WASHINGTON-Workers can sue their employers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act without filing a formal charge with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The case-Federal Express Corp. vs. Paul Holowecki et al.-involved an ADEA requirement that a plaintiff file a "charge"-which the high court found that the ADEA does not clearly define-at least 60 days before filing a discrimination lawsuit. When the EEOC receives the charge, it notifies the employer, investigates the allegations and offers to mediate.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.-A New Jersey workers compensation judge ruled Monday in favor of a casino dealer who claimed her exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke over 10 years caused her lung cancer.

The judge awarded Kam Wong approximately $150,000 for partial disability and lost wages, and additional amounts for future medical care, said Lawrence Mintz, her attorney and a partner in the Atlantic City-based firm Goldenberg Mackler Sayegh Mintz Pfeffer Bonchi & Gill.

NEW YORK (Reuters)-Lawsuits stemming from the U.S. subprime mortgage debacle already are on pace to surpass the number of cases that grew out of the savings and loan meltdown of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new study has found.

Borrowers, investors and other plaintiffs filed 278 civil lawsuits in federal courts related to subprime lending in 2007, and the trend is expected to continue this year, according to the report released on Thursday.

WASHINGTON-The Labor Department has proposed a revised rule that would require small employers to speed up the transfer of employee contributions to pension and welfare plans and said it is considering doing the same for large employers.

Under current rules, employers-regardless of size-must transmit employee contributions to pension plans as soon as the contributions can be reasonably segregated from general employer assets, but no later than the 15th business day after the month in which the contributions are received or withheld by the employer. In the case of welfare plans, the latest date to forward employee contributions is 90 days from the date the amounts are received or withheld by the employer.

AUSTIN, Texas-Public policy does not bar a liability insurer from covering punitive damages for an employer's gross negligence, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled in a workers compensation case.

The Feb. 15 ruling came in the case of Fairfield Insurance Co. vs. Stephens Martin Paving L.P., which involved a worker, Roy Edward Bennett, who died in 2002 when a piece of equipment overturned.