Compliance February 2, 2009

CA Appellate Court Upholds $1M+ Civil Suit Award Against Employer

February 2, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A California appellate court has upheld an award of just over $1 million to an employee who sued his employer after he was severely beaten in 2004 by a co-worker who had followed him home.
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California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals turned away arguments by the employer, Technicolor Entertainment Services Inc., that Eugene Duffy’s civil suit was barred by the provision in California’s worker’s compensation law mandating that such disputes arising from the workplace be dealt with in the worker’s compensation system and not in regular civil court.

The appellate judges upheld the October 2006 award to Duffy of   $1,018,250 and costs of $12,866.26 originally awarded.

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Duffy based his suit against Technicolor on charges of negligent retention and supervision on the theory that Technicolor knew about past violent threats and verbal attacks the co-worker,   Harry Streng, had made against other employees, but continued to employ him and failed to discipline him, court records indicate.

The employer contended the suit was barred because the attack grew out of Duffy’s employment, but a California jury found that Duffy’s injuries did not occur within the scope of his employment and that Technicolor’s negligence contributed to Duffy’s injuries.

Appellate judges asserted that because Duffy’s injuries occurred after his work ended and because he was not performing any service to further his employer’s business, the incident was not work related.

The decision is available  here .

Administration January 30, 2009

Raytheon Hit Hard by Pension Costs

January 30, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The world's largest maker of missiles, Raytheon, announced its profit during the fourth quarter cratered under the weight of rising pension costs.
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TheWaltham, Massachusetts-based company said profit from continuing operations fell to $421 million, or $1.02 a share, from $634 million, or $1.45, a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.

One analyst who follows Raytheon predicted the firm isn’t through with negative pension cost impacts, according to Bloomberg “We believe there is additional material 2009 earnings per share risk from higher pension expense,” at defense companies including Raytheon, said Gary Liebowitz, a New York-based analyst with Wachovia Capital Markets. “Pension could remain a significant headwind in 2010.”

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The company followed Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s biggest defense company, which previously announced pension costs would lower profit this year.

Sales gained 1.4% to $6.09 billion in the quarter as the company sold more air-and-missile-defense systems to U.S. allies in Asia and the Middle East, Bloomberg reported.

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