With the advent of summer, many employers hire high school youth as seasonal employees. Effective May 3, 2021, the North Carolina Wage and Hour Bureau, a division of the North Carolina Department of Labor (DOL) has updated...more
Now that many of us have been vaccinated, what should employers be doing to prepare for returning to a pre-COVID workplace? Throughout the pandemic, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided...more
6/7/2021
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Guidance Update ,
Incentives ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
Under the guidance of the Biden administration, the United States Congress continues to move forward with legislation that is intended to provide greater protections to workers. One such bill which has been introduced during...more
The Biden administration has hit the ground running with several items on its agenda which impact the employment relationship. On March 12, the American Rescue Plan was passed by Congress and signed into law. This new law...more
5/5/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
Entertainment Venues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Grants ,
Multi-Employer Pensions ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Popular ,
Relief Measures ,
Restaurant Industry ,
SBA ,
Tax Credits ,
Vaccinations
With a new Presidential administration comes a new Secretary of the United States Department of Labor (DOL), Boston mayor Marty Walsh. Walsh was a former union president and state representative before becoming mayor. The new...more
An issue of key concern to employers now that vaccines are being made available to inoculate against COVID-19 is whether they should require employees to be vaccinated. On Wednesday, December 16, the federal Equal Employment...more
12/18/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Guidance Update ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has long taken the position that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide a disabled employee reassignment to an alternative position for which...more
Folks who follow the United States Department of Labor received notification on Monday, September 21, that a significant new rule would soon be announced on Tuesday morning. Secretary Eugene Scalia penned a press release sent...more
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) codifies the employment relationship as it relates to the payment of wages. The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) administers the FLSA through its Wage and Hour Division....more
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) codifies the employment relationship as it relates to the payment of wages. The amount of overtime compensation for salaried employees is subject to certain exemptions, one of...more
Ever since the world was introduced earlier this year to COVID-19, questions have been raised in legal circles regarding whether employee exposure to the virus could lead to a viable workers’ compensation claim. On May 6,...more
As part of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was enacted on March 18, 2020. Division D of the FFCRA is the Emergency Unemployment Insurance...more
As part of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, P.L. 116-127 (the “FFCRA”) was enacted on March 18, 2020. Its effective date is April 2, 2020 and its...more
With the beginning of a new decade comes further evidence of the National Labor Relations Board’s resolve to roll back prohibitive rulings issued during the Obama era. On December 16, 2019, the NLRB issued two rulings which...more
1/14/2020
/ Confidentiality Policies ,
Email Policies ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Information Technology ,
Labor Regulations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Purple Communications ,
Section 7 ,
Unions ,
Workplace Investigations
Effectively drafted restrictive covenants are valuable tools employers can utilize to protect their proprietary interests. Covenants not to compete and covenants not to solicit an employer’s clients or employees are the most...more
11/7/2019
/ Contract Terms ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Private Right of Action ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proprietary Information ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, President Trump formally nominated Eugene Scalia to serve as Secretary of the United States Department of Labor. The Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing federal laws governing the...more
9/3/2019
/ Bonuses ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Opinion Letter ,
Over-Time ,
Paralegal ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In the midst of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, in October of 2017, actress Alyssa Milano took to Twitter and encouraged any woman who had been sexually harassed to tweet “Me Too” to bring awareness to the prevalence of sexual...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) determined that discrimination...more
6/5/2019
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Appeals ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
For federal contractors in North Carolina…now is your opportunity to provide input relating to the establishment of prevailing wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA). The DBA governs contractors and subcontractors who...more
As tributes to former President George H.W. Bush’s legacy continue in the wake of his passing, I find myself reflecting on one particular piece of legislation – the Americans with Disabilities Act – which has impacted...more
In November 2017, the United States Senate confirmed Peter Robb as the new General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). On December 1, 2017, Mr. Robb issued Memorandum GC 18-02 (“Memorandum”) in which he...more
In June of 2015, in response to former President Obama’s mandate that it take steps to ensure that employees are compensated fairly, the United States Department of Labor released proposed changes to the overtime regulations...more
9/12/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Last year, the federal Office of Management and Budget announced a plan “to make government lean, accountable, and more efficient.” Cited as the next step in a series of reform initiatives which serve to implement that plan,...more
On June 25, 2018, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 774 into law, providing judges with discretion for reducing civil barriers to employment, housing, and other essential opportunities impacting individuals...more
On May 21, 2018, in three cases in which employees sought to pursue collective claims against Epic Systems Corp., Ernst & Young, LLP, and Murphy Oil USA, Inc. for alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act, the...more
5/22/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS