The U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule Jan. 9, 2024, on distinguishing employees from independent contractors for purposes of minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule...more
On Aug. 24 and 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued new regulations and a decision, which together overturn decades of precedent and represent a sea change in the union election process. First, the NLRB...more
By a vote of 7-2, the U.S. Supreme Court held on July 8, 2020, that the “ministerial exception” under the religion clauses of the First Amendment forecloses employment-discrimination claims against religious schools by...more
7/13/2020
/ Age Discrimination ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
First Amendment ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Ministerial Exception ,
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v Morrissey-Berru ,
Religious Schools ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Teachers
On May 6, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-62-20 (EO N-62-20), which creates a rebuttable presumption, for purposes of receiving workers’ compensation benefits, that employees who test positive for...more
Even while imposing “shelter in place” orders, the vast majority of states have authorized and encouraged essential businesses to remain open. As states relax their restrictions in the coming weeks and months, non-essential...more
On March 20, 2020, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statewide “stay-at-home” order to combat the spread of COVID-19. Executive Order 2020-10, which went into effect at 5 p.m. on March 21, requires all individuals living...more
On March 18, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate passed a bill that, once signed into law, will impose significant changes upon employers’ sick leave and family and medical leave requirements. President...more
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow in the United States, many businesses struggle to balance their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as places of public accommodation, with their...more
On March 11, 2020, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) issued new recommendations for employers preparing for COVID-19 in the workplace. After briefly summarizing the symptoms of COVID-19 (mild to severe...more
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has received heightened media attention in recent weeks as the number of confirmed cases around the world, and now in the United States, continues to rise. This focus is certainly warranted...more
It is no secret that employees sometimes abuse benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Nor is it a secret that pitfalls abound for employers trying to limit such abuse while accommodating legitimate needs for...more
An employer who waits too long to object that a plaintiff failed to file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before filing a lawsuit under Title VII may have waived that...more
6/6/2019
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Amended Complaints ,
Appeals ,
Charge-Filing Preconditions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Forfeiture ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdictional Requirements ,
Mandatory Claim-Processing Rules ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Title VII ,
Waiver Rule ,
Wrongful Termination
Employers who implement bonus programs to attract and retain key employees may be bound to the terms of those programs, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently held. In Boswell v. Panera, LLC, the court affirmed that...more
In a decision with important ramifications for temporary staffing agencies and employers that use their services, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) does not entitle...more
Calculating the overtime due to a non-exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act is easy — just multiply the employee’s hourly rate times 1.5 for each hour worked over 40 in a workweek. Right?
If only overtime...more
Introduction -
In the final year of his two term tenure, President Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board and Department of Labor continued their double barrelled efforts to remake labor law to benefit labor...more
1/18/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
At-Will Employment ,
Blacklist ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
LMRDA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Persuader Rules ,
Unions
National Labor Relations Board spends Most of 2015 With a Full Complement of Members; Down to Four at Year’s End.
For about two-thirds of the year, the National Labor Relations Board operated with a full complement of...more
1/21/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Joint Employers ,
LMRDA ,
NLRB ,
Persuader Rules ,
SEIU ,
Unions ,
United Food and Commercial Workers Union ,
Wage Act
The Dec. 1, 2015 amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b) offers employers and their counsel a powerful new weapon to attack overreaching written discovery by demonstrating that the burden of the discovery request...more