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Attorney	Latest Publications
Margaret Carroll Alli	Supreme Court’s Rx for Pharmaceutical Industry For the past decade, employers have been frustrated by what they describe as a moving target when it comes to properly classifying employees as either exempt (and thus not eligible for overtime) or non-exempt (and thus overtime…more DOL, Exempt-Employees, FLSA, Non-Exempt Employees, Pharmaceutical	See All Updates »
Kwabena A. Appenteng	Diversity of a Different Kind During a recent trip to the local state courthouse for an initial case hearing, I was confronted by an agitated pro se plaintiff. While some of the plaintiff’s agitation was apparently attributable to his presence in court, his…more Cultural Diversity	See All Updates »
Michelle R. Arendt	Buyer Beware Recently, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision that highlighted the fact that companies cannot assume that the forms and agreements of a prior company will provide the same protections for a successor company. In Acordia of…more Assignments, Non-Compete Agreements	See All Updates »
Lisa Karen Atkins	No Obligation to Coordinate or Pay for Disability-Based Personal Care Services at Colleges and Universities Some students with disabilities need on-campus personal care attendants to assist them with daily activities such as dressing, transferring to and from wheelchairs, feeding, personal hygiene, and navigating the campus. Both…more	See All Updates »
Melissa A. Bailey	Creepy Crawly Bedbugs—What Do They Have to Do with OSHA? With Halloween right around the corner, what better time to blog about creepy, crawly things that go bump in the night? Or at least just bedbugs…more OSHA	See All Updates »
Tracey T. Barbaree	An Employer’s Attention to Time Record Detail May Thwart Collective Action Claims Collective action claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) remain the most popular filing in federal courts, due in large part to the fairly lenient standard applied by courts to determine whether the claims should be…more Class Action, Class Certification, FLSA	See All Updates »
Adriana S. Barnette	Broward County Becomes The Second County In Florida To Adopt Wage Protection Ordinance On October 23, 2012, Broward County became the second county in Florida to adopt a controversial wage protection ordinance. In a seven-to-two vote, with Commissioners Stacy Ritter and Chip LaMarca voting against the ordinance,…more Wage and Hour, Wage Theft Prevention Act, Wages	See All Updates »
Ashlee M. Bekish	Be a Super Sleuth—Part Three: Concluding Your Workplace Investigation In the first part of this three-part series—Be A Super Sleuth: Laying the Framework for Effective Workplace Investigations—we provided a number of pre-investigation considerations for employers, including an overview of policies…more Documentation, Internal Investigations, Workplace Investigations	See All Updates »
Charles F. Billington	Ohio Employers Have to Give Employees Time off to Vote, But Whether They Get Paid—Depends It’s election season again, and that means that Ohioans will once again take to the polls. But, as an Ohio employer, do you need to allow your employees to take time off from work to vote? Yes…more Voting Leave	See All Updates »
John Boylston	Portland Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Passes The city of Portland joined San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., and the state of Connecticut today when it passed a paid sick leave ordinance. Under the new ordinance, businesses with six or more employees must provide up…more Local Ordinance, Medical Leave, Paid Leave	See All Updates »
Cynthia A. Bremer	Applying Wage and Hour Laws to the 21st Century Series: Concerns Involving Exempt Employees In this, our final post in this blog series on wage and hour issues in the 21st century, we address another frequent area of concern for employers: exempt employees…more Deductions, Exempt-Employees, FLSA, FMLA, Medical Leave	See All Updates »
Nicole Brooks	Immigration Reform 2013—Update In the February/March 2013 issue of the Immigration eAuthority, we outlined the respective proposals for immigration reform put forward by both the President and a bipartisan group of eight senators. We also noted that numerous…more Border Security, H-1B, Highly-Skilled Workers Visa, Immigration Reform, L-1 Visas	See All Updates »
Christina Maistrellis Broxterman	Eleventh Circuit Rules On Wellness Program Under The ADA On August 20, 2012, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling that a basic wellness program feature—a $20 penalty for failing to complete a health risk assessment—did not violate the Americans with…more ADA, Disability, Discrimination, EEOC, Safe Harbors	See All Updates »
Scott Brutocao	Using Your Social Media Strategy to Protect Trade Secrets and Minimize Liability As most employers know, restrictive covenant agreements, often referred to as Confidentiality Agreements or Proprietary Information Agreements, are not the only documents that can be used to protect employers’ confidential and…more Social Media, Social Media Policy, Trade Secrets	See All Updates »
Mark H. Burak	Massachusetts Wage Act Release Must Be Clear and Specific The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently addressed a significant issue to Massachusetts employers—whether general releases can bar employees from bringing Wage Act claims against their employers. Crocker v. Townsend Oil…more Hiring & Firing, Independent Contractors, Misclassification, Release Agreements, Release of Information	See All Updates »
Carson G. Burnham	Independent Contractor or Employee: Are Independent Contractors the Best Solution for Multinational Organizations? Almost every organization expanding overseas needs a vehicle to explore the market before making the business decision to establish a legal entity, yet few legal vehicles are available for this preliminary measure. Most often,…more Employer Liability Issues, Independent Contractors, Misclassification, Multinationals, Payroll Taxes	See All Updates »
Margaret H. Campbell	The Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee Goes to Work On January 29, 2013, the new Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee (WPAC) held its inaugural meeting in Washington, D.C. Made up of 12 members, the WPAC includes three members representing the public, four members…more OSHA, Whistleblower Protection Policies, Whistleblowers	See All Updates »
Christopher J. Capone	Bill Introduced To Allow Alternate Workers’ Compensation Programs Through Collective Bargaining On November 19, 2012, a bill (A3423) was introduced that seeks to authorize the establishment, through collective bargaining, of alternate workers’ compensation programs. Such programs would include alternate dispute resolution…more Collective Bargaining, Self-Insurance	See All Updates »
Matthew A. Carmona	Right-to-Work’s Impact on Union Membership in Michigan Michigan’s two right-to-work laws became effective on March 28, and have likely left many wondering how they impact their own workplaces and what effect they will have on union membership in the future. Essentially, the laws…more Collective Bargaining, Right to Work, Union Security Clauses, Unions	See All Updates »
Robert P. Casey	Loose Lips Do Not Always Sink Ships—Seventh Circuit Rejects EEOC’s View on ADA Medical Records Rule In EEOC v. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (issued on November 20, 2012), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which is the federal appellate court covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, ruled that a company did not…more ADA, Disability, Discrimination, EEOC, Medical Records	See All Updates »
Hema Chatlani	Third Department Affirms Unemployment Insurance Appeal’s Board Finding Of No Misconduct Due To Unintentional Internet Usage In the Matter of the Claim of Jay Osborne, 102 A.D.3d 1048 (3d Dep’t Jan. 24, 2013): In this case, the plaintiff was terminated for violating his employer’s policy against personal use of the Internet during work hours because…more Unemployment Insurance, Willful Misconduct	See All Updates »
Tom Christina	The Advantages of Team Work There are many things I enjoy about practicing employee benefits law at Ogletree Deakins. One of them is having more than 35 other benefits lawyers with whom to brainstorm so that we can serve our clients better and more…more Affordable Care Act, Employee Benefits	See All Updates »
Joseph Clees	Phoenix City Council Votes In Favor Of Expansion Of Anti-Discrimination Ordinance To Include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgendered Residents On February 26, 2013, by a vote of 5 to 3, the Phoenix City Council approved a proposal to expand the Phoenix City Code’s anti-discrimination ordinance to more broadly prohibit discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and…more Anti-Discrimination Policies, ENDA, Gender Discrimination, LGBT, Sexual Orientation	See All Updates »
A. Craig Cleland	Supreme Court Weighs In On FLSA Class Action Issues On April 16, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Genesis Healthcare Corp. et al. v. Symczyk that a collective action brought by a worker under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was properly dismissed because the worker’s…more Collective Actions, Dismissals, FLSA, Genesis HealthCare, Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk	See All Updates »
Justin S. Coffey	Immigration Reform 2013—Update In the February/March 2013 issue of the Immigration eAuthority, we outlined the respective proposals for immigration reform put forward by both the President and a bipartisan group of eight senators. We also noted that numerous…more Border Security, H-1B, Highly-Skilled Workers Visa, Immigration Reform, L-1 Visas	See All Updates »
Jaime Cole	Postscript: To Compel Under the FAA or the MAA? That is the Question . . . With an Answer In a previous post, I argued that in order to compel arbitration in Minnesota, an employer must attempt to come within the purview of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and not just the Minnesota Uniform Arbitration Act (MAA)…more Arbitration, Federal Arbitration Act	See All Updates »
David J. Comeaux	“Hybrid” Wage And Hour Class Actions Approved By Third Circuit On March 27, 2012, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Knepper v. Rite Aid, Inc. reversing the district court’s ruling that the plaintiffs could not pursue state wage and hour…more Class Action, FLSA, Rite Aid, Wage and Hour, Wages	See All Updates »
Tressi L. Cordaro	OSHA Enforcement Trends At an American Bar Association meeting in March 2013, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Richard Fairfax discussed recent statistics that continue to reflect OSHA’s enforcement efforts…more OSHA, Penalties, Safety Precautions, SVEP	See All Updates »
Amanda C. Couture	Keep Your Holiday Parties Merry, Bright, and Out of Court Company-sponsored holiday parties can be a great way to boost employee morale, rewarding employees for the year’s hard work. Unfortunately, holiday horror stories of intoxication and offensive behavior abound. To keep your…more Employer Liability Issues, Holiday Parties, Sexual Harassment	See All Updates »
Christopher R. Coxson	Arbitrator’s Decision Finding Just Cause For Discharge Dooms Subsequent Statutory Claims, District Of New Jersey Holds In Robbins v. U.S. Foodservice, Inc., 2012 WL 3781258 (D.N.J., August 30, 2012), a union employee’s discrimination (NJLAD) and leave law (FMLA and NJFLA) claims were dismissed because her union previously had grieved her…more Arbitration Agreements, Collateral Estoppel, Discrimination, FMLA, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
Harold P. Coxson	Obama’s NLRB Package of Nominees Unlikely to be Confirmed On April 9, 2013, President Obama announced his intention to nominate three members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), renominating current Democratic NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce, whose term expires on August 27,…more Barack Obama, Canning v NLRB, NLRB, Nominations, Recess Appointments	See All Updates »
Patrick Curran, Jr.	Supreme Court Rejects Class Action Plaintiff’s Effort to Avoid Federal Jurisdiction Under CAFA In a unanimous decision issued on March 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the named plaintiff in a proposed class action lawsuit cannot defeat federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA or the Act)…more Amount in Controversy, CAFA, Class Action, Damages, Jurisdiction	See All Updates »
Maria Greco Danaher	Gender Stereotyping Based on a Person’s Non-Conforming Behavior Violates Title VII As the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is intended to “strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women resulting from sex stereotyping.” Recently, a federal…more Discrimination, EEOC, Gender Discrimination, Sexual Stereotyping, Title VII	See All Updates »
C. Thomas Davis	NLRB Overrules Longstanding Precedent Exempting Witness Statements from Disclosure in Grievance-Arbitration Context In yet another reversal of longstanding, bright-line precedent, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) has changed dramatically the rule applicable to employers in responding to union information requests seeking…more Arbitration, Collective Bargaining, Discovery, NLRA, NLRB	See All Updates »
Lara C. de Leon	California Court Rejects Managers’ Overtime Misclassification Class Action Dailey v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., D061055 (March 20, 2013): In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of class certification where there was not a predominant common question on a claim of…more Class Action, Class Certification, Misclassification, Sears	See All Updates »
Dara DeHaven	Federal Contractors Beware! OFCCP Will Be Searching for Any Discrimination in Compensation The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently issued new investigation standards and procedures as well as a new policy directive for reviewing compensation systems and practices of federal contractors and…more Contractors, Discrimination, OFCCP, Subcontractors, Wages	See All Updates »
Maayan Deker	Third Department Affirms Unemployment Insurance Appeal’s Board Finding Of No Misconduct Due To Unintentional Internet Usage In the Matter of the Claim of Jay Osborne, 102 A.D.3d 1048 (3d Dep’t Jan. 24, 2013): In this case, the plaintiff was terminated for violating his employer’s policy against personal use of the Internet during work hours because…more Unemployment Insurance, Willful Misconduct	See All Updates »
Benjamin I. Delancy	December 31 Section 409A Correction Deadline for Severance Pay Approaching The Internal Revenue Service(IRS) has given employers until December 31, 2012 to correct a problem frequently found in severance agreements and other similar arrangements. If the problem is not addressed by that date, then it…more Deferred Compensation, IRS, Section 409A, Severance Agreements, Severance Pay	See All Updates »
Lee Gibbs Depret-Bixio	The Employment Law Authority - March/April 2013 In This Issue: - Immigration. Washington takes the first step toward immigration reform. - State Round-Up. Learn about the latest employment law news in your state. - Traditional. Wade Fricke and Matthew Kelley…more ADA, Discrimination, EEOC, H1-B, HIPAA	See All Updates »
Mark Diana	New Jersey’s Social Networking Privacy Law Gets Conditional Veto by Gov. Christie On April 5, 2013, Governor Chris Christie issued a conditional veto of New Jersey’s proposed “Facebook law” (A-2878), which is intended to prohibit employers from inquiring about or otherwise accessing applicants’ and…more Facebook, Legislative Vetoes, Social Media, Social Networking Online Protection Act, Social Networks	See All Updates »
W. Kyle Dillard	"Toxic” Mold Claims: Steps to Prevent and Aggressively Defend TOXIC MOLD. SICK BUILDING SYNDROME. MOLD SICKNESS. These are some of the popular catch phrases employed by those who seek to profit by perpetuating the mythology that has fueled a cottage litigation industry of mold hysteria for…more Construction Defense Strategies, Mold Litigation, Toxic Mold	See All Updates »
Heidi K. Doescher	Major Changes At The EEOC Could Mean Major Liability For Employers The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) investigation and litigation tactics have been a hot topic lately, as the agency recently announced its plan to target more employers in bigger, more costly systemic…more Disability Discrimination, Discrimination, EEOC, Enforcement, Enforcement Actions	See All Updates »
Bruce J. Douglas	Ban on Hand-Held Cell Phone Use for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers—What Employers Should Know As the number of smartphones sold in the United States and worldwide overtakes sales of so-called ordinary cells phones, more Americans are using these devices while driving…more	See All Updates »
Aimee Dreiss	Wellness Programs—Money and Trinkets for Healthy Habits May Be Taxable More and more employers and insurance companies are providing incentives and rewards to employees and their covered dependents to encourage participation in wellness programs. These programs are designed to improve an…more Employer Group Health Plans, Healthcare, Incentives, Income Taxes, Wellness Programs	See All Updates »
Kim F. Ebert	The Value Proposition This article is reprinted with permission from the third edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” Kim Ebert, the managing shareholder of Ogletree Deakins, was asked to contribute an article to the third edition of…more	See All Updates »
Matt Effland	Madness in March—The Final Four Reasons to be Wary of the NCAA Tournament in the Workplace Okay, let’s get one thing straight right away: this is NOT a blog post telling you that it’s okay to sponsor an NCAA pool in your office or even suffer one to exist. That’s because I’m a lawyer and, according to federal and…more Discrimination, Employment Policies, Sports, Sports Gambling	See All Updates »
Theresa Donahue Egler	Arbitrator’s Decision Finding Just Cause For Discharge Dooms Subsequent Statutory Claims, District Of New Jersey Holds In Robbins v. U.S. Foodservice, Inc., 2012 WL 3781258 (D.N.J., August 30, 2012), a union employee’s discrimination (NJLAD) and leave law (FMLA and NJFLA) claims were dismissed because her union previously had grieved her…more Arbitration Agreements, Collateral Estoppel, Discrimination, FMLA, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
Christopher Elko	New Jersey’s Social Networking Privacy Law Gets Conditional Veto by Gov. Christie On April 5, 2013, Governor Chris Christie issued a conditional veto of New Jersey’s proposed “Facebook law” (A-2878), which is intended to prohibit employers from inquiring about or otherwise accessing applicants’ and…more Facebook, Legislative Vetoes, Social Media, Social Networking Online Protection Act, Social Networks	See All Updates »
Sarah Jung Evans	Seattle Paid Sick And Safe Leave Ordinance—Employers With Employees Working In Seattle, Are You Ready For The New Seattle Ordinance? Effective September 1, 2012, most private employers that have employees working within the city of Seattle, Washington will be required to provide such employees specific amounts of paid leave for use for personal illness,…more Medical Leave, Paid Leave, Safe Leave	See All Updates »
H. Ellis Fisher	NLRB Issues New Guidance on At-Will Disclaimers The Office of the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) recently issued two advice memoranda that shed some light on the legality of employers’ “at-will” disclaimers in employee handbooks and…more At-Will Employment, Employee Handbooks, Employment Contract, NLRA, NLRB	See All Updates »
Flyn L. Flesher	Eighth Circuit Permits Individual Arbitration of FLSA Claims The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important pro-arbitration opinion last week, compelling individual arbitration of a putative Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action. Owen v. Bristol Care, Inc., No…more Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Class Action, Class Action Arbitration Waivers, D.R. Horton	See All Updates »
Michael Fox	Supreme Court Weighs In On FLSA Class Action Issues On April 16, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Genesis Healthcare Corp. et al. v. Symczyk that a collective action brought by a worker under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was properly dismissed because the worker’s…more Collective Actions, Dismissals, FLSA, Genesis HealthCare, Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk	See All Updates »
Wade Fricke	The Employment Law Authority - March/April 2013 In This Issue: - Immigration. Washington takes the first step toward immigration reform. - State Round-Up. Learn about the latest employment law news in your state. - Traditional. Wade Fricke and Matthew Kelley…more ADA, Discrimination, EEOC, H1-B, HIPAA	See All Updates »
Leigh Ganchan	DACA Program Raises Questions For Employers In The I-9 Process Companies must balance countervailing mandates under immigration law: verifying employment eligibility while not discriminating unlawfully. With the recent implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)…more DACA, Discrimination, Eligibility, Hiring & Firing, I-9	See All Updates »
Alexandra J. Gill	New Legislation Requires Individuals To Support Claims For Unemployment Benefits With Information And Documents On March 28, 2013, Governor Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2147, which shifts the initial obligation to provide information regarding a claim for unemployment benefits from the employer to the individual applying for the…more New Legislation, Proof of Claims, Required Documentation, Unemployment Benefits	See All Updates »
Charles Gillman	Automated Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record to be Introduced in April 2013 On March 27, 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published an Interim Final Rule in the Federal Register that will automate the Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, to purportedly streamline the admissions process for…more Customs and Border Protection, I-94 Cards	See All Updates »
John C. Glancy	Watch Your Assets Part Three: Why and When to Seek Injunctions and Temporary Restraining Orders In our last two posts, we identified best practices for ensuring that a company’s house is in order, including the use of narrowly tailored restrictive covenant agreements (Part I) and adopting a company culture and behaviors…more Fraud, Injunctions, Preliminary Injunctions, Restrictive Covenants, Tortious Interference	See All Updates »
Benjamin Glass	D.C. Circuit Invalidates NLRB’s Notice Posting Rule In yet another blow to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in National Association of Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board reversed an earlier ruling of the U.S. District…more NLRA, NLRB, Notice Requirements, Posting Requirements, Unfair Labor Practices	See All Updates »
Ruthie L. Goodboe	The Employment Law Authority - January/February 2013 In This Issue: - Email Request Does Not Constitute "Complaint" - Former NLRB Member Joins Ogletree Deakins - For Employers, Pay-Or-play Proposals Could Be Worse, Much Worse - The NLRB In 2013: More Controversy…more Canning v NLRB, Discrimination, FLSA, Immigration Reform, NLRB	See All Updates »
William E. Grob	Beware of Traps with Independent Contractor Business Models Companies are increasingly moving away from the traditional employee model and implementing independent contractor models for some aspects of their business to reduce their direct labor costs without sacrificing market share,…more Hiring & Firing, Independent Contractors, Misclassification	See All Updates »
Kelly L. Hamilton	The Ohio Supreme Court Gives Teeth To Noncompete Agreements Applicable To Acquired Employees The Ohio Supreme Court recently reversed its prior decision limiting the enforceability of non-compete agreements acquired in mergers and acquisitions. In Acordia of Ohio, L.L.C. v. Fishel (Acordia I), the Supreme Court…more Assignments, Non-Compete Agreements	See All Updates »
Rodney A. Harrison	Courts Give the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act a Narrow Reading Post-Nosal The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has become a powerful weapon in the trade secret litigator’s arsenal. An employee who accesses his or her employer’s computer files in the days or weeks before leaving for a competitor may…more CFAA, Trade Secrets	See All Updates »
Alysonne O. Hartfield	Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Will Not Likely Affect Alabama’s Immigration Law On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona v. United States that several provisions of Arizona’s immigration law (S.B. 1070) could not be enforced because federal immigration law preempts state laws regarding…more E-Verify, Preemption, SCOTUS	See All Updates »
Sarah J. Hawk	Latest Round of ICE I-9 Inspection Notices Issued In recent weeks, employers nationwide have been ordered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to submit their I-9 employment eligibility forms and other documents for inspection. In the last week of May, a new round of…more Audits, Enforcement, I-9, ICE	See All Updates »
Michael T. Heenan	Court Finds Private Person Can Be Held Liable for Negligent Inspection A private person who inspects a workplace can be held liable for injury or death due to hazards that should have been found and addressed. That is effectively what the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia recently held in…more FTCA, Mining, MSHA, Negligent Inspection, Personal Liability	See All Updates »
John K. Henning IV	Court Voids $1.5M Contract For Lack Of Consideration In Yessenow v. Hudson (no. 2:08-cv-00353-PPS-APR), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana found that the indemnification agreement and guaranty that Hilton Hudson, M.D. signed with Jeffrey Yessenow, M.D…more Indemnity Agreements	See All Updates »
Kevin P. Hishta	Key Issues to Evaluate When Conducting an Internal Wage and Hour Audit In our last blog post in this series on the “Anatomy of a DOL Audit,” we discussed tips for conducting an effective internal wage and hour audit. Now we consider some key issues to evaluate during that process…more Audits, DOL, Exempt-Employees, Independent Contractors, Internal Investigations	See All Updates »
Logan A. Hollobaugh	Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Illinois Court Clarifies Contractor’s Right to Recover for Extra Work The Illinois Appellate Court from the Fourth District broadly interpreted the elements necessary for contractors and subcontractors to recover for extra work, allowing for recovery based on the implicit approval of the owner…more Contractors, Subcontractors	See All Updates »
Stephen J. Huey	Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions For FY 2014 Should Be Filed On March 29, 2013 The filing period for “new” H-1B petitions to be counted against the annual H-1B quota (the “H-1B cap”) for FY 2014 begins on Friday, March 29, 2013. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept cap-subject H-1B…more H-1B, Visas	See All Updates »
Patrick Hulla	Supreme Court Weighs In On FLSA Class Action Issues On April 16, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Genesis Healthcare Corp. et al. v. Symczyk that a collective action brought by a worker under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was properly dismissed because the worker’s…more Collective Actions, Dismissals, FLSA, Genesis HealthCare, Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk	See All Updates »
Stacey A. Huse	New Health Care Reform Fees—Will You Be Required to Pay? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act established two fees to be paid by insurers and self-insured plans: (1) the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) fee to raise revenue for health insurance issuers that cover high…more Affordable Care Act, HHS, HIPAA, IRS, PCORI	See All Updates »
Allison Ianni	Third Department Affirms Unemployment Insurance Appeal’s Board Finding Of No Misconduct Due To Unintentional Internet Usage In the Matter of the Claim of Jay Osborne, 102 A.D.3d 1048 (3d Dep’t Jan. 24, 2013): In this case, the plaintiff was terminated for violating his employer’s policy against personal use of the Internet during work hours because…more Unemployment Insurance, Willful Misconduct	See All Updates »
Manish K. Jain	Two-Year Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Termination Claims Under Minnesota’s Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act In September of 2012, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held in Sipe v. STS Manufacturing., Inc. et al., No. A11-2082 (Minn. Ct. App. Sept. 25, 2012), that a wrongful termination claim under the Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Testing…more DATWA, Drug Testing, Hiring & Firing, Intentional Torts, Statute of Limitations	See All Updates »
Johnnie James	Engage—Before You Fire Consider this scenario: An employee goes out on a leave of absence for anxiety. His doctor says he’s temporarily totally disabled. Then the leave gets extended because the employee is having problems adjusting to the…more Disability Discrimination, Discrimination, FEHA, Hiring & Firing, Medical Leave	See All Updates »
Jathan Janove	Interview With Employee Retention Expert Dick Finnegan Best-selling author and CEO of C-Suite Analytics, Dick Finnegan has been cited by Businessweek, Chief Executive magazine, and Consulting magazine as the leading thinker on employee retention. I had a chance to query him on a…more Employee Retention, Hiring & Firing, Human Resources Professionals	See All Updates »
Betsy Johnson	San Jose Minimum Wage is Now $10.00 Per Hour On November 6, 2012, the City of San Jose approved a Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO) that became effective on March 11, 2013. Under the MWO, the minimum wage for “covered employees” working within the city limits of San Jose will…more Collective Bargaining, Minimum Wage, Notice Requirements, Unions, Wage and Hour	See All Updates »
Robert A. Jones	CA Governor Signs New Law Expanding Protection For Religious Dress And Grooming In The Workplace On September 8, 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 1964 to amend Section 12926 of the California Government Code which embodies the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. The existing…more Discrimination, Jerry Brown, Reasonable Accommodation, Religious Discrimination, Undue Hardship	See All Updates »
Matthew J. Kelley	Third Circuit Sides With D.C. Circuit’s Determination That Recess Appointments Are Unconstitutional Today, in a 102-page decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals dealt the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a significant blow and gave employers another victory in their attempts to have President Obama’s recess…more NLRB, Recess Appointments	See All Updates »
Scott Kelly	Federal Contractors Must Use 2010 Census Tab Starting January 1, 2014 Earlier this afternoon, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced that all federal contractors must use the 2006-2010 American Community Survey Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation (2010 EEO Tab) to…more Contractors, OFCCP	See All Updates »
Mark F. Kowal	New Jersey Bill Seeks To Raise Unemployment Insurance Rate Cap On May 31, 2012, the New Jersey Senate unanimously passed a bill (S1121) aimed at assessing a higher unemployment insurance rate on employers with markedly lower Employer Reserve Ratios (i.e., those employers with more former…more Unemployment Insurance	See All Updates »
Shira L. Krieger	New Jersey Senate Introduces New Minimum Wage Bill On June 5, 2012, the Senate introduced a bill (SCR117) that would amend the New Jersey State Constitution to set the minimum wage at $8.50 per hour with annual adjustments for inflation…more Minimum Wage, Wages	See All Updates »
Elizabeth Kuhn	Florida Supreme Court Upholds Legislation Requiring Public Employees To Contribute To Retirement Accounts In a 4-3 decision in Scott v. Williams, No. SC12-520 (Fla. Jan. 17, 2013), the Florida Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutionality of a 2011 law, Senate Bill 2100, requiring Florida’s public employees to contribute three…more Breach of Contract, COLA, Collective Bargaining, Public Employees, Retirement	See All Updates »
Caitlin Senff Ladd	Governor Cuomo Proposes Increased Minimum Wage And Significant Changes To New York’s Employment Law In State Of The State Address Although New York State’s recent strict assault weapons ban has garnered the majority of attention from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2013 legislative agenda, Governor Cuomo also has made significant proposals that will affect…more Discrimination, Gender-Based Pay Discrimination, Minimum Wage, Unemployment Insurance, Wages	See All Updates »
Gregg M. Lemley	It’s 2:35 p.m. Do You Know (Or Care) Where Your Employees Are? Today, technological advances make it easier for companies to track exactly where their products are at any given time. These same advances have given employers a similar opportunity to track their employees. Global positioning…more Employee Rights, Employee Tracking, Technology	See All Updates »
Matthew Levine	Fragmented Workforces: Specialty Healthcare And The Advent Of “Micro-Units” The National Labor Relations Board recently made it easier for unions to win representation elections by allowing unions to fragment workforces and cherry-pick the unit of employees most likely to support unionization. On March…more Decision-Making Process, Multiple Bargaining Units, NLRB, Specialty Healthcare, Unions	See All Updates »
Janet Q. Lewis	National Defense Authorization Act Precludes OFCCP Jurisdiction Over TRICARE Provider The U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board has found that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) lacks jurisdiction over Florida Hospital of Orlando, a TRICARE health services provider, based…more DOL, Jurisdiction, NDAA, OFCCP, TRICARE	See All Updates »
Leah Lively	Portland Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Passes The city of Portland joined San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., and the state of Connecticut today when it passed a paid sick leave ordinance. Under the new ordinance, businesses with six or more employees must provide up…more Local Ordinance, Medical Leave, Paid Leave	See All Updates »
Ann Carr Mackey	December 31 Section 409A Correction Deadline for Severance Pay Approaching The Internal Revenue Service(IRS) has given employers until December 31, 2012 to correct a problem frequently found in severance agreements and other similar arrangements. If the problem is not addressed by that date, then it…more Deferred Compensation, IRS, Section 409A, Severance Agreements, Severance Pay	See All Updates »
Rachel Reingold Mandel	Massachusetts Criminal Record Regulations Finalized The Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) recently issued final regulations to accompany the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) law. The law, which was passed in August…more CORI, Criminal Background Checks, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
John Martin	Who Owns an Employee’s LinkedIn Account? LinkedIn is a social media site catering exclusively to professionals with 200 million registered users in 200 countries. For many businesses, marketing via social media is a critical component to success. Employees use LinkedIn…more Eagle v Edcomm, Edcomm, LinkedIn, Social Media Account Ownership	See All Updates »
Michelle Maslowski	Indiana Supreme Court Allows Day Laborer’s Claim to Proceed Under Indiana Wage Payment Act If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck—then you’d better have a pretty good argument if you don’t want the Indiana Supreme Court to call it a “duck.” The Indiana Supreme Court recently applied…more Day Laborers, Wage Claims Act, Wage Payment and Collection Act, Wages	See All Updates »
David P. Mason	Significant Changes In The Regulation Of Temporary Staffing Coming To Massachusetts In 2013 In August 2012, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a bill that established a series of new legal requirements for temporary staffing agencies and the companies that use their services. The law, called the…more Staffing Agencies	See All Updates »
Brian L. McDermott	Indiana’s Right-to-Work Statute Survives First Challenge While Court Clarifies Statutory Ambiguities On February 1, 2012, Indiana became the 23rd “right-to-work” (RTW) state. Since that date, unions have filed two lawsuits in Indiana federal courts hoping to overturn the law on different grounds. One of those lawsuits, Sweeney…more Collective Bargaining, Contracts Clause, Equal Protection, Ex Post Facto Clause, Preemption	See All Updates »
Charles McDonald, III	Applying Wage and Hour Laws to the 21st Century Series: Concerns Involving Exempt Employees In this, our final post in this blog series on wage and hour issues in the 21st century, we address another frequent area of concern for employers: exempt employees…more Deductions, Exempt-Employees, FLSA, FMLA, Medical Leave	See All Updates »
Thomas McInerney	One-Sided Arbitration Agreement Found Unconscionable By California Court Compton v. American Management Services LLC, No. B236669 (March 19, 2013): A California Court of Appeal recently held that an arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it was unconscionably one-sided. The agreement, which…more Arbitration Agreements, Unconscionable Contracts	See All Updates »
Edmund J. McKenna	Increase in Florida’s Minimum Wage In 2004, the state of Florida enacted a constitutional amendment, establishing a state minimum wage. The minimum wage applies to all employees in the state who are covered by the federal minimum wage…more Minimum Wage, Wages	See All Updates »
Neil V. McKittrick	Significant Changes In The Regulation Of Temporary Staffing Coming To Massachusetts In 2013 In August 2012, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a bill that established a series of new legal requirements for temporary staffing agencies and the companies that use their services. The law, called the…more Staffing Agencies	See All Updates »
Jocelyn A. Merced	Third Circuit Clarifies Standard For Final Certification Of FLSA Collective Actions In Zavala v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2012 WL 3217522 (3d Cir. August 9, 2012), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the standard for final certification of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),…more Class Action, Class Certification, FLSA, RICO, Unpaid Overtime	See All Updates »
John T. Merrell	NLRB to Appeal Noel Canning Decision Directly to U.S. Supreme Court The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a short statement on March 12, 2013, indicating its intention to file a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court seeking review of the U.S. Court of Appeals…more Canning v NLRB, NLRB, Recess Appointments, SCOTUS	See All Updates »
Andrew W. Merrills	Immigration Reform 2013—Update In the February/March 2013 issue of the Immigration eAuthority, we outlined the respective proposals for immigration reform put forward by both the President and a bipartisan group of eight senators. We also noted that numerous…more Border Security, H-1B, Highly-Skilled Workers Visa, Immigration Reform, L-1 Visas	See All Updates »
Tracy A. Miller	Arizona Supreme Court Limits Employer’s Vicarious Liability For Employee’s Off-Duty, On-Location Assignment Car Accident On July 9, 2012, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an employer-friendly opinion holding that an employer was not vicariously liable for negligent conduct committed by an employee during an out-of-town assignment, after work…more Employer Liability Issues, Off-Duty Employees, Respondeat Superior, Vicarious Liability	See All Updates »
Michael D. Mitchell	It’s 2:35 p.m. Do You Know (Or Care) Where Your Employees Are? Today, technological advances make it easier for companies to track exactly where their products are at any given time. These same advances have given employers a similar opportunity to track their employees. Global positioning…more Employee Rights, Employee Tracking, Technology	See All Updates »
Beth A. Moeller	FLSA Collective Actions—How Your Company Can Avoid Being Targeted The number of wage and hour lawsuits filed by current and former employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) continues to increase. According to one source, collective actions brought under the FLSA alleging wage and…more Audits, Class Action, FLSA, Over-Time, Wage and Hour	See All Updates »
Steven W. Moore	Major Changes At The EEOC Could Mean Major Liability For Employers The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) investigation and litigation tactics have been a hot topic lately, as the agency recently announced its plan to target more employers in bigger, more costly systemic…more Disability Discrimination, Discrimination, EEOC, Enforcement, Enforcement Actions	See All Updates »
Karen M. Morinelli	Florida Supreme Court Upholds Legislation Requiring Public Employees To Contribute To Retirement Accounts In a 4-3 decision in Scott v. Williams, No. SC12-520 (Fla. Jan. 17, 2013), the Florida Supreme Court recently upheld the constitutionality of a 2011 law, Senate Bill 2100, requiring Florida’s public employees to contribute three…more Breach of Contract, COLA, Collective Bargaining, Public Employees, Retirement	See All Updates »
Bernhard Mueller	Revised Form I-9 Effective March 8, 2013 A revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, the form that must be completed by all employers to verify the employment eligibility of every new hire, will be introduced on March 8, 2013, according to an advance copy…more Eligibility, Hiring & Firing, I-9	See All Updates »
Sarah J. Murphy	The Employment Law Authority - January/February 2013 In This Issue: - Email Request Does Not Constitute "Complaint" - Former NLRB Member Joins Ogletree Deakins - For Employers, Pay-Or-play Proposals Could Be Worse, Much Worse - The NLRB In 2013: More Controversy…more Canning v NLRB, Discrimination, FLSA, Immigration Reform, NLRB	See All Updates »
Christopher C. Murray	Beneath the Radar: The Seventh Circuit Quietly Overhauls FLSA Collective Action Litigation With a few casual sentences, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has called into question the standards used by most district courts for the past three decades to certify collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act…more Class Action, Decertify, FLSA, Rule 23, Wage and Hour	See All Updates »
Michael J. Nader	FAAAA Preemption Continues to Zigzag Through California Courts Federal preemption of California’s meal and rest break laws as applicable to truck drivers under the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (the FAAAA) continues to zigzag through California’s federal courts. In…more FAAAA, Preemption, Rest and Meal Break, Wages	See All Updates »
Tibor Nagy, Jr	New Legislation Requires Individuals To Support Claims For Unemployment Benefits With Information And Documents On March 28, 2013, Governor Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2147, which shifts the initial obligation to provide information regarding a claim for unemployment benefits from the employer to the individual applying for the…more New Legislation, Proof of Claims, Required Documentation, Unemployment Benefits	See All Updates »
Leigh M. Nason	Federal Contractors Beware! OFCCP Will Be Searching for Any Discrimination in Compensation The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently issued new investigation standards and procedures as well as a new policy directive for reviewing compensation systems and practices of federal contractors and…more Contractors, Discrimination, OFCCP, Subcontractors, Wages	See All Updates »
Diana J. Nehro	Termination Notice Periods Extended in Brazil—With Retroactive Effect! Terminations in Brazil are tricky enough. If “just cause”—which is statutorily established and defined—does not exist, an employer can be on the hook for quite a bit, including indemnities and taxes tied to the balance in the…more Employer Liability Issues, Notice Requirements, Pre-Termination Notice, Severance, Termination	See All Updates »
Vicki M. Nielsen	Wellness Programs—Money and Trinkets for Healthy Habits May Be Taxable More and more employers and insurance companies are providing incentives and rewards to employees and their covered dependents to encourage participation in wellness programs. These programs are designed to improve an…more Employer Group Health Plans, Healthcare, Incentives, Income Taxes, Wellness Programs	See All Updates »
Josephine S. Noble	Sixth Circuit Rules Employers Can Avoid Fiascos Like Romney’s “47%” Recording by Banning Secret Recordings in the Workplace With President Obama’s inauguration next week, I am reminded of the surreptitious recording that played a significant role in the final weeks of his campaign last year—the infamous “47%” recording. Secret recordings can have a…more Audio Recording, Discrimination, EEOC, Employment Policies, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
Tamika Nordstrom	Association Discrimination: The New Wave of Discrimination Claims It is well-established that employers cannot discriminate against employees due to their age, gender, race, religion, disability, or any other class protected under federal and/or state laws. However, a lesser-known cause of…more Association Discrimination, Discrimination, Title VII	See All Updates »
Shannon O'Guin	Ways to Help Business Internship Partners Avoid DOL Pitfalls Many colleges and universities require some kind of practical, hands-on experience as a part of their curriculum. Employers and schools alike place a premium on real world experience that cannot always be gained from sitting in…more Colleges, DOL, FLSA, Internships, Supervision	See All Updates »
Shaun P.Haley	OSHA Ratchets Up Heat-Related Inspections; Expect State Plans Like Nevada To Follow Under pressure to respond to the risks to employees created by the nationwide heat wave this summer, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently instructed its field enforcement staff, “to expedite…more Enforcement, OSHA	See All Updates »
Helen A. Palladeno	Summary of the EEOC’s New Strategic Enforcement Plan and What Employers Need to Know The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) recently released to the public its draft Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP or Plan). The SEP will take effect October 1, 2012, and will remain in effect until…more Anti-Retaliation Provisions, Discrimination, EEOC, Hiring & Firing, Migrant Workers	See All Updates »
Danuta Bembenista Panich	U.S. Supreme Court Again Takes on FLSA Donning and Doffing Unionized employers whose employees must wear protective equipment may soon receive direction on whether they must pay for time spent donning and doffing the gear. On February 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review on…more Collective Bargaining, Doffing, DOL, Donning, FLSA	See All Updates »
Elizabeth Partlow	Eco-Friendly Product? Be Careful How You Advertise It Everyone is “going green.” From recycling to reduced packaging, consumers want products they perceive to be environmentally friendly. But what do those “green” claims really mean? …more Advertising, FTC, Green Guides, Marketing	See All Updates »
Vicki Patterson	Sixth Circuit Rules for Employers in FLSA Case The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed judgment for the employer in a collective action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by 91 current and former special investigators (SIs) employed by Nationwide…more Collective Actions, DOL, FLSA, Over-Time, Special Investigators	See All Updates »
Eric Penkert	EBSA Updates Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program On January 28, 2013, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), announced updates to its Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance (DFVC) Program. …more Compliance, Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance, DOL, EBSA, EFAST2 Form	See All Updates »
Cristina Perez	OFCCP Issues NEW Compensation Directive and Rescinds Compensation Standards and Voluntary Guidelines The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced today that effective February 28, 2013, it has rescinded the 2006 Compensation Standards (Standards) and Voluntary Guidelines. In the Notice of Final…more Compensation Standards, Investigations, OFCCP, Title VII, Wages	See All Updates »
Cristina Pérez	Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Announces Her Resignation U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced her resignation in a letter to Department of Labor (DOL) employees on January 9, 2013. Just 12 days before the ceremonial swearing-in of President Barack Obama for a…more Administrative Appointments, Administrative Resignation, Barack Obama, DOL	See All Updates »
Grant D. Petersen	The DOJ And SEC Issue Their Comprehensive Guide To The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act General Counsels, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, and Corporate Secretaries of U.S. publicly-traded companies across the country must take individual responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of…more Certificates of Compliance, Compliance, DOJ, FCPA, FCPA Resource Guide	See All Updates »
Carllene M. Placide	Seattle Paid Sick And Safe Leave Ordinance—Employers With Employees Working In Seattle, Are You Ready For The New Seattle Ordinance? Effective September 1, 2012, most private employers that have employees working within the city of Seattle, Washington will be required to provide such employees specific amounts of paid leave for use for personal illness,…more Medical Leave, Paid Leave, Safe Leave	See All Updates »
Steven F. Pockrass	Indiana Supreme Court Allows Day Laborer’s Claim to Proceed Under Indiana Wage Payment Act If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck—then you’d better have a pretty good argument if you don’t want the Indiana Supreme Court to call it a “duck.” The Indiana Supreme Court recently applied…more Day Laborers, Wage Claims Act, Wage Payment and Collection Act, Wages	See All Updates »
Bonnie Pucket	Independent Contractor or Employee: Are Independent Contractors the Best Solution for Multinational Organizations? Almost every organization expanding overseas needs a vehicle to explore the market before making the business decision to establish a legal entity, yet few legal vehicles are available for this preliminary measure. Most often,…more Employer Liability Issues, Independent Contractors, Misclassification, Multinationals, Payroll Taxes	See All Updates »
David Raizman	Disability Access Lawsuit Filed in Los Angeles Against Bed Bath & Beyond Could Spell Trouble For Retailers, Others Earlier this week, on April 29, 2013, a man with hearing impairments filed suit against Bed Bath & Beyond alleging that it failed to provide captioning or a transcript for the product promotional video on display in its Los…more Bed Bath & Beyond, Disability Access Claims, Retailers	See All Updates »
Michael Ray	Second Circuit Rules “Gap Time” Claims Impermissible Under FLSA, Even Where An Employee Worked Overtime The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed “gap time” claims brought by a purported class under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Lundy, et al. v. Catholic Health Systems of Long Island, Inc., No. 12-1453 (March…more FLSA, Gap Time, Minimum Wage, Over-Time, Wage and Hour	See All Updates »
Ebony A. Reid	Seventh Circuit Holds that the ADA Mandates Reassignment of Disabled Employees to Vacant Positions Overruling its own precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (which covers Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin) recently held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to reassign disabled…more ADA, Disability, Discrimination, EEOC, Reasonable Accommodation	See All Updates »
Stephen A. Riga	The Employment Law Authority - March/April 2013 In This Issue: - Immigration. Washington takes the first step toward immigration reform. - State Round-Up. Learn about the latest employment law news in your state. - Traditional. Wade Fricke and Matthew Kelley…more ADA, Discrimination, EEOC, H1-B, HIPAA	See All Updates »
Alfred B. Robinson, Jr.	What’s on the Regulatory Horizon Part Two: Wage and Hour Division Tips Its Hand In the first part of this series, we examined the three major strategies in the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulatory agenda. In part two of this two-part series, we will look at one regulatory topic of great interest…more Classification, DOL, Employee Benefits, FLSA, Misclassification	See All Updates »
David Rosner	IRS Releases Revised Retirement Plan Correction Program Including Important New Guidance For 403(b) Plans On December 31, 2012, as Times Square in New York was getting ready to drop the crystal ball, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped long-awaited guidance regarding retirement plan corrections in the form of Revenue…more 403(b) Plans, Audits, IRS, Qualified Benefit Plans, Qualified Retirement Plans	See All Updates »
Jason A. Rothman	U.S. Supreme Court Hears DOMA Case—Now What? Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Windsor, 12-307, a case that raises the question of whether the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is constitutional. Among the various groups that are…more COBRA, DOMA, ERISA, Same-Sex Marriage, SCOTUS	See All Updates »
Jennifer Rygiel-Boyd	FMLA Policy In Handbook Does Not Satisfy Individualized Notice Requirements Of FMLA, New Jersey District Court Holds The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires that employers provide both general notice to their employees of their rights under the FMLA and individualized notice to employees requesting or inquiring about leave. In Young…more FMLA, FMLA Guidebook, Notice Requirements	See All Updates »
Richard L. Samson	Fragmented Workforces: Specialty Healthcare And The Advent Of “Micro-Units” The National Labor Relations Board recently made it easier for unions to win representation elections by allowing unions to fragment workforces and cherry-pick the unit of employees most likely to support unionization. On March…more Decision-Making Process, Multiple Bargaining Units, NLRB, Specialty Healthcare, Unions	See All Updates »
Robert A. Sar	Fourth Circuit Approves “Exempt” Classification of CEO’s Secretary The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s administrative employee exemption properly applied to a Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) secretary. Altemus v. Fed. Realty Inv. Trust, 2012…more Administrative Employee Exemption, Exemptions, FLSA	See All Updates »
Joshua J. Sarner	New Connecticut Supreme Court Decision Clarifies Application Of The Connecticut Family And Medical Leave Act On September 25, 2012, the Connecticut Supreme Court held in Velez v. Comm’r of Labor, 306 Conn. 475 (Conn. 2012) that the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act (CFMLA) applies only to employers with 75 or more employees…more FMLA	See All Updates »
Diane M. Saunders	Massachusetts Federal Court Holds That Websites Can Be Places Of Public Accommodation For Purposes Of The ADA In National Association for the Deaf v. Netflix, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that Netflix’s Internet video-streaming service, known as “Watch Instantly,” constitutes a place of public…more ADA, Disability, Disability Access Claims, Discrimination, Internet	See All Updates »
Tobias E. Schlueter	Watch Your Assets Part Three: Why and When to Seek Injunctions and Temporary Restraining Orders In our last two posts, we identified best practices for ensuring that a company’s house is in order, including the use of narrowly tailored restrictive covenant agreements (Part I) and adopting a company culture and behaviors…more Fraud, Injunctions, Preliminary Injunctions, Restrictive Covenants, Tortious Interference	See All Updates »
Margaret S. Scholz	Fourth Circuit Approves “Exempt” Classification of CEO’s Secretary The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s administrative employee exemption properly applied to a Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) secretary. Altemus v. Fed. Realty Inv. Trust, 2012…more Administrative Employee Exemption, Exemptions, FLSA	See All Updates »
Evan J. Shenkman	New Jersey’s Social Networking Privacy Law Gets Conditional Veto by Gov. Christie On April 5, 2013, Governor Chris Christie issued a conditional veto of New Jersey’s proposed “Facebook law” (A-2878), which is intended to prohibit employers from inquiring about or otherwise accessing applicants’ and…more Facebook, Legislative Vetoes, Social Media, Social Networking Online Protection Act, Social Networks	See All Updates »
Michael Shetterly	New FMLA Poster Must Be Up By March 8 If you haven’t done it already, you will want to display the new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster by March 8, 2013. …more DOL, Flight Crews, FMLA, Military Service Members, Notice Requirements	See All Updates »
Hal Shillingstad	Hurricane Sandy and Crisis Management Hurricane Sandy is leaving a wake of destruction in major cities across the East Coast that can have a devastating effect on your business, management, employees, and customers…more Hurricane Sandy	See All Updates »
Nonnie Shivers	Phoenix City Council Votes In Favor Of Expansion Of Anti-Discrimination Ordinance To Include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgendered Residents On February 26, 2013, by a vote of 5 to 3, the Phoenix City Council approved a proposal to expand the Phoenix City Code’s anti-discrimination ordinance to more broadly prohibit discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and…more Anti-Discrimination Policies, ENDA, Gender Discrimination, LGBT, Sexual Orientation	See All Updates »
Rebecca L. Sigmund	New U.S.-Russia Visa Agreement Facilitates Travel For Business and Tourism Under the terms of an agreement simplifying the U.S.-Russia bilateral visa program, American and Russian travelers for business or tourism are now eligible to receive three-year, multiple-entry visas authorizing stays for up to…more Bilateral Visa Program, Business Visas, Visas	See All Updates »
James R. Silvers	Criminal Background Checks Ordinance Passed in Newark, New Jersey Recently, the city of Newark, New Jersey passed an ordinance that will impact most employers in Newark. The new ordinance, which will go into effect next month, applies to employers with five or more employees that do business,…more Criminal Background Checks, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
Stephen H. Smalley	Expansion of the Interview Waiver Program at U.S. Embassies and Consulates in India As we reported in the October/November 2012 issue of the Immigration eAuthority, in September 2012, a new visa processing system aimed at streamlining and standardizing visa application procedures for all applicants, was…more IWP, Visas	See All Updates »
Allyson M. Smith	New Jersey DOL Clarifies Overtime Exemption For Employees Of Common Carriers Of Passengers By Motor Bus Under current state law, employees of a common carrier of passengers by motor bus are exempt from overtime. N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a4. However, the term “common carrier of passengers by motor bus” was never defined in the regulations,…more Common Carriers, Department of Labor & Industry, Exempt-Employees, Over-Time	See All Updates »
Stephanie Smithey	Model Notice of Exchanges Issued with New October 1, 2013 Deadline The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Technical Release 2013-02 on May 8, 2013, providing temporary guidance and model notices that will allow employers to comply with another new requirement imposed by the Affordable Care…more Affordable Care Act, DOL, FLSA, Health Insurance Exchanges, Notice Requirements	See All Updates »
Cheryl M. Stanton	Governor Cuomo Signs Law Loosening Strict Interpretation Of Unlawful Deductions From Wages On September 8, 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a much-anticipated law that amends New York Labor Law § 193 by expanding the scope of permissible deductions from an employee’s wages. The new law, which will take effect on…more Wage Deductions, Wages	See All Updates »
Timothy J. Stanton	The Employment Law Authority - January/February 2013 In This Issue: - Email Request Does Not Constitute "Complaint" - Former NLRB Member Joins Ogletree Deakins - For Employers, Pay-Or-play Proposals Could Be Worse, Much Worse - The NLRB In 2013: More Controversy…more Canning v NLRB, Discrimination, FLSA, Immigration Reform, NLRB	See All Updates »
Natalie M. Stevens	Positive Legislative Change In Ohio—Reduced Statute Of Limitations For Actions Based On Written Contracts Ohio historically had one of the longest statutes of limitations for written contracts—weighing in at 15 years. However, the limitations period was recently reduced from 15 years to 8 years…more Statute of Limitations	See All Updates »
Sarai Bryant Stewart	Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions For FY 2014 Should Be Filed On March 29, 2013 The filing period for “new” H-1B petitions to be counted against the annual H-1B quota (the “H-1B cap”) for FY 2014 begins on Friday, March 29, 2013. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept cap-subject H-1B…more H-1B, Visas	See All Updates »
Matthew Straub	Subcontractor Loses Delay Claim for Delays Occurring Before Execution of Subcontract Both an Illinois circuit and appellate court had little sympathy for a subcontractor that suffered significant delays before executing a subcontract, which failed to allow for compensation for the prior delays. Asset Recovery…more Construction Contracts, General Contractors, No-Damages-For-Delay Provisions, Subcontractors, Subcontracts	See All Updates »
John G. Stretton	New Connecticut Supreme Court Decision Clarifies Application Of The Connecticut Family And Medical Leave Act On September 25, 2012, the Connecticut Supreme Court held in Velez v. Comm’r of Labor, 306 Conn. 475 (Conn. 2012) that the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act (CFMLA) applies only to employers with 75 or more employees…more FMLA	See All Updates »
Guilene F. Theodore	Eleventh Circuit Clarifies Standard for Awarding Liquidated Damages in FLSA Retaliation Cases The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the standard for awarding plaintiffs liquidated damages for a retaliation claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is different from that used in claims for failing…more FLSA, Liquidated Damages, Minimum Wage, Over-Time, Retaliation	See All Updates »
Charles Thompson, IV	California’s New Disability Regulations: Clarifying The Interactive Process In October 2011, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) proposed amended regulations governing disability discrimination, reasonable accommodation, and the interactive process under the California Fair…more Disability, Discrimination, Dogs, FEHA, FEHC	See All Updates »
Todd Timmons	NLRB Orders Reinstatement of Employees Fired Over Discussion on Facebook In Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc., 359 NLRB No. 37 (Dec. 14, 2012), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that an employer violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by firing five employees…more Anti-Harassment Policies, Facebook, Hiring & Firing, Hispanics United of Buffalo, NLRA	See All Updates »
Jessica D. Tsuda	Challenges To Standing And Venue In Class Action Litigation Although a class action complaint may foreshadow years of litigation filled with thousands of plaintiffs and millions of dollars in potential damages and costs, there are several early motions that, if successful, may…more Class Action, Costco, Delta Airlines, Improper Venue, Standing	See All Updates »
Timothy G. Verrall	California Weighs In on Essential Health Benefits for Group Health Plans and Insurers As a reminder of the significant role that states will play in implementing the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we wanted to highlight some recent legislative developments in California that will be of interest to…more Affordable Care Act, Employer Group Health Plans, Essential Health Benefits, Minimum Essential Coverage, Pay or Play	See All Updates »
Jody Ward-Rannow	Ban on Hand-Held Cell Phone Use for Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers—What Employers Should Know As the number of smartphones sold in the United States and worldwide overtakes sales of so-called ordinary cells phones, more Americans are using these devices while driving…more	See All Updates »
Ryan T. Warden	Non-Probationary Employee Not Proper Comparator For Probationary Employee, Third Circuit Holds In Mercado v. Donahoe, No. 11-2972, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 13226, (3rd Cir. June 26, 2012), the plaintiff, a probationary part-time employee, sued his employer alleging that he had been discriminated against on the basis of his…more Discrimination, Probationary Period, Racial Discrimination, Sex Discrimination, Substantially Similar	See All Updates »
Aaron Warshaw	New York City Council Overrides Mayor Bloomberg’s Veto And Passes Law Prohibiting “Unemployment” Discrimination New York City will soon become one of only a handful of jurisdictions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “unemployment” status and, in doing so, has adopted arguably the most stringent such law in the United States. As…more Discrimination, Hiring & Firing, Job Applicants, Unemployment Discrimination	See All Updates »
Thomas L. Watson, II	Employee Classification: Employers Must Get It Right Or Face Costly Penalties Earlier this year, the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) and the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to exchange information received by the agencies. Louisiana…more Classification, Independent Contractors, Misclassification, Wage and Hour, Wages	See All Updates »
Keith Watts	California Supreme Court Decision Clarifies Standard for Defending FEHA Claims Employers can finally exhale a small sigh of relief. On February 7, the California Supreme Court decided the issue of whether the “mixed-motive” defense applies to employment discrimination claims under the California Fair…more Discrimination, FEHA, Mixed Motive Cases	See All Updates »
Ashley A. Wenger	Be a Super Sleuth—Part Three: Concluding Your Workplace Investigation In the first part of this three-part series—Be A Super Sleuth: Laying the Framework for Effective Workplace Investigations—we provided a number of pre-investigation considerations for employers, including an overview of policies…more Documentation, Internal Investigations, Workplace Investigations	See All Updates »
C. John Wentzell, Jr.	IRS Releases Revised Retirement Plan Correction Program Including Important New Guidance For 403(b) Plans On December 31, 2012, as Times Square in New York was getting ready to drop the crystal ball, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped long-awaited guidance regarding retirement plan corrections in the form of Revenue…more 403(b) Plans, Audits, IRS, Qualified Benefit Plans, Qualified Retirement Plans	See All Updates »
Karen K. West	D.C. Circuit Rejects Board’s Determination that Medco Violated the National Labor Relations Act On Friday, December 14, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit set aside the determination of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) that Medco Health Solutions of Las Vegas, Inc. (Medco) violated the National…more NLRA, NLRB, Protected Concerted Activity	See All Updates »
Michelle P. Wimes	Even Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Need Professional Development! With just days into the new year, are you embracing the new year as an opportunity for your own personal and professional growth and development? Or, are you already dreading what the new year will bring and counting the days…more Business Development, Diversity, Marketing	See All Updates »
Cole A. Wist	MSHA/OSHA Report - August 2012 In This Issue: Safety and Health Enforcement Developments: - MSHA Update - OSHA Update ..OSHA's Oil & Gas Flame Resistant Clothing Memo Held to Be Improper Rulemaking ..Final Electric Power Transmission and…more Electricity, Mining, MSHA, Oil & Gas, OSHA	See All Updates »
Charlotte Wolfe	Employers Beware: Anything Short of a Robust Attempt to Engage in Interactive Process Might Preclude Summary Judgment Several recent cases in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals remind employers that their obligation to engage in the interactive process is an increasingly onerous one. First, in Keith v. County of Oakland, No. 11-2276 (6th Cir…more ADA, Disability, Disability Discrimination, Discrimination, Hiring & Firing	See All Updates »
Stephen R. Woods	Corrected Forms from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau As discussed in an earlier blog post, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — which now has the responsibility of enforcing the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a role previously held by the Federal Trade…more Background Checks, CFPB, FCRA, Notice Requirements, Summary of Rights	See All Updates »
Mary E. Wright	Fixed Salary for Non-Exempt Employees Cannot Include Overtime as of January 1, 2013 Recently, the California Advice Group received the following question from a human resources manager concerning salaried non-exempt employees. As the law is changing in this area, it is a very timely question…more Non-Exempt Employees, Over-Time, Wage and Hour, Wages	See All Updates »
Stephen C. Yohay	With Richard Fairfax Retiring, a Crossroads for OSHA? Richard Fairfax, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, has announced that, as long-expected, he will retire on May 3, 2013. As Melissa Bailey, Managing Shareholder of Ogletree Deakins’…more Enforcement, OSHA, Workplace Hazards	See All Updates »
Marc L. Zaken	D.C. Circuit Rejects Board’s Determination that Medco Violated the National Labor Relations Act On Friday, December 14, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit set aside the determination of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) that Medco Health Solutions of Las Vegas, Inc. (Medco) violated the National…more NLRA, NLRB, Protected Concerted Activity	See All Updates »

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