The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a final rule amending a regulation regarding the right to designate a representative to accompany OSHA inspectors during a workplace inspection. Why do we...more
Everyone has been preparing for the recently enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP Act. Earlier this month the EEOC gave us another reason to make sure our policies are up to snuff. Frontier Airlines and the EEOC...more
12/15/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Settlement
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that announced they are partnering for the...more
Employers in Alabama (along with the rest of the country) have faced headaches the last several years with staffing shortages and shift coverage. In June, with bipartisan support, the Alabama Legislature passed House Bill 217...more
Is your employee handbook a binding contract? A recent case from the Alabama Supreme Court, Davis v. City of Montevallo, says sometimes it is. Many employers issue handbooks to set forth guidelines for what employers expect...more
Guaranteed confidentiality with regard to employee disputes may be becoming a thing of the past if the current tide of legislation continues. As we blogged about several weeks ago, Congress just banned arbitration agreements...more
4/13/2022
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Washington
As we are sure you have heard, many people are not all that psyched about the federal government mandating that employees get vaccinated. Just to keep everyone on the same page in these ever-changing times, here is a quick...more
12/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
State and Local Government ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard is hot off the presses — now what? Undoubtedly, there will be lots and lots of discussion and legal challenges over the next several days. Although this is not an in-depth analysis, here...more
11/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health and Safety ,
New Rules ,
OSHA ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Law and Practice Chambers -
The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal...more
10/29/2021
/ Alabama ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigration ,
Interviews ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The answer is it depends.
Why is the employee refusing the vaccine?
For employers mandating the vaccine, an employee’s refusal to receive it because he or she simply does not want to be vaccinated is likely fair game...more
9/24/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Guidance Update ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
Last week, the Internal Revenue Service issued a polite notice (IR-2021-186) to employers and tax practitioners, as part of National Small Business Week, “to remind… business owners to correctly identify workers as employees...more
We are so ready to put COVID-19 behind us, but unfortunately, the delta variant is keeping us on our toes. So, for the time being, where do we stand, and what do we do now?...more
8/4/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Mandates ,
School Districts ,
Travel ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On April 19, 2021, Gov. Kay Ivey signed House Bill 408, sponsored by Rep. Wes Kitchens (R-Marshall County/Blount County) and Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville), into law as Act 2021-226, which will become effective July 1. A...more
4/23/2021
/ Alabama ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Department of Revenue ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Ivey ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Proposed Legislation
We have previously written about the growing complications of employee vs. independent contractor classification in the wake of unemployment assistance in the pandemic era, not only for out-of-work employees but, for the...more
4/23/2021
/ Alabama ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Governor Ivey ,
Harmonization Rules ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
New Legislation ,
State Legislatures
In the face of the pandemic over the last year, Congress issued several rounds of unemployment assistance through the CARES Act not only to employees but also to workers classified as independent contractors or self-employed....more
3/24/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Department of Revenue ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Employees ,
Self Employed ,
Unemployment Benefits
Remember last January and the salary threshold change the Department of Labor rolled out for salaried exempt and highly compensated employees under the FLSA? As the end of the year approaches, you might need to revisit the...more
12/18/2020
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
COVID-19 has rocked our world and changed the landscape of workplaces everywhere-including in schools. While we've navigated short-term emergency legislation and (we hope) short-term virtual learning arrangements in 2020, we...more
Law and Practice -
The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal commentary on...more
10/22/2020
/ Black Lives Matter ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Interviews ,
New Guidance ,
NLRB ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology Sector ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
The US Regional Employment 2020 features 14 states. The guide provides expert legal commentary on the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace, the "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements, unions, the National Labor Relations...more
So, you are one of the fortunate ones who received a payment from the government for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – how do you get that loan amount forgiven? The quick answer is that you need to use at least 75% of...more
In Part I of this post we covered some of the logistics you need to get started with the FFCRA paid leave provisions. Today we will continue our review of the Department of Labor’s FFCRA temporary regulations and discuss the...more
At the end of last week, the Department of Labor issued 125 pages of FFCRA guidance, including actual temporary regulations and 20 new Q&As (so we are now up to 79 — but who’s counting?). While a full summary of these...more
March 18, 2020, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and President Trump signed it into law. The act contains several provisions that will significantly impact employers with fewer than 500...more
Wednesday afternoon, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and President Trump signed it into law. The Act contains several provisions that will significantly impact employers with fewer than 500...more
What does an age discrimination plaintiff have to prove to succeed? Federal employees may have an easier path for proving an age discrimination claim, if we are reading the tea leaves correctly on the Supreme Court’s oral...more
1/23/2020
/ ADEA ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Age Discrimination ,
Babb v Wilkie ,
Burden of Proof ,
Burden-Shifting ,
But For Causation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Employees ,
McDonnell Douglas Formula ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Proof ,
Summary Judgment