When involved in a criminal investigation, the cover-up is usually worse than the underlying crime. Last month, a New Hampshire business owner learned this lesson the hard way when he pleaded guilty to charges based on his...more
Several years ago, we received a call from a client’s vice president of human resources who was facing an unusual problem. The company had a regional salesperson who was having an extraordinary year....more
Under Title VII, employers are only liable for an employee’s – as opposed to a supervisor’s – sexual harassment of a co-worker if it knew or should have known of such conduct. Last month in an unpublished decision, the Second...more
In some situations, lawyers can determine that post-employment noncompetition agreements are likely to be declared automatically invalid. For example, a North Carolina employer that attempts to obtain a five year...more
The new tax reform law contains a provision intended to address continuing concerns over sexual harassment in the workplace. Now employers that settle sexual harassment or sexual abuse claims with employees cannot deduct...more
From time to time, health care employers find themselves faced with employees who refuse to take mandatory vaccines intended to protect themselves and their patients from exposure to infectious diseases. Sometimes these...more
Health care was among the occupations that saw the largest declines in fatal work injuries in the most recent year federal data is available, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It recently released statistics...more
In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted regulations that limit the amount of incentives employers can provide employees to participate in wellness programs under the companies’ group medical insurance...more
1/8/2018
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Incentives ,
Wellness Programs
It did not take long for the National Labor Relations Board to act on the advice of its new general counsel and upset multiple precedents put in place by the prior majority Democratic board. In a series of 3-2 decisions, the...more
We routinely encounter language in North Carolina employment contracts that prohibits the employee from soliciting the company’s customers or prospective customers for a period of time following separation from employment. In...more
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees are entitled to take intermittent leave to deal with a serious health condition. The intermittent leave can be in increments as small as one hour. The employer must maintain...more
Employment laws and standards of conduct greatly vary from country to country. U.S. employees working overseas for their U.S. employer generally enjoy the same legal protections as if they were working at home. ...more
12/14/2017
/ Discrimination ,
Dow Chemical ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Affiliates ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Jurisdiction ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Popular ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits race discrimination in employment, but it does not define what race means. Over the past decade, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has shifted its definition of...more
Once President Trump’s appointees gained a majority of National Labor Relations Board seats this summer, it was only a matter of time before the board began addressing the aggressive pro-employee positions taken by its...more
Last week, the federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division proposed repealing a controversial regulation affecting employers in the hospitality industry. The regulation interpreted a provision of the Fair Labor...more
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, certain drivers of commercial vehicles in interstate commerce are exempt from the law’s overtime provisions. In 2008, Congress amended the FLSA to apply the overtime requirement to drivers...more
Last year, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced new rules that will require employers to electronically submit annual OSHA 300A employee illness and injury information. While employers are...more
Last year’s proposal to increase the minimum salary to qualify for exemption from federal overtime requirements hit nonprofit employers particularly hard. While the new salary levels never went into effect, many nonprofits...more
As previously reported in EmployNews, in December a creative group of plaintiffs’ lawyers filed suit against Chipotle in federal district court in New Jersey. The lawyers contended that despite a Texas federal court’s...more
11/22/2017
/ Chipotle Grill ,
Collective Actions ,
Contempt ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Injunctions ,
Minimum Salary ,
Motion for Sanctions ,
Over-Time ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees be paid a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In Douglas v. Xerox Business Services, LLC, the plaintiffs challenged Xerox’s variable pay system as violating these requirements....more
In recent years, a number of companies have faced lawsuits from unpaid interns who claim that they should have been compensated for their work. The Department of Labor considers internships to be subject to federal minimum...more
Here is a nightmare scenario for human resources: The company sends an employee absent from work the required Family and Medical Leave medical certification form via regular mail. The employee fails to return the form within...more
On November 2, Republican congresswomen introduced legislation that would relieve employers from the growing patchwork of state and local paid employee leave laws in return for their guarantee of certain paid benefits. The...more
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) imposes on employers the strictest requirements of any federal leave law. Reservists, National Guard members, and other employees who leave work for...more
In its last round of Family and Medical Leave Act rule revisions, the Department of Labor recognized employers’ rights to establish notice procedures for employees who need to miss work due to intermittent and other legally...more