In today's new episode, Michael Schmidt talks about social media and schools (and what that means for employers generally), spousal claims against employers for getting COVID-19 at home, the withdrawal of the independent...more
5/17/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Health and Safety ,
Independent Contractors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Regulations ,
Masks ,
Misclassification ,
New Guidance ,
Preemption ,
Public Schools ,
School Policies ,
Sick Employees ,
Social Media Policy ,
Spouses ,
Students ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
We're back! This brand new episode addresses the 10 developments you may have missed from this past summer of 2018, including employees secretly recording the workplace, new non-compete legislation, the unstoppable #MeToo...more
9/11/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Opinion Letter ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Social Media Policy ,
State Labor Laws ,
Video Recordings ,
Wage and Hour
Is the Superbowl creeping into your workplace this week? Does Washington’s new tax reform impact how you settle sexual harassment cases? Can you actually go to jail for signing a restrictive covenant? Is there a new kind of...more
1/29/2018
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Effective Date ,
Employment Policies ,
Football ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
No-Poaching ,
Obama Administration ,
Release Agreements ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Sexual Abuse ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Social Media Policy ,
Sports Gambling ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Reform ,
Title VII
“It’s the Relationships, Stupid.” This final episode of 2017 looks back at the topics and guests from volume 1 of the podcast, and somehow ties former President Bill Clinton to today’s operative premise in employer/employee...more
Good faith and timing means everything in employment law. This episode of Employment Law Now provides an update from DC, discusses questions employers should be asking in today’s climate of troubling sexual harassment news,...more
12/4/2017
/ Complaint Procedures ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Good Faith ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRB ,
Obscenity ,
Protected Class ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance ,
Zero Tolerance Policies
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses how to engage your employees in today’s unique workplace and navigate a multi-jurisdictional set of employment laws. This episode...more
10/23/2017
/ Code of Conduct ,
Discipline ,
Diversity ,
Employee Engagement ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Political Expression ,
Productivity ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Reputation Management ,
Social Media Policy ,
Surveys ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Workplace Communication
Michael Schmidt of Cozen O'Connor addresses recent trends and noteworthy developments on certain employment policies related to political activity, confidential customer information, FMLA retaliation, and maximum leave...more
8/21/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
But For Causation ,
Confidential Information ,
Covered Employer ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Macy's ,
Mixed Motive Cases ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Popular ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Social Media Policy ,
Standard of Proof ,
Termination ,
Unpaid Leave ,
UPS ,
Voluntary Participation
I hope you had a very happy holiday season and New Year. Both seem to be distant memories at this point. Many of the upcoming posts in 2017 will undoubtedly address, and be impacted by, the nature of the new Trump...more
It is this time every year, as I am wrapping things up over at “social media and employment law blog” central, – and particularly in this latest political election year – that I am reminded of that election campaign more than...more
The Irony in Regulating Employee Social Media Speech: the NLRB vs. the FTC -
BREAKING NEWS: Employees use social media. A lot. And, in a related story, Bush beat Gore, according to the Supreme Court. All breaking news,...more
It is this time every year, as I am wrapping things up over at “social media and employment law blog” central, – and particularly in this latest political election year – that I am reminded of that election campaign more than...more
It gets boring to blog just about the NLRB. We need some judicial action to get the juices flowing a little more. We got a little something last week. Question: Is merely clicking the “like” button on Facebook tantamount to...more
The English electronic band Depeche Mode sang that more than 32 years ago. Still applies, for some.
Social media has made it easier and quicker for everyone – your employees included – to post their feelings online...more
I don’t know if you are or aren’t. That’s probably for a different timeforhardselfassessmentlawblog.com (wish I had purchased that domain). However, I do know that your employees apparently can call their manager a nasty...more
It’s been a little while since we talked about the NLRB and its feelings on “protected concerted activities” and social media policies. After all, there are other social media and employment law issues worth considering from...more
I certainly don’t really care. My Cowboys ended their year a couple of weeks too early (yes, that was a catch). However, many people do care, for various reasons. There is, of course, the football game itself and the rooting...more
In This Issue:
- Message from the Chair
- On the Horizon: Is Obama Remaking the Workplace While Leaving Congress Behind?
- The 2014 Supreme Court Decisions Every Employer Should Know
- What to Expect from the...more
1/2/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Barack Obama ,
Big Data ,
Cybersecurity ,
E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Form I-9 ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Legislative Agendas ,
LGBTQ ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
NLRB ,
PDA ,
Pregnancy ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Whistleblowers
It is this same time every year, as I am wrapping things up over at “social media and employment law blog” central, that I am reminded of that election campaign more than twenty years ago when Bill Clinton coined the phrase:...more
The NLRB continues to push for a share of the employment law spotlight. It also continues to act in a way that shows why its “precedent” is truly only “precedent” when the political winds don’t change.
...more
At the expense of sounding too corny, sometimes these issues are fascinating. As much as they are practical, from a takeaway standpoint.
Back on May 8, 2012, I blogged about an interesting federal case in Virginia that...more
Last week began this series of five posts to highlight five developments from this past summer in the area of social media and employment law. In Part 3 today: If an employee’s Facebook post can reasonably support an adverse...more
Have we finally reached the point where employees not only accept, but actually like when their employers monitor their computer activities? Really? Well, maybe “like” is a bit of a stretch still, but employees have...more
Wow. Front page of the New York Times Business Section. This stuff must be important.
Steven Greenhouse authored a piece in yesterday’s Times, in which he summarizes the lay of the land with social media and the...more
Well, your company is certainly not intending for it to be a sexual holiday party. But, truth be told, it wouldn’t be the first story of an off-site end-of-the-year holiday shindig (with complimentary alcohol) that got a bit...more