The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that a Philadelphia city ordinance that prohibits Philadelphia employers from asking applicants about their current or past pay rates is constitutional....more
2/11/2020
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Pay ,
First Amendment ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
January 2020 was a busy month for New Jersey’s executive branch. Governor Phil Murphy signed into law at least five workplace-related bills, one of which revised the New Jersey mini-WARN Act, one granting state regulators...more
1/29/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Layoff Notices ,
Layoffs ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Severance Agreements ,
Severance Pay ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Stop Work Orders ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act
Q: I operate a hotel in New Jersey and heard New Jersey law now requires me to provide panic devices to certain hotel employees. What do I need to know? ...more
1/24/2020
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Fines ,
Harassment ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hostile Environment ,
Hotels ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Q: I heard that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a major ruling regarding overtime pay. What do I need to know? ...more
12/10/2019
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
PA Supreme Court ,
Rate of Pay ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Q: Over the summer, I saw that President Trump tweeted that four minority Democrat congresswomen should “go back” to where they came from. What Human Resources lessons can be learned from the President’s tweet?...more
On September 24 — more than five years after the Obama administration first proposed updating the overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released the final version of...more
9/24/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In a significant development for private colleges and universities, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it intends to propose rules that would establish a “standard for determining whether students who...more
Q: Is it lawful to require an employees or applicants to style their hair in a certain manner?
A: As with most employment-related questions, the answer is it depends. ...more
Q: Can my company refuse to hire or terminate an individual because the individual is a medical marijuana user?
A: Not necessarily. ...more
Q. Can you explain to me Philadelphia’s new Fair Workweek Ordinance?
A. In late December 2018, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed an Ordinance that will require large fast-food chains, retailers, and hotels to provide...more
Q: Are there certain rules an employer must follow when conducting background checks or employees and prospective employees?
...more
Q: My company uses a third-party vendor to conduct background checks on prospective employees. We heard there is a new model for the “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act” notice. Should we be using...more
9/27/2018
/ Background Checks ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Credit Security Freeze ,
Economic Growth Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Identity Theft ,
Job Applicants ,
Notice Requirements ,
Summary of Rights
In a significant development for Pennsylvania employers, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) has issued new guidance announcing that it takes the position that employment discrimination based on LGBT status is...more
9/27/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender Neutral ,
LGBTQ ,
New Guidance ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Protected Class ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Q: Does my company have an affirmative defense to a sexual harassment claim if the company has a policy for reporting sexual harassment and an employee never makes a report of sexual harassment under that policy?
...more
Q. I suspect that our company may have inadvertently committed overtime and minimum wage violations. Is there a way I can make this right without incurring substantial legal liability?
...more
In a ruling that could provide a roadmap for challenging salary history bans in other jurisdictions, a Philadelphia federal judge issued an opinion on April 30 invalidating a major element of the Philadelphia salary history...more
5/2/2018
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Q. If a supervisor makes a comment about an employee’s age, will the company be liable for age discrimination?
A. While ageist comments are never appropriate in the workplace, an Illinois federal court recently ruled...more
Q: I have employees working in Maryland. What do I need to know and do in order to comply with Maryland’s new paid sick leave law?
A: The Maryland Healthy Working Family Act (the “Act”) went into effect on February 11,...more
Q. Our company wants to establish an internship program and host student interns to work alongside our employees. Do we need to pay the interns?
A. Possibly. Over the past few years, courts and the Department of Labor...more
1/17/2018
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internships ,
Misclassification ,
Primary Beneficiary Test ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Wage and Hour
On December 14, the Republican-majority National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued two employer-friendly decisions that reversed pro-employee rulings. In each 3-2 decision, the two Democratic members of the NLRB — Mark...more
12/20/2017
/ Boeing ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Deregulation ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Policies ,
Joint Employers ,
National Security ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Section 7 ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Unions
Q. Our Company just terminated an employee for a social media post that was in violation of our social media policy. Will she be entitled to unemployment compensation benefits?
...more
Q: Do I need to pay non-exempt employees when they go on short rest breaks of 20 minutes or less?
A: Yes.
The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) has long taken the position that when employers offer non-exempt...more
Q: Do I need to pay my employees if my company has closed or temporarily shut down operations due to a natural disaster or inclement weather?
A: It depends.
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and in...more
9/26/2017
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Hurricane Irma ,
Hurricane Season ,
Natural Disasters ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Salaried Employees ,
Severe Weather ,
Wage and Hour
Q. What is the status of the EEOC’s requirement that we submit pay data with our annual EEO-1 Form? Also, have there been any updates on the lawsuit blocking the DOL’s rule raising the salary basis for certain non-exempt...more
9/8/2017
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
OMB ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
In the week leading up to Labor Day, two major employment law initiatives of former President Barack Obama’s Labor Department came to a halt. First, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put a stop to the...more
9/7/2017
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
OMB ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour