On July 11, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its highly anticipated decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Townstone Financial, Inc., et al. In this pivotal decision, the...more
What happens when the NLRB asks a federal court to remand a case back to the board based on a new case holding to interpret the matter before it, the court does so, and then the board pulls a “bait and switch” to flat out...more
As recently reflected by the Fourth Circuit’s opinion in Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School, Title VII has a notable ministerial exception that religiously affiliated entities such as private religious schools should...more
If you transfer an employee to a job with no loss in pay or title but the employee thinks it is less desirable, can that employee sue you for discrimination under Title VII? While it depends on the facts, in Muldrow v. St....more
5/2/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lateral Transfers ,
Muldrow v City of St Louis ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
Someone who works in the home of their employer as a nanny or in another domestic service role is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage requirements, right? Not according to Blanco v. Samuel, a recent 11th...more
If your company is named in a new lawsuit or receives a EEOC charge, part of your review process should include checking to see if the filing complainant or plaintiff has a pending bankruptcy action. If so, the next step is...more
If you don’t already know, Starbucks has been in a pretty big labor dispute, and there are bound to be lessons for all of us. If your company has internal documents about relations with prospective unions, you may have to...more
Are PhD students at a private university who also teach courses and grade papers – tasks that are a part of their development but also certainly assist the university – employees who can unionize? The NLRB said yes for a...more
7/19/2023
/ College Athletes ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Graduate Students ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
Private Schools ,
State Labor Laws ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Unions
If the NLRB finds that you have committed an unfair labor practice (and maybe more than once), just what can it do? In Noah’s Ark Processors, a three-member panel of the board recently took an opportunity to pronounce...more
Most of us know that when an employee or visitor to a place of public accommodation requests a reasonable accommodation, the ADA requires an interactive process to make an individualized determination. But what about a...more
2/16/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dog-Friendly Workplace ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare ,
Hospitals ,
Nursing Homes ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Service Animals
In Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. Int’l Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union 174, the Washington Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether a union is responsible for property damage incident to a strike. How does that issue...more
Auto finance companies and others in the auto space should take note of a recent joint letter issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Department of Justice (DOJ) about the legal protections under the...more
With historically low unemployment rates, attracting and retaining top talent can be a challenge for employers. To distinguish themselves from the pack, many companies are considering tuition assistance programs to both...more
Questions about COVID-19 vaccines are hard, particularly if you contract or want to contract with the federal government. The scenario is familiar: You run a business that has or seeks to contract with the federal...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) focus on ensuring loan servicers’ compliance with the implementation of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program continues. On March 30, 2022, the CFPB entered into...more
So, the union has an agreement with the company’s management that only those on their predetermined qualification list can be selected for a job. Would that list, or at least the administrative arm for that list, be...more
A district court judge recently reversed and remanded a well-known bankruptcy decision discharging a significant student loan debt. In the Southern District of New York, Judge Philip Halpern, reviewing the bankruptcy court’s...more
When a company faces a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action there are two main components to address: (1)You Can’t Put the Trial Cart Before the Certification Horse in FLSA Hybrid Wage-and-Hour Case; Circuit...more
10/19/2021
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FRCP 23 ,
Wage and Hour
COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace are obviously a hot topic, especially in light of President Biden’s recent proposal that employers with 100 or more employees mandate vaccination or weekly testing. Most vaccine...more
The Second Circuit has followed the lead of the Tenth and Fifth Circuits in affirming a bankruptcy court ruling regarding private student loans under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8). In Homaidan v. Navient, et al., the court ultimately...more
Does your company use fingerprinting or some facial recognition scanner as part of its clock-in, clock-out process? If your company has facilities or even some contacts with Illinois (and maybe other states in the future) you...more
Do you typically include a “no rehire” clause in your settlements with soon to be former employees? How about agreements with other companies that you will not “poach” each other’s employees? If your answer to either of those...more
The Mississippi Supreme Court recently rejected federal preemption arguments relating to federally owned student loans. This follows other preemption rulings, as we’ve discussed here and here.
Mississippi’s attorney...more
With the new Biden administration now in place, the Department of Labor (DOL) has withdrawn a Trump era measure on guidance documents. Following a recent Executive Order, the DOL issued a final rule on January 27 to rescind...more
2/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
New Legislation ,
Revocation ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration
With the explosion of remote work arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are more likely to have remote employees who live in different states. A company should examine whether it is actually subject to...more