A judge just dismissed a safety claim being prosecuted by North Carolina workplace safety officials after it was revealed at trial that NC OSHA inspectors had been shredding handwritten notes and other documents from their...more
2/6/2025
/ Citations ,
Dismissals ,
Document Destruction ,
Due Process ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
North Carolina ,
OSHA ,
Record Retention ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Violations ,
Workplace Safety
When Fisher Phillips attorneys recently secured a key victory over a state OSHA plan that was improperly trying to create a quota system to encourage investigators to issue citations and assess penalties, it opened the door...more
This is the third Insight in a three-part series that discusses restrictive covenant agreements in North Carolina... This Insight will address considerations for enforcing restrictive covenant agreements on departing...more
This is the second in a three-part series that discusses restrictive covenants in North Carolina... This Insight will focus on entering into restrictive covenant agreements in North Carolina. There are three common situations...more
Employers across North Carolina invest a lot of time and money in their employees and their customers. As part of that investment, companies often provide employees with confidential information and entrust them to interact...more
In arguably the most far-reaching move of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration announced Thursday that federal workplace safety officials will soon issue a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more...more
The Department of Labor has just published its increases to the maximum civil penalties that can be assessed against employers by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The increases are based on...more
Given the tumultuous news that occupied all of our attentions last week, you may have missed the announcement that President-elect Biden has nominated Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to be the next Secretary of Labor – the first...more
1/11/2021
/ Affirmative Action ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Pay ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
A recent update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could eventually lead federal workplace safety authorities to conclude that employers have significant additional obligations when it comes to their...more
In a 6-to-3 vote yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination because of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity — including being transgender — is unlawful discrimination “because of...more
6/16/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) just signed into law this weekend sweeping legislation that not only protects the rights of LGBT Virginians in employment, housing, and accommodations, but also expands the ability of...more
Tastes may differ, but there can be no dispute that the music video for “November Rain,” the ultimate power ballad by the ultimate Hair Nation band of the 1980s, Guns N’ Roses, is the best video ever created. It’s like a...more
11/4/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe Weather ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vacation Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Weather Policy
When an inspector from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows up at your workplace, know this: everything—and we mean everything—that a manager or supervisor says at any point to the inspector will...more
Every presidential administration has its priorities, and President Trump’s is no different. President Trump has put his stamp on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) by stalling, delaying, or modifying...more
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), employers have a right to be given the opportunity to accompany an OSHA compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) during an inspection of the workplace.
In...more
An accident happens at your workplace, leading to an employee injury. During the hectic response, incorrect information funnels its way up to the safety director charged with notifying OSHA of reportable injuries and...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has conducted an inspection of your plant after one of your employees amputated part of his finger trying to clean around a sprocket with the machine still running. ...more
3/27/2019
/ Citations ,
Defense Strategies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Rules of Evidence ,
Inadmissible Evidence ,
Litigation Strategies ,
OSHA ,
Settlement Conferences ,
Settlement Offer ,
Trial Practice Guidance ,
Witness Statements ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Investigations
An accident happens at your workplace, and an employee is injured. During the hectic response, incorrect information funnels its way up to the safety director or person charged with notifying OSHA of reportable injuries and...more
An accident happens and an employee is seriously injured and admitted to the hospital. Not only does the company need to conduct an investigation into what happened, but it must report the injury to OSHA as well. During its...more
While it is not comparable to David Letterman’s Top 10 lists, at a recent industry gathering, OSHA announced its annual top 10 violations for fiscal year 2018 (October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018). For those who have...more
11/16/2018
/ Citations ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Workers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Contractors ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Training ,
Safety Violations ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
In a unanimous 8-0 decision, the United States Supreme Court issued its first ruling of the new term yesterday and delivered a blow to small public-sector employers fending off age discrimination lawsuits. The Court ruled...more
In a significant victory for employers, a federal appeals court recently limited OSHA’s ability to expand accident investigations beyond their original and intended scope. The 11th Circuit’s decision in United States v....more
10/18/2018
/ Appeals ,
General Duty Clause ,
Motions to Quash ,
OSHA ,
Probable Cause ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Violations ,
Search Warrant ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
At a recent national safety conference for the industry, the acting head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) remarked that the agency is focusing on the use of peracetic acid in the poultry industry....more
Elaine Benes loved poppy seed muffins. That is, until she failed a drug test at work for opium. That’s right. As Peterman said, “White Lotus. Yam-yam. Shanghai-Sally.” Elaine did not lose her job, but she was not allowed to...more