As a new round of teacher bargaining begins – and as school districts watch to see if the QEO is removed and interest arbitration returns to the bargaining process – school districts need to establish a systematic labor relations record retention system. Maintaining a well organized and comprehensive system for retaining your school district’s...
A recent decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court provides some welcome relief for public sector employers concerned about retiree claims for vested health benefits. In Loth v. City of Milwaukee, 2008 WI 129, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against an employee who claimed he was entitled to no-cost retirement health benefits which he argued...
By Mary S. Gerbig Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school districts are required to provide free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) to students with eligible disabilities from ages 3 to 21. For preschool age students, LRE is also considered in the context of “natural...
Most school district employers are familiar with an employee’s right to union representation during an investigatory meeting that may result in disciplinary action. But is an employee also entitled to confer with a union representative prior to such a meeting? What if it is the union requesting the meeting with the employee, and not the employee...
On December 4, 2008, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided King v. City of Madison, a case in which an employee sued her employer, claiming that the City failed to accommodate her disability in violation of the Americans with Disability Act (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act. The Court of Appeals held that the City had accommodated King’s...
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Davis & Kuelthau, s.c. has formed a team of attorneys to assist public sector and private sector clients with the Federal infrastructure stimulus program known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 (H.R. 1) that the House of Representatives passed on January 28, 2009. The Governor also recently created the Office of Recovery...
The past few years have seen explosive growth in the use of new communication technologies including text messaging (texting), instant messages (IMs) and the use of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. It is estimated that 2 trillion instant messages were sent in 2007. These new means of communicating have become main stream. The...
Congress recently voted to pass the ADA Amendment Act (“ADAAA”), which brings the ADA back to the standards originally intended by Congress, rather than the legal standards created by several U.S. Supreme Court cases. The President signed the ADAAA into law on September 25, 2008. The ADAAA will become effective on January 1, 2009. Wisconsin...
By Mary S. Gerbig The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), first enacted in 1974, is the federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). On March 24, 2008, the Department of Education (DOE)...
