Today we'll discuss the Supreme Court's evaluation of workplace supervision and harassment, speak with LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, and consider privacy -- in emails and in public schools. Later, we'll talk about fan films with one of the makers of 'Raiders!' All that and more, on AirTalk.
Who is liable for damages if an employee is harassed at work?
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will evaluate workplace harassment in the context of supervision and determine who qualifies as a supervisor. The specific case before the court began with Maetta Vance, who was allegedly racially targeted by one of her immediate “supervisors,” Sandra Davis.
The question of supervision is an important one because it frequently determines liability. In cases where an employee is harassed by a supervisor, the employer is automatically responsible for damages, while if the perpetrator is a co-worker, the victim has to prove that the employer was negligent in following up on complaints.
What makes someone a supervisor? Is it, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states, anyone with the authority to manage daily work activities? Is it someone with hiring and firing power? Should employers be responsible for all workplace harassment, or just that carried out by their management?
Guest:
Greg Stohr, Bloomberg News Supreme Court reporter
Anne K. Richardson, Partner, Hadsell Stormer Richardson & Renick law firm in Pasadena; Richardson specializes in employment and civil rights cases.
Big Man on Campus: LAUSD’s Superintendent John Deasy
As students across LA head back to school from their Thanksgiving break, LAUSD’s John Deasy will head back to his office with a lot of decisions to make after Proposition 30 passed on the November ballot.
With the state receiving an additional $6 billion in revenue, LAUSD has voted to restore its classroom calendar to the standard 180 days for the first time in five years of budget cutting, which Deasy publicly supported. The district will also rescind 10 furlough days teachers had agreed to, and will talk to other, much smaller employee unions about rescinding their furlough days.
The LAUSD school board also voted ot keep John Deasy in his role as superintendent through 2015. The LAUSD is also applying for high profile “Race to the Top” grants that the federal government will distribute, but the LA teachers’ union is opposed to the grant on the grounds that it could overextend the district financially.
Guest:
John Deasy, Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
Long-dead WWII airborne agent carries secret message from the past
It’s the stuff of wartime spy thrillers like “Casablanca” and “The 39 Steps” — the body of a secret agent is found under mysterious circumstances, with a coded message that defies cracking by experts.
This courier was no stool pigeon ... but it was a pigeon, one of some 250,000 enlisted during World War II by the U.K.’s National Pigeon Service to carry messages from behind enemy lines in Germany, France and elsewhere.
Around 30 of the brave birds were awarded the Dickin Medal for Bravery in Battle, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. The skeleton of this particular pigeon was found in 1982 in the chimney of a home in Surrey, England, on an estate that was used by decryption experts during the war.
Strapped to its leg was a tiny red canister containing a handwritten message: 27 five-letter codes lists:
The bird and its secret message recently came to the attention of code breakers at Britain’s super-secret communications intelligence agency, GCHQ. But despite weeks of poring over the missive, these and other cryptology experts have been unable to crack the code.
Where was this avian agent headed? What was his mission? Was it ever accomplished?
Guest:
Colin Hill, volunteer at the Pigeon Museum at Bletchley Park in Surrey, England
E-mail privacy reforms cause back-and-forth on Capitol Hill
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was a statue enacted in 1986 as a means to set privacy parameters on new and growing technologies. As one might imagine, any phone, computer or other device from 1986 would be woefully out-of-date in today’s society. Some politicians and many technological experts feel the same way about the ECPA itself.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has taken it upon himself to tackle this issue, and has drafted an amended version of the ECPA. Leahy’s version specifically alters the rules of access law enforcement agencies have over private e-mail accounts, requiring them to obtain a court-approved warrant as opposed to an administrative subpoena. Unsurprisingly, groups such as the National Sheriffs’ Association, the National District Attorneys’ Association and the U.S. Department of Justice voiced their displeasure of Leahy’s changes.
After this, tech website CNET made a report that Leahy again altered the bill, allowing for searches without a warrant. With an air of confusion now surrounding Leahy’s proposal and stark opponents on both sides of the issue, it is clearer than ever than some substantial changes must be made to bring this old law kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
What are the concerns for those who want the ECPA to stay as is? What about those calling for reform? How will Leahy be able to navigate this thorny topic in a particularly contentious political environment?
Guest:
Declan McCullagh, Chief political correspondent and senior writer for CNET
Joseph Cassily
, past President of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA); current State's Attorney for Hartford County, MarylandDoes Santa Clarita Valley’s drug testing program violate privacy rights?
The Santa Clarita Valley school district has implemented a drug testing program in their junior and senior high schools. The program allows parents to opt their child in for random, free, on-campus drug tests.
So far, more than 2,000 students participate, about one tenth of the districts middle and high school students – and the program administrators are looking to expand. While random drug testing for student athletes and participants in certain extra-curricular activities is not uncommon, Santa Clarita’s Comprehensive Alcohol and Drug Reduction and Education (CADRE) program is believed to be the only one of its kind in the U.S.
The ACLU and other civil rights activists are skeptical though, questioning how it could be truly voluntary, and whether the program violates children’s privacy rights. If a student were to refuse testing, even with their parent’s consent, the district could face legal challenges.
Should students be subjected to drug-testing programs their parents opt into? Do programs like CADRE violate children’s privacy rights? Is random drug testing the best way to prevent drug use in teens?
The story of ‘The Story of Greatest Fan Film Ever Made: Raiders!’
Alan Eisenstock’s "Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made" follows how two kids, 12-year-old Eric Zala and 11-year-old Chris Strompolos, from Ocean Springs, Mississippi decided to remake the Indiana Jones film ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ Over the next seven years, the two made a complete remake of the movie, with every scene and every stunt.
The final product was considered an undisputed fan film masterpiece. The story of how the movie was made serves as a backdrop for Eisenstock, who chronicles the maturation of Zala and Strompolos during the movie’s making: how the two kids grew up and dealt with their own respective hardships, and how their boyhood friendship eventually dissolved. The film was the center of their youth, but it was also the biggest, and eventually unbearable, burden on their friendship.
From their devotion to their film, to their ruined friendship, to the eventual redemption of their relationship and current directing cooperation, Eisenstock writes of youth, maturation, and the boundless energy and hope contained in a young person’s dream.
Guests:
Alan Eisenstock, author, Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne Books)
Eric Zala, co-author, Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne Books), director of the film remake, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation,’ chronicled in the book, and portrays Dr. Rene Belloq in the remake
Chris Strompolos, acted as Indiana Jones in the film remake 'Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation'