Religious accommodation cases continue to vex employers. Especially since the rise of COVID-19, employers have had to face a rising tide of employee claims that their religious beliefs entitle them to an exemption from...more
In today's episode, Michael Schmidt addresses one of the biggest challenges employers have faced with mandatory vaccine policies: religious-based accommodation requests. First, Mike summarizes the EEOC's latest update from...more
Although the election will be the buzz in every workplace for at least the rest of this week, the prospect of a Biden administration has prompted companies and executives to begin planning for significant changes affecting a...more
11/3/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Corporate Management ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Estate Planning ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Joe Biden ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Political Candidates ,
Tax Policy ,
Wealth Management
Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act poses difficult challenges for employers, and one of the toughest issues to come along in recent years is how to deal with obese employees. Thanks to a new decision by the...more
Unfunded retiree health care benefits have been the elephant in the room for decades. Together with unfunded pension liabilities, they threaten the survival of both private companies and municipalities. One need only recall...more
New York City and state continue to go their own way on workplace issues – imposing higher requirements on employers than are required by federal law and opening additional opportunities for employees to pursue claims. Here...more
In January we reported on Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s announcement of his proposal to raise the salary required for an employee to be exempt from the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act’s (PMWA) overtime pay requirements. The PMWA...more
Remember all the confusion and upheaval when the Obama administration proposed sweeping changes to the salary thresholds for exemption from overtime pay until a federal court shot down the effort on the eve of its effective...more
While almost everyone’s attention is focused on changes that the Trump administration will bring at the national level, New York is about to implement far-reaching regulations that will significantly impact employers...more
The Supreme Court of the United States recently handed down a decision that opens the door for participants in ERISA-covered benefits plans to stop a lawsuit against them in its tracks by doing something that most people love...more
More than many other industries, the American health care system has a highly fragmented set of interlocking business relationships. Services are provided in an integrated network by a host of service providers who operate...more
9/17/2015
/ Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Healthcare ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitals ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Nursing Homes ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Wage and Hour
Almost every day the news carries an additional story about Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who has defied the Supreme Court by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Kim Davis story may be...more
9/15/2015
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Burwell v Hobby Lobby ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Kim Davis ,
Marriage Licenses ,
Public Employees ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship
In a decision that came as no major surprise to Supreme Court watchers, on June 1, 2015, the Court ruled 8-1 in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch that Abercrombie & Fitch violated the civil rights of a Muslim job applicant when it...more
6/3/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Discrimination ,
Dress Codes ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS
In This Issue:
- Message from the Chair
- On the Horizon: Is Obama Remaking the Workplace While Leaving Congress Behind?
- The 2014 Supreme Court Decisions Every Employer Should Know
- What to Expect from the...more
1/2/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Barack Obama ,
Big Data ,
Cybersecurity ,
E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Form I-9 ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Legislative Agendas ,
LGBTQ ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
NLRB ,
PDA ,
Pregnancy ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Whistleblowers
Everyone recognizes that college athletics are big business for the schools, but do they exploit the student athletes under the guise of amateurism? Thanks to a new decision out of the Chicago office of the National Labor...more
In This Issue:
Message from the Chair; Social Media and the Workplace: 2013 and Beyond; Unpaid Internships: Training Ground or Legal Landmine?; Supreme Court’s Nassar Decision Sets Higher Causation Standard for a...more
1/7/2014
/ Affirmative Action ,
Background Checks ,
Big Data ,
Causation ,
D.R. Horton ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability ,
Discrimination ,
ENDA ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
OFCCP ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
Unpaid Interns ,
US v Windsor ,
UT Southwestern Medical v Nassar ,
Veterans ,
Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA)
Besides sending flowers or a card to your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, we like to remind our employer clients that a good way to show some love to your employees is by taking steps to protect them from workplace...more
What will you do when the CEO calls tomorrow morning and says, “I just got a report that two of our employees are carrying loaded guns at work, or they have them in their cars in the employee parking lot?”
Given the...more
Last year, we notified you here that the National Labor Relations Board will now consider a general employer rule requiring confidentiality during an internal investigation into an employee complaint to be an unfair labor...more
In This Issue:
- Message from the Chair
- A Second Obama Administration’s Impact on Labor and Employment Issues
- Will There be Comprehensive Immigration Legislation After the 2012 Presidential...more
1/1/2013
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hurricane Sandy ,
Immigration Reform ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
Social Media ,
USERRA ,
Wage and Hour
With the re-election of Barack Obama and the prospect of continued political gridlock at the congressional level, the administration will likely turn to regulatory and administrative avenues in an effort to pursue workplace...more