EdLawConnect Blog

As has been widely reported in the media, earlier this month a Rutgers University student was convicted of bias crimes for homophobia-motivated webcam spying on his roommate, who committed suicide after learning of the spying. The case has focused attention on the phenomenon of bullying on college and university campuses.

School district administrators aren’t used to “thanking” Sacramento too often, given the annual slew of additional mandates and reduced funding from the Legislature. When the “Rodda Act,” the set of laws that provides for collective bargaining by school district employees in California, was enacted in 1975, however, the Legislature provided a little known exemption from the normal ...

On February 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a “notice of proposed rule making,” describing proposed revisions to regulations under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). These regulations are proposed primarily to implement recent amendments to the military leave provisions.

The FMLA entitles eligible employees to take job-protected, unpaid leave ...

During the every day course of business, actual or potential disputes may arise that could lead to later legal action. In these situations, the preservation of electronically stored information can be overlooked.

In addition, litigation discovery rules provide that parties in litigation must take necessary measures to preserve electronic evidence. If appropriate measures are not taken in that regard, a ...

As noted in a recent AALRR alert, the March 1, 2012, decision of the Court of Appeal in Stockton Teachers Association v. Stockton Unified School District held that certificated employees hired into categorically funded positions pursuant to temporary contracts may nevertheless have the rights of probationary employees with respect to seniority, eligibility for tenure, and rehire rights after layoff. Although the case involved certificated employees of a K-12 district, the case has significant implications for community college districts as well in both the short- and long-term.

On February 28, 2012, the court in Maria Esther Rey v. Madera Unified School District (February 28, 2012) held that a county committee on school district organization may not be held liable under the California Voting Rights Act ("CVRA," Elections Code § 14025 et seq.) when the county committee has taken no action to impose or apply an election method on behalf of one of its school districts. The court also upheld the trial court’s decision to reduce by over 90%, the amount of attorneys’ fees awarded to plaintiffs in the case.

Effective January 1, 2012, the legislature expanded the definition of "public project" subject to the California prevailing wage law with criteria meant to cover Power Purchase Agreement ("PPA") projects built on public property, supplying at least half the generated power to the public property owner.

In a typical PPA the local educational agency ("LEA") agrees to lease LEA land, or rooftops, to a private ...

The trend toward “cloud computing” is increasingly visible as technology firms and service providers vie with each other to provide users with web-based data and software application services. From Apple’s iCloud to Amazon’s cloud-based user libraries to your local cable provider’s data storage plans, everyone wants to provide users with fee-based cloud services.

Cloud computing offers a ...

As we reach the approximate midpoint of the academic year, we believe it is important for employers to look ahead to nonreelections and year-end performance evaluations of permanent employees.  We therefore remind our readers of important procedural considerations in the evaluation process, and also offer some substantive tips in preparing evaluation documents.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider three cases involving cyberbullying. That refusal leaves school districts in a continuing quandary about how to respond to off-campus cyberbullying, and illustrates how reasonable minds can come to very different conclusions on whether school districts have the right to impose discipline, or whether such discipline violates the First Amendment.

In ...