Welcome to FP Retail Industry Snapshot, where we take a quick snapshot look at the most significant workplace law developments with an emphasis on how they impact retail employers. This edition focuses on holiday hiring – a...more
Conducting investigations of internal complaints of discrimination and harassment is one of the most important jobs for retail employers to undertake. More than simply helping your business avoid liability, these...more
Given that the retail workforce is 57% female, chances a retailer will have pregnant employees at any given time is high. The CDC warns women, “Physical demands at work could increase your chances of miscarriage, preterm...more
The news that the economy has shrunk for a second straight quarter might not come as a surprise to businesses in the retail industry. After all, the results of our FP Flash Survey on Economic Uncertainty revealed that retail...more
Some companies are well known for providing teenagers their first jobs and providing a learning foundation on what it takes to be successful in the workplace. But many retailers have long held policies against employing...more
Federal law’s obligation to accommodate religious observances and practices has been in the spotlight recently because of employees seeking to be exempted from employer mandatory vaccination policies when the vaccine...more
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring equal access to places of public accommodation, has often been abused by plaintiffs and attorneys looking to turn any conceived minor violation of building standards...more
Retail employees have done as much as anyone in responding to the needs of the country created by the pandemic. Simply coming to work and doing their jobs has been an invaluable service to society. As the pandemic...more
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that closed hundreds of thousands of business around the country is unprecedented. Fortunately, many retailers were able to maintain a fairly high level of continuity as essential businesses...more
4/24/2020
/ Attendance ,
Business Closures ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retailers ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Many sectors of the retail industry are critical to the nation’s efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19. After all, retailers that sell necessities such as food, medication, personal care products, and household supplies...more
In most workplaces across the country, a perfect attendance record will be met with applause. Employees who “tough it out” and sneeze their way through the workday are congratulated, while those who stay at home to nurse an...more
10/4/2019
/ Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Immunization Records ,
Influenza ,
OSHA ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Retailers ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sick Leave ,
Vaccinations
The story of two African-American men arrested for trespassing at a Starbucks while waiting for a friend made national headlines this summer. But the incident did not surprise many African Americans. “Shopping while black” is...more
Most retailers have by now faced a Title III lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) contending that a store is not accessible to disabled individuals. There remains a plethora of attorneys who make a living...more
In our last issue, we looked at some ideas about how to investigate, catch, and terminate employees who are stealing from your company. In this conclusion, we’ll talk about some ways to avoid—or at least reduce the...more
There’s good news for retailers: you are getting better at preventing shrink from employees. In 2005, a University of Florida study found that employee theft accounted for 47 percent of shrink. In a follow-up study in 2016,...more
4/6/2018
/ Business Assets ,
Defamation ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Investigations ,
Privacy Policy ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retailers ,
Theft ,
Witness Statements ,
Work Suspensions ,
Wrongful Termination
Numerous individuals who work in retail stores are actually employed by a company other than the retailer itself. These include vendor employees stocking product, sampling employees who offer customers tasty treats, inventory...more
1/4/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Terms ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Indemnification ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
Title VII ,
Vendors ,
Wage and Hour
No new hire has ever been accused of enjoying the time spent filling out the myriad forms they must execute at the outset of their employment. Likewise, it would be a curious manager who listed “helping new hires with...more
When the U.S. Supreme Court issued a March 2015 decision creating a new standard for how employers should accommodate pregnant employees, retailers took notice. After all, approximately 50% of retail employees are female, and...more
The retail industry, due to the seasonal nature of its business, has often bolstered its workforces with temporary employees through employment agencies. This arrangement works as an efficient way for employers to manage the...more
Recent workplace violence incidents have driven some employers to take steps to minimize the risk of criminal behavior at their locations. Whether it is beefing up physical security measures on premises, installing...more
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its annual report on productivity and costs for the retail trade industry, and there’s good news and bad news for retailers. The good news is that, for 2014, productivity in...more
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court held that retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch committed religious discrimination by refusing to hire an applicant (EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, read Alert here). The company believed...more
Since the early 2000s, the buzzing gnats of employment litigation involving retailers have been individual Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lawsuits. Whether brought for unpaid overtime, working through lunches, or working off...more
Retailers are all too familiar with collective actions filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) making claims for unpaid overtime based on alleged misclassification of employees as exempt, working off the clock, or not...more
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the issue of whether under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, an employer who provides light-duty work to some employees, (such as those injured on the job) but not to all...more