In March and April 2020, Gov. Ralph Northam signed multiple bills into law meant to combat worker misclassification. The new legislation creates a private cause of action for misclassified workers, prohibits retaliation...more
Although Virginia’s recent amendments to its Human Rights Act have garnered the most media attention, Gov. Ralph Northam has also signed or proposed amending several other laws that will significantly impact Virginia...more
On April 10, 2020, the District of Columbia passed Act 23-286, the COVID-19 Response Supplemental Emergency Amendment Act of 2020.
Among many other things, the new law amends the D.C. Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act...more
On April 11, 2020, Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Values Act (VVA), making Virginia the first state in the South to enact comprehensive protections for the LGBTQ community against discrimination in employment,...more
The CARES Act permits employers to defer the deposit and payment of the employer’s portion of social security taxes that otherwise would be due between March 27, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020. The law permits employers instead to...more
On March 26, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a series of opinion letters clarifying how to calculate properly an employee’s “regular rate” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for overtime payment...more
On March 17, 2020, the District of Columbia amended the D.C. Family and Medical Leave Act to create a new category of protected leave, called “Declaration of Emergency Leave.” This amendment affects every employer with at...more
The long-anticipated vote on tipped wages culminated on June 19 in a victory for those in favor of the District of Columbia ballot measure “Initiative 77.” By a margin of 55 to 45, D.C. voters opted to eliminate the tip...more
In Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Inc., 366 NLRB No. 66 (April 20, 2018), the Board ruled that the hospital employer’s prohibition of non-approved pins and badges was unlawfully overbroad. As a general rule, employees...more
In an important case clarifying the scope of the anti-retaliation provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the U.S. Supreme Court held on Feb. 21, 2018, that the law unambiguously requires...more
2/28/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
In an important case clarifying the scope of the anti-retaliation provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the U.S. Supreme Court held on Feb. 21, 2018, that the law unambiguously requires...more
2/27/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On July 3, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting en banc, rejected the reasoning of an ALJ, the NLRB, and a panel of the Eighth Circuit regarding whether Jimmy John’s employees could hang posters at...more
The Supreme Court has settled the question surrounding the validity of acting NLRB general counsel Lafe Solomon’s official actions. Yesterday, in National Labor Relations Board v. SW General, Inc., 580 U.S. –, Case Nos....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a published opinion earlier this month emphasized that it means what it says. In 2009, the Court held in FedEx I that single-route FedEx drivers in Wilmington, Massachusetts...more
Employers in the District of Columbia may soon be required to provide 11 weeks of paid family leave for parents to care for a new or adopted child and eight weeks of paid family leave to care for an ailing parent or...more
On Nov. 22, 2016, a federal court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting nationwide enforcement of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new final rule regarding Fair Labor Standards Act overtime regulations...more
In a highly anticipated announcement, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its Final Rule on May 18, 2016, implementing President Obama’s March 13, 2014 directive to “modernize and streamline the existing overtime...more
Contending that employers may intentionally misclassify workers as independent contractors to cut costs and avoid compliance with labor laws, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil issued a new...more
As discussed in our prior article, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) promulgated a final rule on February 25, 2015 that, effective March 27, modified the federal Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) definition of “spouse”...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires most employees to receive the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The FLSA exempts several categories of employees...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits employers from, among other things, refusing to hire an applicant because of his or her religion or religious practice. As a general rule, employers must...more
6/19/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Dress Codes ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
As previously discussed in a September 5, 2014 Legal Alert, the movement to limit the extent to which employers may request and consider applicants’ and employees’ criminal histories continues to gain momentum. In the last...more
On Feb. 25, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) promulgated a final rule that, effective March 27, modified the federal Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) definition of “spouse” to extend the FMLA’s protections to...more
On March 18, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Office of the General Counsel released a 30-page memorandum providing guidance on employer rules and handbooks....more
On March 18, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Office of the General Counsel released a 30-page memorandum providing guidance on employer rules and handbooks. The memorandum further solidified the NLRB’s...more