The Power Struggle is Real: Local Minimum Wages Battle State Minimum Wages and How Dillon’s Rule Affects the Playing Field
Municipalities all across the country have dived into the employment arena in the past few years. In an April 2016 publication by the National Employment Law Project, it was reported that 51 municipalities across the country have either passed or currently have pending, proposals to raise the minimum wage...
“Capturing” the Affect of Pokemon Go in the Office
This is reality. This is not a test. There are Pokémon in your office. Well, maybe; it's more like there are not real Pokémon chilling outside your door, but more that in an augmented reality there are graphical elements placed within your real world. The thing is, either way...
Scheme to Avoid Employer Liability Results in Consent Judgment
Using a staffing company to supply workers can seem to be a wonderful way to secure a qualified workforce while avoiding the challenges of hiring employees and the administrative demands associated with having so many people in your employ. Probably for these very reasons United Plastics contracted with ASI...
Is “Boy, you need to pray” Comment to Biscuit Maker A Violation of Title VII?
The EEOC continues its push to recognize job protection for LGBT workers under Title VII. On Wednesday, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Bojangles Restaurants Inc. alleging that the restaurant chain discriminated and retaliated against former employee Jonathan Wolfe. The Complaint alleges Wolfe, who was transitioning from male to...
OSHA Ignites Firework of a Penalty Hike Prior to Independence Day
Late last week, while everyone was focused on the summer holiday, the Department of Labor announced that pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvement Act, OSHA's maximum penalties, which have not been raised since 1990, will increase by 78 percent. This will increase the "serious", "other-than-serious"...
Traditionally Behind the Scenes, Indirect Persuader Activities Go Public
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) intends to put a spotlight on the relationships between companies and the lawyers and consultants companies rely on for labor relations advice. For more than 55 years, the DOL has imposed limited reporting requirements on employers and consultants retained to persuade employees regarding...
Service Advisor Question Sent Back to Ninth Circuit
The Supreme Court issued its decision today in Encino MotorCars, LLC v. Navarro . A background of the case is available here , but the question at issue was whether service advisors at car dealerships are exempt from the FLSA's overtime pay requirements. Reversing the Court of Appeals decision...
Beer Distributor Appeals NLRB Finding as to Terminated Union Employee Who Reeked of Marijuana
Appellate briefing to the Second Circuit was completed earlier this week in Manhattan Beer Distributors LLC v. NLRB , a case in which the NLRB, in 2015, held that Manhattan Beer Distributors violated an employee's Weingarten rights when they terminated a distribution employee who "reeked" of marijuana after he...
Connecticut Enacts “Ban the Box” Legislation
On June 1, 2016, Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law Public Act 16-83, entitled "An Act Concerning Fair Chance Employment," joining a national trend of legislation to "ban the box" in the hiring process. Effective January 1, 2017, Connecticut's new legislation modifies C.G.S. § 31-51i and prohibits virtually any...
Post-It Up or Pay It Up: The Double-It Year Continues
You know how we harp on the easy things? Like having all the required state and federal posting requirements hung in a place where employees can easily find them? This serves as just another friendly reminder that those postings are important. Prior to 2014, the maximum penalty for failing...
FLSA Overtime Guidance for Educational Institutions
You likely received notice that the U.S. Department of Labor released its final overtime regulations on May 18. Many education institutions will now be required to take steps to revise their pay practices and work distribution. This poses difficulties for education institutions of all sizes, whether at the elementary...
Final FLSA Overtime Rule: Guidance for Non-Profit Employers and Board Members
You likely received notice that the U.S. Department of Labor released its final overtime regulations on May 18. Many non-profits will now be required to take steps to revise their pay practices and work distribution. This poses difficulties for non-profits of all sizes, including those that are funded by...
Benchslapped! EEOC & NLRB May Have to Pull Out Their Debit Cards
For those employment lawyers who believe that the EEOC and NLRB have tended to overreach of late (i.e., the defense bar), two separate decisions handed down against those agencies caused a distinct feeling of schadenfreude . 1 Or, as one legal scholar noted in a somewhat different context, "...
Want to Talk About Something Other than Overtime?
Its been a busy week in H.R. land. We feel you. It's been a busy week for us too. Well, let's end things on a high note, and no we're not talking about weed at work. Last week the President signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act. I know what...
FINALIZED Overtime Rule: How does it impact you?
The Department of Labor released its long-awaited final overtime regulations today. The most significant impact of the new regulations is that they more than double the salary threshold for classifying an employee as exempt from the overtime requirement to $47,476. While slightly less than originally anticipated, this is still...
White Collar Salary Increase Update #1
BNA Bloomberg is currently reporting that yesterday word was leaked from a Washington staffer that the DOL white collar salary threshold will be in the $47,000 per year range—as opposed to the $50,440, which has been proposed. The $47,000 range is still almost double the current $23,660 level. Reports...
Belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster Does Not Confer Religious Protections Under the Law
On Monday, Stephen comes into work dressed like a pirate. As his employer, you think this is strange, and maybe pushing the limits of the dress code, but there are other more important things on your plate, so you decide to deal with it later. On Tuesday, Stephen is...
Mark Twain, Keith Richards & The Manager Rule
Are reports of the death of the manager's rule greatly exaggerated ? Gentle reader, as you know, the manager rule is a common defense to whistleblower or retaliation claims and holds that a management employee who disagrees with or opposes their employer's actions in the course of their normal...
Hospital Shows Undue Hardship in Permitting Employee who Refused Influenza Vaccination to Maintain Patient-Care Position
Earlier this month, a District of Massachusetts court issued an opinion which held in part that that a hospital's refusal to permit an employee to maintain a patient-care position after refusing an influenza vaccination on account of religious beliefs was proper. The plaintiff in the matter was an administrative...
Dude, I Think He’s High…Can I Fire Him?
Oftentimes clients ask, "When we think an employee is high, can we fire him?" My answer is consistently the same, "That depends." It depends on a whole host of factors, what state do you live in, what industry do you work in, why do you think he's high, but...
WARNing: You Could be Personally Liable
"Can I be personally liable?" Directors, officers, and managers of business entities frequently ask that question of their attorneys. A recent Delaware decision reveals an important area of potentially huge personally liability involving a sudden shutdown caused by insolvency. Some states, including Maine, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire...
Don't Try This at Home...Well Soon You Can: Arizona's Workplace Pot-Luck Law (a.k.a. A Blog Post on Legalizing Potlucks...Not Pot)
So often we post about the affects of the legalization of marijuana (a.k.a. "pot") in the workplace, but today's post is a bit different; today we focus on the rules and regulations surrounding potlucks in the workplace, or at least potlucks in Arizona. Arizona Revised Statute § 36-136 provides...
White Collar Salary Level Update: Maine Senator Angus King Weighs In
MaineBiz reports that yesterday U.S. Senator Angus King wrote a letter to the Office of Management and Budget voicing his concerns on the DOL's proposed increase in the overtime threshold. More information regard the increase is available here and here.
Obesity and the ADA: Does 33% of the U.S. Population Have ADA Protection as a Result of Obesity?
Yesterday, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion in Morriss v. BNSF Railway Co. , No. 14-3858 (April 5, 2016), rejecting the plaintiff's argument that obesity (in and of itself) is sufficient to maintain an ADA claim. The Eighth Circuit joins the Sixth Circuit and the Second Circuit in coming...
Female Who Keeps Position Plus Male Who Loses Position Equals Discrimination Claim Surviving Motion to Dismiss
Last month, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan denied the U.S. Postal Service's Motion to Dismiss a claim of sex, military, and disability discrimination. The claim was premised on the allegation of a former employee who claimed he was fired when he became ineligible for a...
Women Footballers Ask EEOC to Give the Boot To Wage Discrimination
Interesting story that developed on Wednesday: some of the biggest names in U.S. women's soccer filed a wage discrimination claim with the EEOC, contending that the U.S. Soccer Federation pays them almost four times less than members of the men's team, despite the women generating nearly $20 million more...
4-4 Split at Supreme Court Allows Public Unions to Continue Collecting Agency Fees from Non-Members
On March 29, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a one sentence decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association : "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court." Friedrichs is the second 4-4 decision of the term, a circumstance brought about by the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in...
Co-Workers with Zenefits
Apparently it is going to be a lot less fun to work at Zenefits, a health insurance brokerage start-up, than it used to be. A month ago, David Sacks, the aptly named CEO of Zenefits, banned alcohol in the workplace. Apparently, occasionally co-workers would gather in the office to...
Casino Owner's "Seaman Exemption" On the Rocks in Georgia
We love boat cases! We also love it when our colleagues makes clever arguments, even if those arguments are a bit of a stretch. The casino ship Emerald Princess II hailed from the port of Brunswick, Georgia. On weekdays, she would take a boatload of adventure seekers on a...
CDC Issues Opioid Guidelines
On March 18, the CDC finally issued much-anticipated guidelines for the prescription of opioids in chronic pain management "outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care." Over-prescription of opioids in the realm of workers' compensation has long been an issue of national importance. 47,055 lethal drug overdoses...
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