The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has now declared Safe Harbor invalid – in total. The ECJ has sent the case back to the Irish Data Protection Authority to determine whether Facebook Ireland’s transfer of...more
10/7/2015
/ Cloud Computing ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Data Security ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Facebook ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
International Data Transfers ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
PRISM Program ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
While the Dodd-Frank Act provides various protections to whistleblowers, federal courts have inconsistently interpreted who precisely qualifies as a whistleblower. In a much-anticipated opinion, the Second Circuit Court of...more
9/29/2015
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Split of Authority ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The so-called “manager rule” addresses a concern that employers may face a “litigation minefield” if a manager whose very job duties required them to report discrimination complaints could later sue for retaliation if they...more
Last week, the Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act became effective. It amended the New York City Human Rights Law to prohibit most employers from making employment decisions based on an employee or applicant’s...more
9/11/2015
/ Credit Checks ,
Credit Discrimination ,
Credit History ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Credit Checks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
NYCHRL ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
Recordkeeping Requirements
A panel appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recommended a minimum hourly wage increase to $15 for fast food service workers on Wednesday. The recommendation comes just three months after Governor Cuomo tasked the...more
The DOL is at it again. First it was the highly-anticipated release of the proposed overtime rules a few weeks ago, and now the Department’s Wage and Hour Division has issued an “Administrator’s Interpretation” – its first...more
7/17/2015
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Classification ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
A Federal Appeals Court recently confirmed that under certain circumstances, parties may privately settle and release claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A generic release contained in a settlement agreement won’t do...more
The Second Circuit struck a blow today to individuals pursuing collective/class actions alleging that unpaid interns should be classified as employees. The Court announced an employer-friendly test that asks who benefits...more
The Department of Labor has released its long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking updating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white collar overtime exemptions. The DOL released the proposed rule on Tuesday morning and will...more
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases during its Fall 2015 term that could further transform the wage and hour class action landscape. We briefly discuss those two cases below.
Gomez: The Effect of Rule 68...more
6/29/2015
/ Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Offer of Judgment ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
TCPA ,
Tyson Foods ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Wage and Hour
Since 2012, many states have enacted laws that restrict an employer’s capacity to access employees’ personal email and social media accounts. Last month, Connecticut joined the party and became the 21st state to enact an...more
Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that was not dismissed, expunged, or sealed? New York City employers, if you ask that question on your employment application or some version of that question, then...more
The Supreme Court recently held that job applicants may hold their potential employer liable for intentional discrimination under Title VII if the applicant can show that his or her need for an accommodation was a motivating...more
6/15/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Discrimination ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interviews ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
Despite overwhelming judicial disapproval, the NLRB simply will not relent in its view that mandatory arbitration agreements containing class/collective action waivers violate the National Labor Relations Act....more
As has been widely reported, President Obama has ordered the US Department of Labor to updated existing federal regulations on overtime in order to account for the changing nature of the workplace and to allow both workers...more
Mayor de Blasio recently signed a series of bills that, among other things, require the New York City Human Rights Commission – the agency responsible for enforcing the New York City Human Rights Law – to conduct employment...more
This week, in Greathouse v. JHS Security, Inc., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that employees may pursue a Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claim premised upon an oral complaint to their employer – a clear...more
A Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of California recently handed down an important decision regarding the application of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to one of LinkedIn’s search products. The decision in Sweet v....more
The New York City Council passed the Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act last Thursday. It amends the New York City Human Rights Law to prohibit most employers from making employment decisions based on an employee...more
First it was the blue and gold dress. Now, the next viral internet sensation centers on the unlikeliest of events: Cheryl’s birthday. We thought we’d have some fun and pose it as an employment law question. See if you can...more
The New York City Human Rights Law specifically says that an employer’s agent can be held liable for discrimination, but its liability provision doesn’t address the circumstances under which that agent may be held liable for...more
This week, the Supreme Court disappointed many employers by declining to determine whether the Fair Labor Standards Act does or does not provide employees with a non-waivable substantive right to bring a collective action. ...more
Sixty-four employment law issues have become just two after an exciting Final Four. Last night, while Wisconsin and Duke played each other in the NCAA championship, the Wage and Hour Collective Actions and the Retaliation...more
“There’s a tradition in tournament play – not to talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure writing a tournament championship blog entry is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep...more
We’re still at it over here. We can’t stop. We have tons of clever basketball-employment law-related puns left in our arsenal and we expect to deploy them. This is what our readers want and this is what we’ll give our...more
4/2/2015