Podcast host Michael Schmidt is joined by Dan Johns, a partner in Cozen O'Connor's Labor and Employment Department, to talk about 3 significant NLRB decisions affecting all employers in the areas of (1) employee use of...more
2/13/2020
/ Confidentiality Policies ,
Electronic Communications ,
Email ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Union Dues ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions ,
Workplace Investigations
In this first new episode of 2020 (Season 4), we look at the 15 hot topics your company should have on your list to think about....more
1/10/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Elections ,
Unions ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
In today's episode, Debbie Friedman (partner at Cozen O'Connor) joins the podcast to talk about the issues that employers should consider with their employee handbooks....more
This episode offers the top 10 new employment laws coming out of New York in the first half of 2019. It is significant for New York employers AND for those employers wondering what trends will be reaching their other...more
7/29/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Breastfeeding ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Human Rights ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New Legislation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
This episode looks at recent employment law developments that may make you go “hmmm”: a 4-day workweek, outright bans on mandatory arbitration and office gossip, hairstyle as a protected characteristic, and an update on the...more
3/1/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Dress Codes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hostile Environment ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
New Rules ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
This special Valentine’s Day episode discusses the pros and cons of employers entering into love contracts with its employees....more
2/14/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Best Management Practices ,
Co-Workers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Love Contracts ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Supervisors ,
Workplace Romances
This episode presents Part 2 of 2 on workplace issues when employees use marijuana, and also discusses two significant developments from the NLRB involving independent contractors and individual employee gripes....more
1/31/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Drug Possession ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Right to Control
This special episode discusses the new sexual harassment training and policy requirements imposed by New York State and New York City (following a brief discussion of a significant development on joint employer liability)....more
9/26/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Joint Liability ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Popular ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII
We're back! This brand new episode addresses the 10 developments you may have missed from this past summer of 2018, including employees secretly recording the workplace, new non-compete legislation, the unstoppable #MeToo...more
9/11/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Opinion Letter ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Social Media Policy ,
State Labor Laws ,
Video Recordings ,
Wage and Hour
This episode flashes back to 1980's 9 to 5 workplace, and then goes back to the future to compare today's workplace of emoji harassment, a new game-changing overtime exemption rule, the 1st ever employer antitrust complaint...more
4/17/2018
/ Attorney General ,
Burden of Proof ,
Car Dealerships ,
Competition ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Emoji ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Memorandum of Guidance ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Over-Time ,
Payroll Audit Independent Determination program (PAID) ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Construction Test ,
Voluntary Self-Audit ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Communication ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
Is the Superbowl creeping into your workplace this week? Does Washington’s new tax reform impact how you settle sexual harassment cases? Can you actually go to jail for signing a restrictive covenant? Is there a new kind of...more
1/29/2018
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Effective Date ,
Employment Policies ,
Football ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
No-Poaching ,
Obama Administration ,
Release Agreements ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Sexual Abuse ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Social Media Policy ,
Sports Gambling ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Reform ,
Title VII
Thought 2017 would end quietly? The month of December has seen several stunning decisions by the NLRB which impact Obama-era precedent, and which will impact employers and employees going forward in 2018. Joining this episode...more
12/22/2017
/ Boeing ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Obama Administration ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Unions ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
Michael Schmidt's latest episode of Employment Law Now features a Top 10 list of tips to consider in order to avoid some holiday party mistakes for your company....more
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O'Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses how to engage your employees in today’s unique workplace and navigate a multi-jurisdictional set of employment laws. This episode...more
10/23/2017
/ Code of Conduct ,
Discipline ,
Diversity ,
Employee Engagement ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Political Expression ,
Productivity ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Reputation Management ,
Social Media Policy ,
Surveys ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Workplace Communication
Michael Schmidt of Cozen O'Connor addresses recent trends and noteworthy developments on certain employment policies related to political activity, confidential customer information, FMLA retaliation, and maximum leave...more
8/21/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
But For Causation ,
Confidential Information ,
Covered Employer ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Macy's ,
Mixed Motive Cases ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Popular ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Social Media Policy ,
Standard of Proof ,
Termination ,
Unpaid Leave ,
UPS ,
Voluntary Participation
It is this time every year, as I am wrapping things up over at “social media and employment law blog” central, – and particularly in this latest political election year – that I am reminded of that election campaign more than...more
Much time will be spent this week in person and online trying to make money on the NCAA tournament. There’s the blog hook for today. Online technology, and social media in particular, have made it much easier for employees to...more
It gets boring to blog just about the NLRB. We need some judicial action to get the juices flowing a little more. We got a little something last week. Question: Is merely clicking the “like” button on Facebook tantamount to...more
The English electronic band Depeche Mode sang that more than 32 years ago. Still applies, for some.
Social media has made it easier and quicker for everyone – your employees included – to post their feelings online...more
Bloomberg just reported last week that the Apple Watch “is eroding demand for traditional timepieces.” That’s not just a bad sign for watch retailers, but for employers who continue to have to keep up with the ever-shrinking...more
8/11/2015
/ Apple ,
Apple Watch ,
Employment Policies ,
GINA ,
Google ,
Google Glass ,
Harassment ,
Healthcare ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Proprietary Information ,
Smartphones ,
Trade Secrets ,
Wearable Technology
You thought Donald Trump was all over the place before. The golf courses, beauty pageants and reality shows paled in comparison to what we have seen and heard in 2015. Jumping into the ring of this election cycle’s...more
It’s been a little while since we talked about the NLRB and its feelings on “protected concerted activities” and social media policies. After all, there are other social media and employment law issues worth considering from...more
I certainly don’t really care. My Cowboys ended their year a couple of weeks too early (yes, that was a catch). However, many people do care, for various reasons. There is, of course, the football game itself and the rooting...more
We have come to this in our workplaces, in the lyrics of Annie Lennox: “No more ‘I love you’s.” Please enjoy today’s guest post from one of your employees:
I have difficulty getting close to people. I have trouble...more
One of the issues we address in this blog is the notion that social media doesn’t necessarily create new claims, but rather serves as a quicker and easier platform to apply traditional claims that have existed forever. Take...more