Holiday Party: The Morning After
From dealing with employees who flirt or tweet off-color jokes to resolving altercations between employees, there are a great deal of risks and misbehaviors that come with corporate celebrations. In preparation for the holiday season, Verrill Dana's Labor & Employment Group will host an informational session, " Holiday Party...
Maine Passes Recreational Marijuana Statute—What Does This Mean for Employers
While still up for debate (as of the time of the writing of this blog), most news outlets and agencies in Maine are reporting that Question 1 on yesterday's ballot has passed—therefore providing for recreational use of marijuana in Maine. What does this mean for employers? That is the...
Western District of Pennsylvania Rules Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protected by Title VII
On Friday, November 4, 2016, the Western District of Pennsylvania issued an order denying the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss in EEOC v. Scott Medical Health Center (No. 2:16-cv-00225) finding that a claim of sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil...
A Bourbon Conundrum
The recent week-long strike at two Jim Beam facilities in Kentucky highlights a very interesting tension in the current workplace. Workers at the Boston and Clermont, Kentucky facilities overwhelmingly rejected the second contract proposal in two weeks, stepping out on strike on October 15, 2016. The second contract proposal...
EEOC’s 2017-2021 Initiatives Announced
The EEOC has posted its Strategic Enforcement Plan for Fiscal Years 2017-2021. Included in the substantive priorities: 1. Eliminating Barriers in Recruitment and Hiring. 2. Protecting Vulnerable Workers, Including Immigrant and Migrant Workers, and Underserved Communities from Discrimination. 3. Addressing Selected Emerging and Developing Issues. 4. Ensuring Equal Pay...
NLRB Confronts Confrontational Clothing Ban
Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board, in Medco Health Solutions of Las Vegas, Inc. , 364 N.R.R.B. No. 115 (Aug. 27, 2016), found that a dress code policy that banned "confrontational" clothing banned federal labor law. The case, stemmed from an incident in which the Company ordered...
Upcoming Events with Verrill Dana’s Labor & Employment Group
With fall in full-swing, our attorneys are busy working to provide more valuable resources for employers, HR professionals, in-house counsel and others interested in labor and employment issues through webinars and seminars. Please find more information regarding upcoming events below. Strategies for Staying Union-Free: Current Landscape and Post-Election Preview...
Breaking News on DOL “Threats” to Federalize Workers’ Compensation
On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, a much-anticipated report generated by the NASI (National Academy of Social Insurance) was released. The report had been shrouded in secrecy, with even supposed "insiders" complaining of having been shut out of the process. Then, over the weekend, the Department of Labor held a...
Letters from the Workers' Compensation Trenches
I am just back from an invigorating seminar put on by the national group to which we belong as the sole Maine member, the National Workers' Compensation Defense Network and want to share some highlights. This year's seminar, held in Chicago on September 22, included presentations on lots of...
Governor's Panel Finds No Bias at Maine Human Rights Commission
Earlier this week, the Governor's Panel to Review and Make Recommendations for Improvement of the Maine Human Rights Commission and Its Operations issued its report finding specifically that "there was no evidence that the MHRC or its staff ever intentionally meant to be unfair or biased toward any party."...
Effective October 1, CT Employers Can Use Payroll Cards to Pay Wages
09/30/2016On June 7, 2016, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law Public Act 16-125 , which allows employers to pay employees using payroll cards and to deliver certain wage and hour information to employees by electronic means. The new law takes effect on October 1, 2016. For a recent...
Despite Recent Challenges to Overtime Rule, Employers Should Continue Preparing for Implementation on December 1
On September 20, two lawsuits were filed in federal court seeking to stop the new overtime regulations from going into effect on December 1. One lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with a number of other business groups. The other lawsuit was filed by...
Will The New Maine Opiate Control Law Impact the Workers’ Compensation System?
Stories of the horrors of opiate over-prescription and abuse are abundant, and Maine has not been spared the ravages of that epidemic. In response to the growing problem, Governor LePage, in April of this year, signed into law a bill intended to place some limits on the prescription of...
Calling All Workers' Compensation Attorneys!
As the sole Maine representative to the National Workers' Compensation Defense Network, Beth Smith , will be attending the NWCDN Annual Conference in Chicago later this week. Why? Fellow NWCDN member Bob Wilson explains in a blog post entitled "The NWCDN Road Show Hits Chicago and I Won't Miss...
NLRB Blurs the Lines Between Being a Student and Being an Employee
As reported by my colleague Erik Peters last week, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") has again reversed course and held that graduate students at private universities may unionize. See Columbia University , 364 NLRB No. 90 (2016). Until 2000, the NLRB consistently held that graduate students working at...
Mass SJC: Failure to Adequately Investigate Sexual Harassment has Consequences - Hundreds of Thousands of Them
Talk about sending a message! Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court just reinstated a $540,000 jury verdict in favor of a finance manager at a Lexus dealer who alleged that her supervisor sexually harassed her and that the dealer then failed to sufficiently investigate her claims. (Slip opinion here .) At...
Connecticut Advance Opinion: Affirming Arbitrator’s Finding That Termination Unwarranted of Employee Caught Smoking and Possessing Marijuana
Yes, you read the title correctly, the employee was a state employee, who was smoking marijuana while working, in a work vehicle, while simultaneously possessing ¾ of an ounce of marijuana, but his termination has been found to be unwarranted. State of Connecticut v. Connecticut Employees Union Independent et...
NLRB: Grad Students at Private Schools Can Join Unions
Well, law school certainly felt like a job to your humble correspondent, and now it appears that the National Labor Relations Board agrees. Actually, it's not quite that simple; however, on Tuesday, the NLRB ruled that grad students working as teaching and research assistants at private universities (specifically Columbia...
When Pain and Suffering is Anything But
In Massachusetts, as in many states, when an employee is injured in the course of work, but the injury is caused by a third party, the employee is entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits and also seek damages from the third party. For example, employee Ernie is driving the...
Individual Liability for Violators of New Massachusetts Gender Identity Public Accommodation Statute
Effective October 1, Massachusetts business owners who operate "places of public accommodations" will be prohibited from discriminating against individuals on the basis of gender identity. Specifically, An owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement that lawfully segregates or separates...
WWE “Wrestles” with the Question of Whether Road Warrior Animal was an Employee or Independent Contractor
The issue of Independent Contractor versus Employee has reared its ugly head once again, this time in the context of professional wrestling. A Connecticut lawsuit filed on behalf of retired wrestlers is seeking damages from World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. for head injuries, alleged to have been sustained in the...
Zika in the Workplace: Best Practices for Not Getting Bit with Liability
There are things we all need to know about Zika: 1) it is spread mostly by an infected Aedes species mosquito; 2) it can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus; 3) there is no vaccine or medicine for Zika; and 4) confirmed cases of the Zika...
Feds Figure Out How to Make Workplace Safety a Profit Center – But Not For The Employers
Just in case you missed our earlier post, effective August 1, the Department of Labor issued a new rule implementing significantly higher penalties upon employers for Occupational Safety and Health Act violations. After August 1, the new penalty rates will be effective for any violations which occurred after November...
That Bored Lifeguard May Not Be the Only Unproductive Worker Watching the Olympics
By now you may have seen all the coverage of the rather bored-looking lifeguards at the Olympic swimming events . As it turns out, they may not be the only workers who are sitting around watching the Olympics on the clock.In a recent Workforce Institute survey commissioned from Harris...
Is Your Company Complying with Updated Federal Posting Requirements?
On August 1, 2016, the DOL issued updated posting requirements for the Employee Polygraph Protection Act and the Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you haven't updated your posters, you should do so immediately. You can print out copies here: - Employee Rights Under the Fair...
FLSA Construction Basics: Build a Solid Foundation with Proper Classification
New England Company & Affiliate Pay $2.6 Million in Back Wages Over the past few years we have discussed the importance of proper classification of workers and the ever-increasing number of DOL audits and wage and hour lawsuits that are stemming from improper classification of the workforce. Yesterday, the...
“The Writing is On the Wall”: Seventh Circuit Clears Up Any Misconceptions the Public May Have on the Court’s View on Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Late last week, the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College , in which it held that Title VII provides no redress for discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation. The Seventh Circuit is the first federal court of appeals court to rule on...
New Massachusetts Equal Pay Law is not Effective Until January 1, 2018, But Employers Should Pay Attention Now
On August 1, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law sweeping changes to the state's prohibition on discrimination in pay on the basis of an employee's gender. The law is one of the most aggressive equal pay laws passed in the United States and contains unique provisions to...
Navigating the New Overtime Rules … In the News
Now that a couple of months have passed since the Department of Labor announced the new federal overtime regulations, many employers are looking for guidance. Our Labor & Employment Group has been working tirelessly to ensure its clients and the community-at-large have resources for determining whether they will be...
Policy to “Conduct only . . . business while at work” Found to Violate NLRA
The Casino Pauma expects employees to work while at work—a concept that is not foreign to many of us. In fact, they put the expectation into writing and placed in their employee handbook a clause which provided: "Team members are to conduct only Casino Pauma business while at work...
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