Last Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published an anticipated Proposed Rule on joint employer status. The Proposed Rule, which is designed to apply for all purposes under the National Labor Relations Act...more
It looks like medical marijuana products may be available in the Magnolia state later this fall. As expected, it will be highly regulated and can only be used by registered, qualified patients who have been diagnosed with a...more
9/1/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
An employee writes “whore board” on a company bulletin board — you can fire him, right? Not according to the NLRB and now the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In Constellium Rolled Products v. NLRB, the employer’s...more
An employer establishes a weekend work policy where only male employees can take both days off, and female employees can only take one weekend day off. Sounds like gender discrimination maybe? Well, in Hamilton, et al. v....more
Paid leave benefits are a hot topic these days. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued an updated report on states that have Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs and how they work....more
Now almost two and a half years into the pandemic, employers may think they have hit their stride on what to do to make sure their employees are COVID-19-free and safe. As with everything in life, you need to be up to date on...more
If a letter from the EEOC is in your virtual mailbox but you never open it, have you received it? Most of us are familiar with the requirement that a claimant who files an EEOC charge has 90 days to file a lawsuit after...more
California is complicated for employers — and a recent case, Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, is just one more example. The Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) authorized California employees to sue employers...more
6/16/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws
Let’s say you are tired of your current position and want to try something new with the same employer. You apply for a job transfer, and you are turned down. Then you find out that other people were able to make the move more...more
If you have an arbitration agreement, do you have to compel arbitration when the lawsuit is filed or can you wait awhile? This week, the Supreme Court concluded that a party litigating in federal court cannot later compel...more
The EEOC first issued enforcement guidance: Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities in May 2007. Given that the EEOC issued some new guidance regarding pandemic-related caregiver...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed new federal regulations regarding how minimum wages will be calculated for federal construction projects. DOL’s new proposal will add to the cost of performing these projects....more
For the past three years, Mississippi remained the only state in the country that did not have a bill prohibiting pay discrimination based on gender. This all changed on April 20, 2022, when Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves...more
5/16/2022
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Reeves ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Roughly a month ago, the U.S. House of Representative voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which decriminalizes marijuana under federal law. Most notably, the MORE Act would remove...more
Questions about COVID-19 vaccines are hard, particularly if you contract or want to contract with the federal government. The scenario is familiar: You run a business that has or seeks to contract with the federal...more
In the quest to hire the best employees, employers often look at an employee’s past — past jobs, credit history, and criminal history. If you are conducting background checks, you know you have to comply with the Fair Credit...more
Union efforts to organize workers are on the rise. Most notably, several high-profile employers are at the forefront of recent union campaigns, including Amazon, Starbucks and now Apple. Employees at Amazon’s Staten Island,...more
4/26/2022
/ Amazon ,
Apple ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Starbucks ,
Union Elections ,
Union Membership ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
Given the explosive growth of cannabis products and the increasing number of states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal or adult use (nearly 40 at last count), employers across the country are asking whether they can...more
4/22/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Products ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Drug Testing ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Section 301 ,
State and Local Government ,
Termination
Employers take note — there is a new NLRB general counsel in town, Jennifer Abruzzo, and she intends to make some changes. Specifically, she issued a recent memo that proposes change to long-standing law about what are called...more
Guaranteed confidentiality with regard to employee disputes may be becoming a thing of the past if the current tide of legislation continues. As we blogged about several weeks ago, Congress just banned arbitration agreements...more
4/13/2022
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Washington
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the long-titled Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. Seen as a result of the #MeToo movement, this fairly simple amendment to Title 9 of the...more
4/8/2022
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Biden Administration ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
New Legislation ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment
In our modern world of a booming CBD industry and an increasing number of states that have legalized marijuana, can you terminate an employee for a positive drug test for marijuana? What if the test shows marijuana...more
4/6/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Drug Testing ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination
Recently, the Florida House and Senate passed Florida HB 7, also known as, Florida’s “Stop WOKE” bill. The soon-to-be Florida law will expand the language of Fla. Stat. Ann. § 760.10, to include the prohibiting of certain...more
The joint employer rule has been a hot topic in the last several years, mostly in the context of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Recall the drama of the Trump administration's narrower definition of a joint employer for...more
Decisions, decisions. Can you require that your employees get a COVID-19 vaccine, and if you do, can you make the employees tell you their vaccination status? This is not an easy answer and may be more complicated given the...more