Written on July 29, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: Labor Law
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training
Most states are ill equipped to handle the amount of unemployed people in their state. Rhode Island is ready to do another extension of unemployment benefits. What happens when your uneployment benefits run out? Then what! This article may give you the confidence to pull yourself out of this mess if you are unemployed.
If the people who run the RI Department of Labor and Training could think outside the box like me, then most of would be working in the comfort of our own home, and make more money than our unemployment benefits could ever pay us. This would also save the state millions a month in unemployment benefit payouts. What I am about to tell you might make you feel good about your future.
I am an article marketer who works from home. I am not much of a writer but that does not stop me from trying to reach out to help people. I also write articles to make money. I believe in sharing my knowledge and my two cents, so here it is.
With about 5 hours training you can have the basic skills to become an article marketer. I write articles and send them to free article websites to be published like Articlesbase.com
I market items that match up with my articles. Mainly digital download goods like ebooks. I also market clothing.
Because of the new Rhode Island Internet Sales Tax Law, our government officials have taken a way millions of money making opportunities marketing tangible goods online as an affiliate marketer.
Many companies like Amazon.com pulled the plug on all their RI affiliates when this internet sales tax law was passed. If you sell digital download goods then not only can you avoid collecting taxes for the state, you also make more money.
You see, when an affiliate marketer sells hard goods through article marketing or any other means, they make a 2% to 15% commission on every sale. But when they sell ebooks and other digital info they make 50% to 75% commission per sale. Ebooks sell like crazy because they can be obtained in minutes by downloading them. These are impulse buys and sell fast. There is an ebook for everything.
The best source to find these ebooks is ClickBank.com. Clickbank.com is the number one resource for ebooks. There is also Affiliatebot.com which is a decent source for hot products to market.
This is what I think the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training should be doing for all unemployed Rhode Island workers. This is the ultimate in worker retraining and it’s cheap.
Rather than just paying out unemployment benefits, I think the state should hire some of the best internet marketers and article writers in the country. These individuals would lecture Rhode Island’s unemployed about the benefits of internet marketing and how much money that can be made in this industry. They would inspire many of unemployed in this state and maybe bring some hope into these peoples lives.
The State of Rhode Island would then have an army of people trained by these experts “mainly students, the unemployed and volunteers” who would train Rhode Islanders in this industry. You can article market about anything. If the state took 100 people and had them write articles fivr days a week on Rhode Island’s great points and the benefits of visiting and living in Rhode Island. Not only would Rhode Island see an increase in tourism and residents, but Rhode Islanders could become trained in tourism and internet marketing at the same time. These article marketers will be 1099 employees of the State of RI and get bonuses in their unemployent checks for their articles. There are thousands of paid article writers in this country who get paid per article. Usually $3 to $6 per article depending on the size. A 250 word article usually pays $3.
I have a person that writes 30 articles per day 5 days per week for me about Christian Music and I sell Christian musc downloads. I pay her $500 a week and she writes 150 articles a week. You might think that is a lot of money but I make 4k to 6k a month profit on the christian music articles she writes for me. Get the picture!
The Rhode Island article writers would be separated into teams. Each team would be in charge of writing articles about events, businesses and the benefits of living or visiting towns in their area. Because they live in the area, they would be able to write better, more detailed articles about their communities. This would be an online tourism campaign that would benefit every city and town in this state. The state wouldn’t know what to do with all the tourists and new residents that these articles would generate.
If you were looking online to vacation in the New England area, and you saw thousands of great little articles written about what a great state Rhode Island is for vacation. Do you think that we would have a better chance of getting them to vacation here in RI instead of another New England State? I do.
With and increase in tourism comes an increase in jobs and tax collections.
With all the great things to do in this state, why do our elected officials choose to finance the state budget with gambling money instead of marketing tourism, tourism, tourism to increase state revenue. After all we are the Ocean State. Who can market Rhode Island better than a Rhode Islander. The state pays millions to promote state tourism with stupid ineffective ads and commercials. Article marketing is 10,000 times more powerful than any TV, Billboard, Print Ad or Radio Commercial. Best of all, it’s free and it always remains online for the world to see. Ads and commercials have a very very short life.
Article marketers average $50k to $365k a year. Your articles live online forever. If you publish hundreds of articles a month, just think how many cash generating articles you will have 4 years down the road. You get my picture? You see the money now? Are you getting an idea about an article yet? Are you ready to take charge of your future?
I pick 7 topics and write articles on them only. After a while I know which ones are making the most cash. I then tweak those cash making articles and produce even more income from them.
How much money is there in article marketing. It is not a great rich quick business. You cannot expect to make 5k a month, writing 30 articles a month. At first you should write articles like your life and future depends on it, after about 3 or 4 months of writing articles 8 to 10 hours a day you could make yourself making between $2000 and $5000 a month or much, much more.
I can write an article in 2 minutes. Yes 2 minutes! I will share with you how I write an article in 2 minutes at a later date when I update this article. So bookmark this article now to catch that update. How many articles can I publish online in a day? Do the math. If you hit the right topic you can make $1000 a day or more. Do you watch Oprah? You can make a living watching Oprah!
The Oprah Method of Marketing can make you $10k in one day if you can find out who her guest are going to be and what they might talk about. You then write an article titled “Guest on Oprah this week “and rush it to print online. From there you have all the books that Oprah choose as her favorites right there for sale along side your article. Get the picture? can you see the cash now? Do you have a dollar to spend?
Do you want to learn more about article marketing? Do you want to take a class online to find out what it’s all about? You can sign up for $1 and take the article marketing class at your own pace. It took me 2 hours to take the class.
Don’t just go out and write articles without taking the class first. You’ll have a fat chance in hell of making any money just writing articles unless you know how. You need to know exactly how to do it. Even if you have been in marketing your whole life, you will be blown away after taking the course.
You can start the class right now if you like. You need a dollar though, it’s not free but there is nothing else to buy. Take the Article Marketing Class now at WAU, then come back and leave your feedback so other Rhode Islanders know about your experience.
I love hanging out on the beach fishing, while making money at the same time. I like helping people make money online like me. I also like sleeping and making money at that too.
Written on July 28, 2010 by admin
Filed Under: Labor Law
EMPLOYMENT LAW BASICS FOR HAWAII EMPLOYERS: ILLINOIS RULING HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICIES AND TRAINING TO HAWAII EMPLOYERS
It is well established now under federal Title VII law that an employer is liable for actionable sexual harassment caused by a supervisor with “immediate (or successively higher) authority over the employee.” However, in cases where the employee does not suffer a “tangible employment action,” such as discharge, demotion, or an unfavorable reassignment, there is an affirmative defense that an employer may raise to avoid Title VII liability and damages.
Under such affirmative defense whether an employer has an anti-harassment policy is relevant evidence. Also important is effective supervisory training and training of employees on the harassment policy and complaint procedure.
Training and educational programs for all employees take on an even higher degree of importance under Hawaii state law, HRS Chapter 378. State law currently is interpreted by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (“HCRC”) as mandating strict liability for sexual harassment committed by supervisors.
While the Hawaii Supreme Court has not addressed the HCRC’s interpretation of HRS Chapter 378 a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision upheld a Illinois Human Rights Commission ruling addressing a regulation similar to the HCRC’s–that an employer was strictly liable for a supervisor’s harassing conduct under Illinois state law even though the supervisor did not even have direct supervisory authority over the Complainant.
The April 16, 2009 Illinois decision will certainly be persuasive authority to a Hawaii Supreme Court faced with interpreting the HCRC’s regulation. Accordingly, it is critical that Hawaii employers understand the importance of having an effective policy and company-wide training program on not only a defense to a sexual harassment claim, but prevention.
I. The Importance of Having an Effective Harassment Policy
A. The Faragher/Ellerth Defense
Having an effective sexual harassment policy and training program will greatly increase the chance of avoiding liability under the affirmative defense for sexual harassment claims recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998) (“Faragher”) and Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, 523 U.S. 742 (1998) (“Ellerth”).
Where alleged harassment by a supervisor does not culminate in an adverse (“tangible”) employment decision, the employer may avoid liability by showing that: (1) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct any harassing behavior; and (2) the plaintiff unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer to avoid harm. “A tangible employment action constitutes a significant change in employment status such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities or a decision causing a significant change in benefits.” Ellerth, supra.
The importance of the Faragher/Ellerth defense was significantly increased by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders, 542 U.S. 129 (2004), which held that the defense is available in constructive discharge cases unless the plaintiff quits in a reasonable response to an employer-sanctioned adverse action of an official nature, such as a demotion or a cut in pay.
A zero-tolerance harassment policy must fit the environment and employees. The Ellerth court stated:
While proof that an employer had promulgated an antiharassment policy with complaint procedure is not necessary in every instance as a matter of law, the need for a stated policy suitable to the employment circumstances may appropriately be addressed in any case when litigating the first element of the defense. The policy should be written in plain English, so that all employees regardless of their educational level or background can understand it … [a] policy should include a clear and precise definition of unlawful harassment so that employees know what type of conduct is prohibited by the policy and will be able to recognize that conduct should it occur.
Accordingly, if the alleged harasser has supervisory authority over the victim, the employer will be held automatically liable for any harassment committed by the supervisor unless the employer is able to successfully raise the affirmative defense.
B. Tips On Drafting a Zero-Tolerance Policy and Complaint Procedure.
(1) Write in simple English.
(2) Include a clear definition and examples of prohibited conduct and make it broad enough to prohibit all forms of harassment.
(3) State the company’s “zero-tolerance” philosophy in the policy regarding all forms of harassment,
(4) Designate at least two specially trained managers who will be responsible for investigating harassment complaints for the company.
(5) Determine the complaint procedure that will be used to investigate complaints of harassment by supervisory employees, co-workers and outsiders.
(6) Provide a “clear chain of communication,” allowing employees to step outside of the normal hierarchy in the event the supervisor is the harasser and consider having a toll-free number employees can call.
(7) State that employees who report prohibited conduct will be protected from retaliation.
(8) State that the employer will promptly investigate the matter in an objective and discrete manner.
(9) Provide the form of disciplinary action to which offenders can expect to be subjected.
(10) State that the employer will also take remedial action.
(11) Train your management employees and line employees on the policy and procedure.
(12) Have each employee sign an acknowledgment form that they have received a copy of the policy and procedure, and that they have received training on the harassment policy.
C. The Faragher/Ellerth Defense and Hawaii Law
Like Title VII, the Hawaii Employment Practices Act prohibits discriminating against individuals in virtually all aspects of employment. However, it remains an open question whether an employer, under Hawaii state law, can assert the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense.
Currently, under regulations promulgated by the HCRC, the state agency charged with the enforcing and interpreting Hawaii’s Employment Practices Act, strict liability would apply to a supervisor’s harassment of a subordinate regardless of whether tangible action is taken:
§12-46-109 Sexual harassment.
(a) Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of chapter 378, HRS. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct or visual forms of harassment of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:
(1) Submission to that conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment; or
(2) Submission to or rejection of that conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting that individual; or
(3) That conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
(b) In determining whether alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment, the commission will look at the record as a whole and at the totality of the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. The determination of the legality of a particular action will be made from the facts, on a case by case basis.
(c) An employer shall be responsible for its acts and those of its agents and supervisory employees with respect to sexual harassment regardless of whether the specific acts complained of were authorized or even forbidden, and regardless of whether the employer or other covered entity knew or should have known of their occurrence. The commission will examine the circumstances of the particular employment relationship and the job functions performed by the individual in determining whether an individual acted in either a supervisory or agency capacity.
(d) With respect to conduct between employees, an employer shall be responsible for acts of sexual harassment in the workplace where the employer or its agents or supervisory employees knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. An employee who has been sexually harassed on the job by a co-worker should inform the employer, its agent, or supervisory employee of the harassment; however, an employee’s failure to give such notice may not be an affirmative defense.
D. Problem Areas for Employers
* Inadequate complaint procedure
* Failure to disseminate policy
* Employer on notice of harassment
* Failure to promptly investigate
* Failure to take appropriate disciplinary action
* Failure to apply it even-handedly
* Failure to review and revise when necessary
* Failure to provide training
E. Illinois Supreme Court Decision a Foreshadowing of Hawaii Law?
In Sangamon Cty Sheriff’s Dep’t v. The Illinois Human Rights Comm’n, Nos. 105517, 105518 cons. (Ill. Apr. 16, 2009), decided on April 16, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court gave the HCRC direct support of the HCRC’s own interpretation of HRS Chapter 378.
The Sangamon decision holds Illinois employers strictly liable for sexual harassment by any of their management or supervisory personnel, and, as noted by the dissent, “imposes a standard of liability which appears to be without precedent in any jurisdiction of the United States.”
In that case employee Feleccia filed a sexual harassment claim against employer Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department and Ron Yanor, who was a supervisor, but was not Feleccia’s direct supervisor. The Illinois Human Rights Commission ruled that the Sheriff’s Department was strictly liable for Yanor’s conduct under the Act because Yanor was a supervisor. The Illinois appellate court reversed, and Feleccia and the Commission appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed and confirmed the Commission’s decision. In a 4-2 ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed that the Sheriff’s Department could be held strictly liable in such circumstances. The basis of the decision was the plain and ordinary meaning of the statute, which states that “an employer shall be responsible for sexual harassment of the employer’s employees by nonemployees or nonmanagerial and nonsupervisory employees only if the employer becomes aware of the conduct and fails to take reasonable corrective measures.”
According to the Court, the statute is unambiguous” and only excludes “nonemployees” and “nonmanagerial or nonsupervisory employees” from its strict liability standard. As such, the Court found “[t]here is no language in the Act that limits the employer’s liability based on the harasser’s relationship to the victim.” The Court rejected the employer’s argument that federal case law should apply to the case.
II. The Importance of Conducting EEO Training
Of course, in Hawaii the HCRC has merely interpreted HRS Chapter 378’s statutory language to impose strict liability for supervisory harassment. Unlike the Illinois statute interpreted by the Illinois Supreme Court it is reasonable to argue that Hawaii statutory law is ambiguous and not straightforward.
Nevertheless, the HCRC is charged with the interpretation and enforcement of HRS Chapter 378 and it does not bode well for Hawaii employers that another state’s high court is willing to impose what some would consider harsh penalties on the employer defendant. Accordingly, employers in Hawaii should redouble its efforts to train supervisors AND employees regularly on preventing discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Training should include the consequences of violating company policy.
Training employees reduces the likelihood that inappropriate conduct will be engaged in or tolerated at a level that can create a hostile environment. See Arquero v. Hilton Hawaiian Village, 104 Hawai’i 423, 91 P.3d 505 (2004) (coworker pinched buttocks of the plaintiff on two occasions); Nelson v. University of Hawai’i, 97 Hawai’i 376, 38 P.3d 95 (2001) (verbal harassment).
Second, in the event that inappropriate conduct takes place, employees who are offended will be substantially more likely to use the employer’s complaint procedure, thereby permitting the employer to remedy the situation and avoid having a lawsuit filed against it.
Lastly, training is a tool for prevention and reducing the potential of supervisory harassment.
A. Training as a Tool for Prevention
The EEOC’s Policy Guidance on Sexual Harassment states:
An employer should ensure that its supervisors and managers understand their responsibilities under the organization’s anti-harassment policy and complaint procedure. Periodic training of those individuals can help achieve that result. Such training should explain the types of conduct that violate the employer’s anti-harassment policy; the seriousness of the policy; the responsibilities of supervisors and managers when they learn of alleged harassment; and the prohibition against retaliation.
The HCRC regulations state that “prevention is the best tool for the elimination of sexual harassment. Employers should affirmatively raise the subject, express strong disapproval, develop appropriate sanctions, inform employees of their right to raise and how to raise the issue of sexual harassment, and take any other steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.” §12-46-109(g).
As part of its settlements against employers, the EEOC and HCRC have chosen mandatory training as one of its primary responses through the use of consent decrees requiring organizations to conduct training and ensure policy compliance.
In 2004, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1825, requiring all employers with fifty or more employees to conduct compulsory sexual harassment training for all of its supervisory employees by January of 2006, thus supporting the EEOC and HCRC’s position that training and education is the best tool for prevention. Under the California law, the training must re-occur every two years, and all new supervisors brought in after the original round of training must go through the program within six months of their arrival.
Managers who are aware of the implications of sexual harassment may be less likely to take official action they realize will create vicarious liability for the organization – this may preserve the employer’s right to the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense in a case of constructive discharge. Further, managers who are aware of how to proceed with complaints from employees about harassment are more likely to intervene with an appropriate employer response thus making a stronger showing under the first prong of the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense.
Finally, as noted throughout this article training can be an effective tool to combat inappropriate behavior by supervisors and to reduce risks under state law—especially to the extent it is interpreted similar to the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision.
B. Training and the Faragher/Ellerth Defense
Conducting training will greatly increase the chance of avoiding liability under the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense. The importance of this defense was significantly increased by the Suders decision, which held that the defense is available in constructive discharge cases unless the plaintiff quits in a reasonable response to an employer-sanctioned adverse action of an official nature, such as a demotion or a cut in pay.
The training of rank and file employees should be documented and if it is to be conducted on a regular basis, can include a certification by the employee that he or she has not been subject to any policy violations since the last training.
C. Training and Damages Issues Under Hawaii Law
Generally, individuals cannot be found liable for violations under federal law. Under Hawaii law, however, courts may award unlimited punitive and compensatory damages.
Significantly, unlike under Title VII individuals can be held liable for violations of Hawaii’s Employment Practices Act. See HRS §378-1 (defining “employer” to include “any person”) and §378-2 (3) (making it unlawful for any “person” to “aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any of the discriminatory practices forbidden by this part, or to attempt to do so.”); Schefke v. Reliable Collection Agency, 96 Hawai’i 408; 32 P.3d 52, 93-94 (2001) (holding individuals may be found liable under Hawai’i Employment Practices law).
Thus, training employees may alert them to the financial risks they take when they engage in behaviors prohibited by Hawaii law.
D. Training to Reduce Exposure to Punitive Damages
In Kolstad v. American Dental Association, the Court held that “in the punitive damages context, an employer may not be vicariously liable for the discriminatory employment decisions of managerial agents where these decisions are contrary to the employer’s ‘good-faith efforts to comply with Title VII.’” Accordingly, compliance efforts are both necessary and sufficient to avoid liability for punitive damages.
Roman Amaguin, Esq.; http://www.virtualhawaiiemploymentlawyer.com; http://www.amaguinlaw.com
Roman Amaguin, Esq. is a employment law lawyer in Hawaii who also regularly practices in the areas of labor law and civil litigation. Mr. Amaguin regularly appears in regularly appears before all federal and state courts in Hawaii, as well as state and federal administrative agencies such as the U.S. EEOC and Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. He understands now is the time for the legal profession to reconsider the manner in which it provides services to the community. Accordingly, flat rate projects and other alternative fee arrangements are always explored with his clients.
Mr. Amaguin litigates a wide range of civil cases involving common law and statutory claims.
Visit his website at www.amaguinlaw.com