Corporate trendsetters are moving in the direction of eliminating a historical function of human resource departments: the annual performance evaluation. Accenture recently declared its independence from the evaluation process, but it is certainly not alone in its departure from this time honored…

When defending against an employee’s claims, an initial step that every employer should take is to determine if the employee has filed a Chapter 7 Voluntary Petition for bankruptcy in the recent past. If an employee filed for bankruptcy and failed to…

On June 15, 2015, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued a decision that clarified the Indian country status of a certain parcel of land in New Mexico that had been the subject of conflicting state and federal court decisions.  In State of New…

The Case: The Southern Ute Indian Tribe (Tribe) filed suit on June 18, 2015 in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado[1. Southern Ute Indian Tribe v. U. S. Department of the Interior, D. Colo. No. 1:15-cv-01303.] against the Department…

In 1998, the United States Supreme Court created an affirmative defense for employers who have been sued for discrimination or harassment and who can show that “(1) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any . . . harassing…

Employer wellness programs are generally designed as a way to improve employee health and to reduce health care costs to employers. Some wellness programs ask employees to engage in healthier behavior (for example, by becoming more active, not smoking or eating better),…

On June 26, 2015, in Pueblo of Jemez v. the United States[1. 790 F.3d 1143 (10th Cir. 2015).] the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court ruling that had dismissed the Pueblo of Jemez’ (Pueblo) claim seeking the return…