For many, this has been a summer of strikes. Beyond the high-profile, ongoing strike of Hollywood writers and actors, union actions have secured outcomes like substantial pay increases for UPS drivers and commercial air...more
The DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing, among other things, to increase the salary threshold for white-collar overtime exemptions. You may recall that there was a lot of discussion about this back in 2016...more
9/7/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
White-Collar Exemptions
“Excessive.” “Feels Like.” “Heat Dome.” All of these words and phrases come up in almost every conversation these days. With another summer of record heat upon us, OSHA continues to move forward with a proposed heat standard....more
If you are an employer covered by the federal Fifth Circuit (Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi), you are probably familiar with the “ultimate employment decision” standard: In determining whether an employee suffered an...more
Recently the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that provides, among many other things (the rule is more than 700 pages long), (1) an update to the formula DOL uses to set “prevailing wages” under the...more
8/21/2023
/ Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Davis-Bacon Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Public Works ,
Retaliation ,
Subcontractors
We promised to keep you updated with the EEOC’s proposed regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PFWA). Per its website, the EEOC is publishing the proposed regulation on August 11, 2023, and you have until October...more
The National Labor Relations Board in 2023 has continued on its pro-union path in all areas of traditional labor law. Many of the NLRB’s actions are the result of the ongoing advice memos which are being issued by General...more
8/4/2023
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Union Membership ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new final rule on the Form I-9 process. Under the new rule, the DHS Secretary may authorize alternative Form I-9 documentation examination procedures that do not...more
Are PhD students at a private university who also teach courses and grade papers – tasks that are a part of their development but also certainly assist the university – employees who can unionize? The NLRB said yes for a...more
7/19/2023
/ College Athletes ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Graduate Students ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
Private Schools ,
State Labor Laws ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Unions
If you use non-competes, make sure you complete all the steps to make them enforceable. It may be your practice to ask the employee to sign it and then not sign it yourself. While we seldom see challenges to this practice,...more
Employers in Alabama (along with the rest of the country) have faced headaches the last several years with staffing shortages and shift coverage. In June, with bipartisan support, the Alabama Legislature passed House Bill 217...more
It’s time for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). We’ve been warning you that the PWFA is coming and in less than a week, on June 27, the PWFA goes into effect. We’re still waiting on the EEOC’s proposed regulations but...more
The federal government says healthcare employers can soon stop requiring employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Yes — the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is...more
Can you still have noncompete agreements with your employees? What if you explicitly state that the agreement protects trade secrets or other proprietary information? There has been a lot of buzz about this issue, and...more
6/15/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Proprietary Information ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 7 ,
Section 8 ,
Trade Secrets
No-fault attendance policies may be on a watchlist for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A recent matter before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America Inc.,...more
Many workplaces allow their employees to listen to music or radio on site. But what if employees choose to blast “sexually graphic” and “violently misogynistic” songs throughout a warehouse? Does it matter whether the...more
Tracking intermittent FMLA time — it’s every HR professional’s favorite thing to do. Do you come up with a total number of hours per employee or just count portions of the workweek? What do you do if an employee takes...more
Can you still have noncompete agreements with your employees? There has been a lot of buzz about this issue, and this week the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board joined the conversation with a memorandum,...more
Your employee requests a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but you refuse to grant it. If the employee continues to perform their job, can the employee still sue you for refusing the...more
5/31/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Compensation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interpreters ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the best way to save time and make fair decisions — right? Not so fast. As AI is more common in our day-to-day lives, we have seen it make mistakes and replicate human shortcomings. For many it...more
5/26/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Bots ,
Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interviews ,
Job Applicants ,
Municipalities ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology Sector ,
Title VII
All employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must post an updated version of the FLSA “Employee Rights” poster to remain compliant with the law....more
5/18/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Covered Employer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Wage and Hour
Do you have a “no fault” attendance policy or some other way in which employees get points for absences? If so, be careful. A recent Eleventh Circuit matter, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America, Inc. suggests that the Equal...more
Can you require your workers to arbitrate claims? What if they work in interstate commerce? Recently several courts have addressed the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and when it applies to arbitration agreements...more
If the NLRB finds that you have committed an unfair labor practice (and maybe more than once), just what can it do? In Noah’s Ark Processors, a three-member panel of the board recently took an opportunity to pronounce...more
Can someone who has no intention of using your services or buying your products sue you because your website is not accessible? In Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether...more