Last month, a Colorado business owner was sentenced to 10 months in prison following the death of one of his workers in a trenching accident. The deceased employee had not been trained in appropriate trenching techniques, and...more
A week ago, we published an alert explaining the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s issuance of a press release announcing that the state has decided to issue a general infectious disease standard...more
One of our clients recently received a charge of discrimination filed by a former employee with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The employee, who the employer considered to be African-American, became involved in...more
Under Title VII, employers are liable to an employee for incidents of co-worker harassment when they knew or should have known that the conduct was occurring, yet failed to take reasonable measures to end it. Last week, the...more
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires covered employers to provide employees with 60 days’ advance notice of a facility closing or mass layoff. However, WARN only applies to companies with at...more
The seemingly never-ending battle over interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s tip credit provision took another turn Monday. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued proposed rules that would set...more
6/25/2021
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Proposed Rules ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects the rights of employees to engage in “concerted activity,” regardless of whether they are members of a union. Concerted activity means two or more employees working...more
6/25/2021
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Section 7 ,
Unions ,
Wrongful Termination
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to consider reassignment to an existing vacant position as a last ditch form of reasonable accommodation for an employee unable to return to their previous...more
A new wave of lawsuits is attempting to impose legal liability on companies whose alleged negligence resulted in an employee becoming infected with the COVID-19 virus and then passing the illness to a household member who...more
In its Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment violates Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition. In that case, the court said that plaintiffs can demonstrate same-sex harassment...more
5/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Harassment ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Remand ,
Same-Sex Harassment ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers found liable for failure to pay overtime or minimum wages can be assessed liquidated damages in an amount equal to the unpaid wages. Prior to the Trump administration, the U.S....more
Many employers that attempt to manage workers’ compensation claims and expenses offer temporary light duty work to employees whose injuries prevent them from performing their regular job functions. The Department of Labor has...more
4/12/2021
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Jury Trial ,
Light-Duty Positions ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
Employers concerned about losing valuable employees may take the initiative to provide salary increases intended to deter them from seeking alternative employment. A new decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
The above question may be the most frequent one we have encountered from employers in the past several weeks. As more COVID-19 vaccines become available, employers are increasingly curious about the number of their employees...more
Under Title VII, an employer may be liable for sexual harassment by one co-worker of another if it knew or should have known of the conduct and took no action. According to a recent decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of...more
Some employers are considering mandating COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment. While such policies are generally legal (with some religious and disability accommodations included), they could result in claims...more
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act allows plaintiffs to pursue equal pay claims based on prior actions that continue to have a negative effect on their salaries. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant...more
2/8/2021
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Lilly Ledbetter ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour
On December 16, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced changes to its special emphasis inspection program that directs enforcement resources towards employers with the highest rates of workplace...more
The statute of limitations for bringing claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act is two years from the last alleged illegal act. However, this period is increased to three years in the event of a willful FMLA violation...more
The availability of effective vaccinations for the COVID-19 virus has many employers contemplating their approach toward inoculating employees. Some employers are considering mandatory vaccination policies, while others are...more
With winter quickly approaching, employers face the usual spate of employees with seasonal flu and common colds. This year, however, cold and flu season coincides with spiking COVID-19 cases nationwide....more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with protected disabilities. Another part of the ADA requires employers to refrain from discriminating against disabled...more
11/6/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s multiemployer worksite doctrine, a company can be cited for safety violations that it did not create and for hazards to which its own employees were never exposed. The...more
10/30/2020
/ Appeals ,
Citations ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Contractors ,
Multi-Employer Worksites ,
OSHA ,
Safety Violations ,
Subcontractors ,
Workplace Hazards
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if an employee with a disability requests accommodation, the employer must work with that person to determine if there are reasonable measures that can be taken that allow the...more
Retaliation claims now constitute the most frequently cited basis for charges filed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lawsuits based on retaliation can be especially dangerous for employers because they do...more