Just two weeks before the Federal Trade Commission’s nationwide ban on non-compete agreements was set to go into effect, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas struck down the FTC’s non-compete rules. For...more
As we reported earlier this spring in the article, “Millions more U.S. workers to be eligible for overtime under final DOL rule,” the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule raising the salary threshold for white collar workers...more
Over the course of the past seven years, the U.S. Department of Labor has made repeated attempts to increase the number of exempt American employees who are eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) —...more
Over the course of the past seven years, the U.S. Department of Labor has made repeated attempts to increase the number of exempt American employees who are eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) –...more
Two years ago, in a memo issued by the National Labor Relations Board, the agency’s general counsel signaled that one of the Board’s main priorities would be to scrutinize whether certain workplace policies unlawfully...more
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions concerning the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) vax-or-test mandate for private employers with 100 or more employees and the CMS vaccine mandate for the...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced an action plan designed to curb the ongoing spread of COVID-19. With cases still surging, the president directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an...more
Last Thursday, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion stimulus package called the American Rescue Plan. While the final version of the bill did not include the much-debated increase in the federal minimum wage, it...more
On Monday, August 3, 2020, a New York federal judge struck down four components of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulations that implemented the emergency paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus...more
8/5/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Intermittent Leave ,
Labor Regulations ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Required Documentation ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour
On June 17, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new guidance concerning the use of COVID-19 antibody testing. Relying on the CDC’s Interim Guidelines, the EEOC affirmatively stated that employers cannot...more
6/22/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Interim Guidance ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On June 10, 2020, OSHA issued a series of questions and answers regarding the use of face coverings in the workplace...
Cloth face coverings -
OSHA stated that cloth face coverings are those face coverings that are...more
On May 26, 2020, OSHA issued revised guidance regarding the reporting of COVID-19 cases...
OSHA recordkeeping requirements mandate covered employers record certain work-related injuries and illnesses on their OSHA 300 log....more
On May 7, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it will delay the collection of EEO data in 2020 because of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Generally, companies with 100 or more...more
On Tuesday afternoon, March 24, the U.S. Department of Labor issued Questions & Answers regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Notably, the DOL clarified that the leave requirements under the Act become...more
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to increase in the United States. On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, to reduce the impact of this illness on individuals and businesses alike, President Trump signed the Families...more
3/19/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in the United States. On Saturday, March 14, 2020, to reduce the impact of this illness on individuals and businesses alike, the U.S. House of Representatives...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been very active in the last couple of weeks. Last month, we alerted employers to newly published proposed rules that would raise the minimum salary level for white collar exemptions....more
4/3/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Minimum Salary ,
NLRA ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rate of Pay ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
For more than 70 years, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division provided employers and attorneys with a valuable resource for determining how to comply with the federal laws and regulations the agency enforces....more
4/18/2018
/ Consumer Credit Protection ,
Continuing Education ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Lump Sum Payments ,
Opinion Letter ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Travel Time ,
Traveling Employee ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Garnishment ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On Friday, January 5, 2018, the Department of Labor rescinded prior agency guidance from 2010 regarding internship programs for “for-profit” employers. The prior guidance had been criticized by courts as “too rigid” and...more
A joint employer relationship can arise in circumstances where an individual performs work for two entities that share control over how that individual performs his/her work. Although joint employment relationships are most...more
6/24/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Franchises ,
General Contractors ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interpretive Opinions ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
Obama Administration ,
Popular ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Subcontractors ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage Orders
On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a memorandum providing guidance in helping employers to reduce the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. There is no change to any existing...more
What’s an employer to do when a disabled employee has repeated opportunities to ask for an accommodation but doesn’t act on them? In a recent case, a federal court in Texas ruled that the employer was justifiable in...more
Recently, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Barrett v. Salt Lake County that emphasized the importance of not retaliating against employees who engage in protected conduct.
Background...more
In late January, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Smothers v. Solvay Chemicals Inc. (No. 12-8013, 10th Cir. Jan. 22, 2014) that emphasized the importance of conducting a proper investigation and...more
On October 2nd, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that put employees on notice that the Tenth Circuit expects employees to speak up for their rights regarding religious accommodation.
The...more