claim that the practice is preempted…
9th Cir: Anti-retaliation Protections for Teachers of Students with Disabilities
The 9th Circuit has held that the anti-retaliation provisions of ADA Title II and the 1973 Rehabilitation Act protect aggrieved individuals without regard to whether they personally have disabilities. Thus, a teacher of students with…
9th Cir: FLSA Permits Different Pay for Same Work on Different Shifts
The 9th Circuit has upheld an employer’s use of a lower regular pay rate for employees who work on 12-hour shift than for other employees doing the same work on 8-hour shifts. The employer had moved…
DAlaska: How Not to Respond to Discovery
U. S. District Judge Timothy Burgess has sanctioned a plaintiff employment lawyer for failing to provide true, explicit, complete, and candid answers to an employer’s discovery requests. The standards to which Burgess held plaintiff’s counsel…