Compliance March 3, 2008

EEOC Issues Guides on Injured Vets' Workplace Issues

March 3, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Friday issued two question-and-answer (Q&A) guides providing technical assistance for employers and veterans on workplace issues affecting veterans with service-connected disabilities.
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According to an EEOC press release, the new guide for employers explains how protections for veterans with service-connected disabilities differ under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). The document also describes how the ADA in particular applies to recruiting, hiring, and accommodating veterans with service-connected disabilities.

The other guide answers questions that veterans with service-connected disabilities may have about the protections they are entitled to when they seek to return to their former jobs or find new civilian jobs. The document explains changes or adjustments that veterans may need, because of their injuries, to apply for, or perform, a job, or to enjoy equal access to the workplace.

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EEOC Legal Counsel Reed L. Russell noted in the press release that each guide includes a list of resources on where to find more information on USERRA and the ADA; public and private organizations that can assist employers who want to recruit and hire veterans or can help veterans who are seeking employment; and organizations and agencies that can help identify specific reasonable accommodations for veterans with service-related disabilities.

“The EEOC wants to help our nation’s wounded warriors and employers alike understand their respective workplace rights and responsibilities under federal laws. These new guides will provide valuable assistance in this effort,” Russell said in the announcement.

The guide for employers is here .

The other Q&A is here .

Administration March 1, 2008

Airline Hopes to Bid Aloha to Bankruptcy

January 27, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Aloha Airlines has filed a motion for a hearing on a restructured reorganization proposal that it hopes will allow it to exit bankruptcy soon.
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The $98 million modified deal provides $63 million in cash and $35 million in exit debt financing, as well as $4.5 million more in cost savings than the previous plan, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.   The previous reorganization plan was worth $100 million and provided $50 million in cash and up to $50 million in debt.

Aloha filed for bankruptcy on December 30, 2004, and its plans to exit bankruptcy within a year were thwarted by appeals from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) last month, the Star-Bulletin said.   Judge J. Michael Seabright of the US District Court for the District of Hawaii gave approval for Aloha Airlines to terminate its four underfunded pension plans (See  NewsDash – December 19) after the airlines and its unions for pilots and flight attendants could not reach an agreement on their own about contract terminations (See  Aloha Airlines and Unions Butt Heads ).

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The Star-Bulletin reports that Aloha said in its motion that the plan must be approved expeditiously or“there is the distinct possibility that (Aloha) could run out of cash and would be forced to cease operating, rendering 3,500 residents of the state of Hawaii unemployed, and severely harming the state of Hawaii’s passenger and cargo operations.”   It blamed the PBGC appeals and rising fuel prices for the need to restructure its plan.

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