A judge just dismissed a safety claim being prosecuted by North Carolina workplace safety officials after it was revealed at trial that NC OSHA inspectors had been shredding handwritten notes and other documents from their...more
2/6/2025
/ Citations ,
Dismissals ,
Document Destruction ,
Due Process ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
North Carolina ,
OSHA ,
Record Retention ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Violations ,
Workplace Safety
When Fisher Phillips attorneys recently secured a key victory over a state OSHA plan that was improperly trying to create a quota system to encourage investigators to issue citations and assess penalties, it opened the door...more
The Department of Labor has just published its increases to the maximum civil penalties that can be assessed against employers by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The increases are based on...more
In a 6-to-3 vote yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination because of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity — including being transgender — is unlawful discrimination “because of...more
6/16/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) just signed into law this weekend sweeping legislation that not only protects the rights of LGBT Virginians in employment, housing, and accommodations, but also expands the ability of...more
Tastes may differ, but there can be no dispute that the music video for “November Rain,” the ultimate power ballad by the ultimate Hair Nation band of the 1980s, Guns N’ Roses, is the best video ever created. It’s like a...more
11/4/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe Weather ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vacation Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Weather Policy
When an inspector from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows up at your workplace, know this: everything—and we mean everything—that a manager or supervisor says at any point to the inspector will...more
An accident happens at your workplace, leading to an employee injury. During the hectic response, incorrect information funnels its way up to the safety director charged with notifying OSHA of reportable injuries and...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has conducted an inspection of your plant after one of your employees amputated part of his finger trying to clean around a sprocket with the machine still running. ...more
3/27/2019
/ Citations ,
Defense Strategies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Rules of Evidence ,
Inadmissible Evidence ,
Litigation Strategies ,
OSHA ,
Settlement Conferences ,
Settlement Offer ,
Trial Practice Guidance ,
Witness Statements ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Investigations
An accident happens at your workplace, and an employee is injured. During the hectic response, incorrect information funnels its way up to the safety director or person charged with notifying OSHA of reportable injuries and...more
While it is not comparable to David Letterman’s Top 10 lists, at a recent industry gathering, OSHA announced its annual top 10 violations for fiscal year 2018 (October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018). For those who have...more
11/16/2018
/ Citations ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Workers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Contractors ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Training ,
Safety Violations ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
Two recent cases should remind employers to contest OSHA citations quickly to prevent the citations from becoming final. It’s an uphill battle if your notice of contest is submitted late.
Employers Have 15 Working Days to...more
On April 30, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Fed-OSHA) reversed course and issued a press release announcing that employers in all state-plan states must implement Fed-OSHA’s new electronic recordkeeping...more
It's tax time, and perhaps the only thing worse than completing your tax returns is finding out that you're being audited. Common responses to undergoing an audit may involve gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, and other...more
4/18/2018
/ Audits ,
Collective Actions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Good Faith ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Internal Audit Functions ,
Job Descriptions ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Payroll Records ,
Primary Duty Test ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Wage and Hour
As mass shootings have continued with regular frequency in the United States, our country remains deeply divided, not only with the cause of these tragic events, but also on how to stop them from occurring. Many have called...more
2/27/2018
/ Civil Liability ,
Concealed Weapons ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Firearms ,
General Duty Clause ,
Gun Laws ,
Liability Insurance ,
Mass Shootings ,
Negligence ,
OSHA ,
Risk Assessment ,
Workplace Violence
On February 21, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new interim enforcement procedures, provided below, regarding failure to submit electronic injury and illness records.
In 2016, OSHA adopted a...more
Until 2015, it was the practice of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to look back only three years to establish “repeat” violations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). In 2015, OSHA...more