In November, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule (Final Rule) that will remove certain restrictions on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in plan investments. These restrictions were...more
12/16/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers
In recent years, participants in 401(k) and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans have filed class action suits alleging that the plans contain overly expensive investment options. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court...more
1/28/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Remand ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SCOTUS
The U.S. Department of Labor recently finalized regulations that are likely to limit the use of retirement investments focused on environmental and social issues. On October 30, DOL issued a rule entitled “Financial Factors...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has extended certain deadlines applicable to employee benefit plans, including deadlines and periods under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of...more
On June 29, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) took two steps to broaden an exemption for investment advice fiduciaries. DOL released a technical amendment that reinstates its 1975 regulations on investment advice, as well as...more
Disruption in business operations by the pandemic has increased the need for employers to focus on compensation and employee benefits. Developing a comprehensive business response will involve benefits plans and more broadly...more
The U.S. Department of Labor announced earlier this year that the effective date for employee benefit plans to comply with its new final rule on disability claims procedures is April 1, 2018. The rule applies to claims for...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
Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s more nuanced position, federal courts have generally rejected attempts by plaintiffs to claim that an indefinite leave of absence is a required reasonable accommodation...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for, among other things, care of a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition (SHC). What happens to these...more