Etiqueta: kentucky

¿Pagas “Union Due” (Cuota Sindical)?: Leyes sobre Derecho al Trabajo (Right-to-Work) en Kentucky

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Imagen en: http://www.notiuno.com

Imagen en: http://www.notiuno.com

Desde los caballos y la energía, el carbón y los coches, el Estado del Bluegrass trabaja muy duro. Y en gran parte, los sindicatos han trabajado duro en nombre de los empleados para proteger sus intereses. Como la mayoría de los residentes de Kentucky saben, la relación entre trabajo y  gestión a menudo puede ser motivo de controversia, por decirlo suavemente, y requiere la cooperación de todas las partes a mantener las relaciones cordiales. En los últimos años, muchos estados han aprobado leyes para alterar la forma en la que los empleados, los empleadores y los sindicatos trabajan en conjunto.

Esta es una introducción a lo que se conoce como la leyes de “Derecho al Trabajo” en Kentucky.

Leyes de Derecho al Trabajo (Right-to-Work laws)

En total, 24 estados de la unión tienen leyes de “derecho al trabajo”, ya sean reconocidas en la constitución del estado o en un estatuto legal, aprobadas en los últimos años. En general, estas leyes prohíben a los empleadores exigir la afiliación sindical, o el pago de la cuota sindical, como requisito previo a los empleados para conseguir y mantener un trabajo.

Regulación del Derecho al Trabajo (Right-to-Work laws) en Kentucky

La legislación de derecho al trabajo llegó a un comité de la cámara de representantes del Estado de Kentucky en el año 2014, pero quedó allí. Tanto los republicanos como los demócratas predijeron que la cuestión del Derecho al Trabajo jugaría un papel en futuras elecciones y otro proyecto de ley podría ser propuesto pronto, a finales de 2014 no hay ninguna ley referida al Derecho al Trabajo en los registros de Kentucky.

¿Qué hacen las leyes de Derecho al Trabajo?

Las leyes del Derecho al Trabajo rigen la relación entre los sindicatos, los empleados y los empleadores. Prohíben a los empleadores o sindicatos exigir a los empleados unirse a un sindicato o pagar cuotas sindicales. Asimismo, los empleadores no están autorizados a excluir a los trabajadores no sindicalizados del proceso de contratación. Muchos estados del sur han tenido durante mucho tiempo las leyes de Derecho al Trabajo, pero Kentucky se resiste al cambio al ser un Estado pro-sindicato.

Aunque muchos estados del Norte y del Medio Oeste han añadido sus propios estatutos sobre Derecho a Trabajo en los últimos años, el impacto global de las leyes sobre salarios, afiliación sindical, y convenios colectivos de trabajo aún no se ha determinado con precisión. Naturalmente, los sindicatos se han opuesto universalmente a las leyes de Derecho al Trabajo, mientras que la mayoría de empresas y cámaras de comercio han presionado fuertemente a su favor.

Leyes de Derecho al Trabajo en Kentucky: Recursos relacionados

Si bien actualmente no existen leyes de Derecho al Trabajo en vigor en Kentucky, esto siempre puede cambiar dependiendo de las elecciones y el apoyo de los votantes. Puede ponerse en contacto con un abogado laboral de Kentucky en su área si desea asesoría legal en relación con una cuestión sindical o laboral. También puede visitar Centro de Derechos del Trabajador de FindLaw para revisar artículos adicionales e información sobre este tema.

Estados con leyes de Derecho al Trabajo

Alabama | Arizona | Arkansas | Florida | Georgia | Guam | Idaho | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas |Louisiana | Michigan (Private/Public) | Mississippi | Nebraska | Nevada | North Carolina | North Dakota | Oklahoma |South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Virginia | Wisconsin| Wyoming

Información traducida con fines educativos de: findlaw y The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

Se recomienda leer:

Estados con Derecho al Trabajo Right-to-Work States 

Right-to-Work bill dies in Kentucky House committee

Cámara de Representantes del Estado de Kentucky

Kim Davis and the law: Q&A in clerk standoff

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Q. Why hasn’t Kim Davis been fired for refusing to issue marriage licenses and defying court orders?

A. She is an elected official and can only be removed from office for impeachment.

How would she be impeached?

The Kentucky House of Representatives would have to charge her with an impeachable offense and the Senate would then try her.

Is that likely?

The Kentucky Equality Federation, a gay rights group, has called for Gov. Steve Beshear to call a special session of the General Assembly to pursue impeachment. But Beshear, citing costs, has already declined to convene a special session to consider emergency legislation that would accommodate Davis and other clerks by having state government issue marriage licenses. Also, Bluegrass Polls show most Kentucky voters oppose gay marriage and support accommodating Davis.

“The legislature has placed the authority to issue marriage licenses squarely on county clerks by statute, and I have no legal authority to relieve her of her statutory duty by executive order or to remove her from office,” Beshear said in a statement Tuesday.

Can Davis be charged with a crime?

After being denied a license four times, a gay couple has asked the Rowan County attorney to charge her with official misconduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. But citing a conflict of interest — he is defending the county in suits naming Davis — he referred the request to the attorney general’s office, which is deciding whether to appoint a special prosecutor.

What happens next?

The two gay and straight couples who sued Davis have asked U.S. District Judge David Bunning to find her in contempt of court. A hearing is set for 11 a.m. Thursday in Ashland.

What punishment could she get for that?

Bunning could jail or fine her, but the plaintiffs are seeking only monetary penalties, apparently to avoid engendering sympathy for her in jail. Bunning could order her to pay the fines out of her own pocket, rather than with taxpaper money.

Does Davis have any options left?

She can still pursue her appeal in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, but her bids to delay compliance ran out on Monday night when the Supreme Court denied her a stay.

Could local officials try to remove her?

Kentucky law allows a commonwealth’s attorney to indict county judges-executives, justices of the peace, sheriffs, coroners, surveyors, jailers, county attorneys and constables for malfeasance in office or willful neglect in the discharge of official duties, for which they can be fined up to $1,000 and removed from office upon conviction. But for some reason lost to history, the statute doesn’t include county clerks.

What are Davis’ grounds for refusing to comply with court orders?

She says that to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples, on which her name would be signed, conflicts with God’s definition of marriage and would violate her conscience. She says her religious liberty should be protected under the Kentucky and U.S. Constitutions and the Kentucky Religious Freedom Act.

Sources: Kentucky Constitution and KRS. University of Kentucky law professors Allison Connelly and Scott Bauries.

In: courierjournal

Kim Davis Ordered Jailed in Kentucky Gay Marriage Dispute

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Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County in Kentucky, after refusing to grant a marriage certificate to Robbie Blankenship and Jesse Cruz on Wednesday. Credit Ty Wright/Getty Images

Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County in Kentucky, after refusing to grant a marriage certificate to Robbie Blankenship and Jesse Cruz on Wednesday. Credit Ty Wright/Getty Images

ASHLAND, Ky. — A federal judge here on Thursday ordered a Kentucky clerk jailed for contempt of court because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, was ordered incarcerated after a hearing here before Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court. The contempt finding was another legal defeat for Ms. Davis, who has argued that she should not be forced to issue licenses that conflict with her religious beliefs.

“The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” Judge Bunning said. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”

David L. Bunning. Image: enquirer.com

Judge David L. Bunning. Image: enquirer.com

Judge Bunning said Ms. Davis would be released once she agreed to comply with his order and issue the marriage licenses.

On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down Ms. Davis’s appeal of an Aug. 12 ruling by Judge Bunning directing her to issue marriage licenses. The justices’ decision was expected to clear the way for same-sex marriages in Rowan County. But on Tuesday, the clerk and her employees again refused to issue licenses in Morehead, the seat of Rowan County.

Within hours lawyers for the couples who had initially sued Ms. Davis asked Judge Bunning to hold her in contempt. “Because Davis cannot show either that she is unable to comply with the Aug. 12, 2015, order or that she has taken all reasonable steps to comply,” the lawyers wrote, “this court is left with no choice but to hold her in contempt.”

The lawyers, who argued that Ms. Davis “continues to collect compensation from the Commonwealth for duties she fails to perform,” asked Judge Bunning to fine the clerk, but not to jail her.

On Wednesday, when Ms. Davis again turned down a gay couple’s request for a license, the clerk’s lawyers argued that she should not be held in contempt, in part because it would breach her right to due process. They asked Judge Bunning to grant an injunction pending another appeal.

Supporters and opponents of Ms. Davis gathered outside the federal courthouse here hours before she was due to appear. One man waved a rainbow flag — a symbol of the gay rights movement — while another clutched a flag that said, “Liberty.”

“We’re supporters of the rule of the law,” said David Wills, a computer programmer from West Virginia who was first in line and said he had arrived at 4 a.m. for a hearing scheduled to begin seven hours later. “It’s just really important to me that people be treated equally, fairly.”

Ms. Davis’s supporters, prepared with an ice chest filled with water, also gathered ahead of a hearing they called critical to protecting religious liberty in Kentucky and elsewhere.

“They’re taking rights away from Christians,” Danny Kinder, a 73-year-old retiree from Morehead, said of the courts. “They’ve overstepped their bounds.”

He declined to predict the outcome of Thursday’s hearing and what would happen to Ms. Davis.

“I’ve been praying about it, and we just have to turn it over to the Lord,” he said. “She has got to stand for what she believes, and I have to stand for what I believe, and I’m behind her 100 percent.”

In: nytimes

Puede interesarle: Judge Bunning takes bench

“Under God’s authority”: The case of clerk Kim Davis

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meme secular state

Not for winning or being appointed in clerk position, this will belong to her and, from that post, she can decide who deserves a service and who does not. The exercise of public service is not about choices (It’s Not About what you believe) because is a duty, and she can´t have that discriminatory behavior against any person in relation with the goods and services that the state provides to its citizens.

Public service is mandatory for all civil servant. Public administration and the civil service is characterized by the objectivity and impartiality that is embodied in the fact prevent personal or individual elements affect the civil servant criteria when making decisions.

Public and civil servants must be objective in the line of duty. It’s like saying “think with reason and not so much with the heart”. It’s like going to a restaurant and the customer orders to the waiter “I would like to order biscuits ’n’ gravy” and the waiter answers to the consumer “sorry I don’t like biscuits ’n’ gravy, so you don’t deserve it, too”.

Finally, rule of law is a principle in public administration and because of that she can´t deny the marriage service even more if the SCOTUS ruled the same sex marriage as a right nationwide. The public servants develops their duties inside a secular state.

arturodiazf

See: The Kentucky clerk who won’t issue marriage licences, and all her deputy clerks have been called to appear at a federal court hearing

College finds manuscript of song that inspired ‘Happy Birthday’

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A college librarian in Kentucky has found the 19th-century manuscript of a musical number that gave rise to one of the most widely performed songs in the world, “Happy Birthday to You,” University of Louisville officials said on Monday.

Sheet music for the song Good Morning To All is seen in an undated photo provided by the University of Louisville, Kentucky. REUTERS/UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Sheet music for the song Good Morning To All is seen in an undated photo provided by the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
REUTERS/UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

The discovery will likely intensify interest in a high-profile U.S. court case over whether Warner Music Group has a valid copyright to the “Happy Birthday” song and can continue to reap from it an estimated $2 million in royalties every year.

The university said its library director, James Procell, recently found the only known manuscript of “Good Morning to All,” a melody that the public eventually began to sing with the familiar tribute, “Happy Birthday to You.”

The document was found in a sketch book belonging to Louisville native Mildred Hill, who wrote the “Good Morning” song along with her sister Patty, a kindergarten teacher, and published it in a children’s song book in 1893.

The manuscript and other papers were donated to the library in the 1950s by a friend of the Hill sisters, but were not cataloged. They remained hidden in its archives for decades.

Library director James Procell poses with sheet music for the song Good Morning To All in an undated photo provided by the University of Louisville, Kentucky. REUTERS/UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Library director James Procell poses with sheet music for the song Good Morning To All in an undated photo provided by the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
REUTERS/UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

The university made no mention of a copyright notice on the manuscript, and its first page is missing. It is unlikely to have a direct impact on the federal lawsuit, filed by a group of artists who argue the song has been copyright-free for decades, said their lawyer, Mark Rifkin.

The artists, a musician and three filmmakers, filed their putative class action against Warner in 2013 seeking a return of the fees Warner has collected over the years for use of the song, mostly in TV and film.

Warner’s copyright in the song originates with the Clayton F. Summy Co, later known as Birch Tree and acquired by Warner. Summy had obtained registrations to “Happy Birthday” in 1935, according to court papers.

U.S. District Judge George King in Los Angeles is mulling over the arguments made by both sides. The artists recently told him they found a “smoking gun” in the form of an old songbook that they say legally proves the copyright is no longer valid. Warner disputes that claim.

A spokesman for Warner could not immediately be reached for comment.

Procell plans to digitize and catalog Mildred Hill’s papers and a concert of her music is planned for 2016, a century after her death, the university said.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)

En: reuters

SCOTUS: Kentucky clerk must issue same-sex marriage licenses

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KENTUCKY — The Supreme Court on Monday night, August 31st denied an emergency application from a Kentucky clerk who has been refusing to issue marriage licenses because of her religious objections to same-sex marriage.

Image: CNN

Image: CNN

The clerk, Kim Davis, sought to put a lower court ruling on hold pending appeal, and in a one-page order the Supreme Court refused.

Davis is now faced with a lower court order that her office begin issuing licenses effective Monday.

The order marks the first time the issue of same-sex marriage has come back to the justices since they issued an opinion last June clearing the way for same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

Davis, of the Rowan County Clerk’s office, has refused to issue any marriage licenses since the decision — Obergefell v. Hodges — came down. She is an Apostolic Christian who says that she has a sincere religious objection to same-sex marriage. Other clerks in the state have expressed concern, but Davis is the only one turning away eligible couples.

In Court papers, lawyers for Davis said that her “conscience forbids her from approving a (same-sex marriage) license — because the prescribed form mandates that she authorize the proposed union and issue a license bearing her own name and imprimatur.”

“In her belief,” the lawyers wrote, “(same-sex marriage) is not, in fact, marriage.”

They said issuing a same-sex license would amount to a “searing act of validation” that would “forever echo in her conscience.”

En: fox6now

Kentucky clerk takes same-sex marriage license battle to US supreme court

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Rowan County clerk Kim Davis asks the highest court for permission to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples on grounds of religious freedom

Rowan County Kentucky clerk Kim Davis shows emotion as she is cheered by a gathering of supporters during a rally on the steps of the Kentucky state capitol on Saturday. Photograph: Timothy D. Easley/AP

Rowan County Kentucky clerk Kim Davis shows emotion as she is cheered by a gathering of supporters during a rally on the steps of the Kentucky state capitol on Saturday. Photograph: Timothy D. Easley/AP

Two months after it legalized gay marriage nationwide, the US supreme court is being asked by a Kentucky county clerk for permission to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis objects to same-sex marriage for religious reasons. The supreme court says the constitution guarantees gay people have the right to marry, but Davis contends the first amendment guarantees her the right of religious freedom.

She stopped issuing all marriage licenses the day after the supreme court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide in June.

Two gay couples and two straight couples sued Davis, arguing she must fulfill her duties as an elected official. A federal judge ordered Davis to issue the licenses and an appeals court upheld that decision. Davis’s lawyers said they petitioned the supreme court on Friday to delay that decision until her appeal is finished, a process that could take months.

Her attorneys with the Christian law firm Liberty Counsel wrote in their appeal to the court that Davis is seeking “asylum for her conscience”.

Justice Elena Kagan, who joined the majority opinion that effectively legalized gay marriage across the US, will hear Davis’s case.

University of Louisville law professor Sam Marcosson said he believes Kagan will deny Davis’s request based on the court’s earlier decision.

Davis has refused to comply with several court orders in recent weeks, turning away gay couples over and over. She says they could easily drive to a nearby county to get a marriage license. But gay couples argue they have a right to get a marriage license in the county where they live, work and pay taxes.

Davis has said she will not resign her $80,000-a-year job and will never issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples – even if the supreme court denies her request.

“If a (same-sex marriage) license is issued with Davis’s name, authorization and approval, no one can unring that bell,” she wrote the court. “That searing act of validation would forever echo in her conscience.”

Her attorney, Jonathan D Christman, wrote that forcing her to issue licenses is akin to forcing a person who objects to war into the battlefield, or forcing a person against capital punishment to carry out an execution.

Davis cannot be fired because she is an elected official. The legislature could impeach her, but that is unlikely given that many state lawmakers share her beliefs. The Republican president of the state senate spoke at a rally last week in support of Davis.

The gay couples that sued her could ask US district judge David Bunning to hold Davis in contempt. That would trigger another court hearing and would likely include testimony from Davis herself. The judge could then order hefty fines or even put her in jail until she complies with the order.

En: theguardian

La expulsaron por ir a la escuela vestida de manera “provocativa”

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La madre de la joven que se ve en la foto recibió una llamada del colegio de su hija, Woodford Country High School en Kentucky (Estados Unidos), para que la recogiera.

El motivo era su vestimenta. No era la adecuada. Según señala el Huffington Post, el código del colegio indica que las camisetas tienen que ser de cuello redondo, sin enseñar la clavícula.

La madre hizo público su enfado a través de este post:

Foto: 24 HORAS

Foto: 24 HORAS

“Así ha ido mi hija en la escuela hoy. Tuve que ir a recogerla porque según los directores su vestimenta es inapropiada para el código del colegio. Cuando llegué, me encontré con un grupo de chicas en la oficina debido también al código de vestimenta. ¡Es ridículo!”, comenta la madre en su perfil y sigue, asegurando que las normas del colegio no permite a ellas “mostrar su clavícula porque puede distraer a sus compañeros”.

“Los padres están siendo llamados para que salgan de sus puestos de trabajo, que son importantes, y los estudiantes están perdiendo tiempo de clase igualmente importantes… ¡porque están mostrando sus clavículas! Algo tiene que cambiar”, concluye.

Y algo ha cambiado. Según el Today.com, el propio jefe de estudios del centro ha afirmado que se modificará el código de vestimenta. Además, esta madre ha logrado convocar un comité en la escuela para abordar el asunto. Y, por último, ha conseguido transformar el conflicto en una historia viral.

En: MSN