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The International Employment Effects of SOX

This blog will address some of the international employment aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX"). The applicable situation is as follows: A publicly traded American company, operating in a foreign country, and a non-U.S. citizen employee. The employee discovers a fraudulent accounting practice. That employee brings the practice to the attention of either his superiors or the authorities. Can the company lawfully terminate the employee for reporting this fraudulent practice because the company is operating in a foreign country, using non-U.S. citizen employees? If the situation occurred in the U.S., the answer is clearly no. 18 U.S.C. §1514A(a)(1). Does the same protection extend beyond the U.S. borders?

11th Circuit Sends Sexual Harassment Claim for Offensive Radio Program at Work to Jury
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
May 15, 2008
Topic: Employment Discrimination

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleven Circuit overruled a district court decision to dismiss an Alabama Plaintiff's sexual harassment lawsuit on grounds that offensive language and behavior was not aimed directly at the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff, who worked at the C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. Birmingham, Alabama office, complained that she was subjected to sexually offensive language that permeated the work environment on a daily basis. The Plaintiff, who was the only female employee in her work area...

Peremptory challenge violated 6th Amendment
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
May 14, 2008
Topic: Federal Civil and Criminal Appeals

Deshaun Odeneal and Shane Andres (the Defendants), African-Americans, were convicted of various federal narcotics and firearms crimes. On appeal, they alleged that the prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges was based on race, in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury and Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79. Sixty-six individuals constituted the venire panel for the Defendants' trial, of whom four were African-Americans. The government used peremptory strikes to remove...

Trust Deemed Part of Estate for Bankruptcy Proceedings.
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
May 13, 2008
Topic: Trust, Will, and Probate Litigation

Mr. Gerald Taylor handwrote his will, in which he bequeathed all of his assets to his daughter, Ms. Sarah Ann Delmoe. He later added a codicil which bequeathed his assets to his sister to hold in trust for Ms. Delmoe and required the trust to pay his daughter a $600 monthly distribution. After Mr. Taylor's death, Ms. Delmoe began receiving monthly payments from the trust. She then filed for bankruptcy along with her husband. The bankruptcy sought to have Ms. Delmoe's interest in the trust declared as an asset of the bankruptcy estate, and for postpetition payments to be turned over to him.

11th Circuit addresses ?own occupation? standard in Coca-Cola employee's private disability benefits appeal
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
May 12, 2008
Topic: Erisa Retirement Benefits

The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Byars v. Coca-Cola Co., 517 F.3d 1256, examined the "Own Occupation" and "Any Occupation" Standards in this Long Term Disability (LTD) Benefits appeal. Lisa Byars was an employee of Coca-Cola for twenty-three years when she was injured while vacationing out of the country. Unable to continue her work, Ms. Byars applied for short term disability pay and received six months of short-term disability pay. Thereafter, Ms. Byars filed a claim with Coca-Cola for LTD benefits. At the time of Ms. Byar's LTD request, Coca Cola's LTD plan was governed by ERISA and was administrated by ReliaStar.

The LTD plan provided benefits....

District Court holds UPS liable in ADA Discrimination Lawsuit
Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
May 09, 2008
Topic: Employment Discrimination

Paul Warren had worked as a UPS package delivery driver for three years when he was diagnosed with epilepsy. Following this diagnosis, he opted to temporarily stop working at UPS. A year later, Mr. Warren was cleared to work a non-driving position at UPS and he was eventually given a non-driving position with a limited amount of overtime. The pay of the non-driving position represented a $300 decrease from the weekly pay he enjoyed as a driver. Later that same year, Mr. Warren was medically cleared by a UPS physician to work as a package car driver. However, Mr. Warren was not eligible for a Department of Transportation ("DOT") commercial driver's license ("DOT card"), because he had been diagnosed with epilepsy and was taking seizure medication. Although federal law required a DOT card only for drivers of vehicles weighing 10,001 pounds or more, UPS policy required all of its drivers to have DOT cards.

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