Those of you who have been working in HR for any length of time unfortunately can provide your own accounts as to why the above title is not true regarding sexual harassment....more
After having two initiatives from the Obama Administration hanging over employers’ heads for the past two years, both the white-collar overtime exemption minimum salary requirement increase and the EEO-1 Report demographic...more
For years, clients have asked us about the Tennessee Wage Payment Act and whether they could pay employees monthly “if they agreed to it” etc., because this Tennessee law expressly required bi-monthly pay – and imposed a fine...more
Governor Haslam has signed a new law affecting health care providers which goes into effect on July 1, 2017.
It provides that “any healthcare employer which employs any person required to be licensed, permitted, certified...more
Tennessee has enacted a new law allowing (but not requiring) private employers to give hiring preference to:
..honorably discharged veterans
..spouses of a veteran with a service-connected disability
..unremarried...more
If your initial response to this question is, "What anti-harassment training? Are we still supposed to be doing that? Isn't that kind of 'old school'?", your first step needs to be planning anti-harassment training in 2017....more
3/31/2017
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Managers ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Supervisors
Realizing we ALL could use some "time off" FROM this year's presidential election, we want to provide you with a quick (party-neutral!) refresher on your employees' voting leave rights in light of the upcoming national...more
The DOL issued the Final Rule this week regarding President Obama's Executive Order 13706, which requires some federal contractors to provide up to 7 days of paid sick leave to all of their employees starting January 1, 2017....more
If you are an employer (aside from state and local governments, schools, Indian tribes and tax-exempt private membership clubs) which has at least 100 employees or which has at least 50 employees and a purchase order,...more
In order to maintain certification as a Tennessee Drug-Free Workplace for purposes of the workers' compensation coverage premium reduction, employers were supposed to have been conducting annual drug-free workplace training...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recently issued a new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Guidance document which provides 20 examples of how the Agency expects employers to reconcile their regular...more
On Friday, the Tennessee Supreme Court held in Yardley v. Hospital Housekeeping Systems that applicants are not eligible as a matter of law to assert "failure to hire" claims based on even the admitted fact that the reason...more
8/25/2015
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Former Employer ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Leave ,
Popular ,
Pre-Employment Health Screenings ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
TN Supreme Court
In our June 26 alert regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, we said we would continue to keep you posted regarding new developments in this area of the law.
Some of you may...more
7/20/2015
/ Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Promotions ,
Obergefell v. Hodges ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Class ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
The U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule this morning that would expand federal overtime pay regulations to cover nearly 5 million additional employees by raising the minimum salary threshold required to qualify...more
A recent front-page article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press has elicited several questions from employers relating to a relatively new Tennessee law which allows those with prior felony convictions to receive a...more
In a closely-watched case arising from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held yesterday that an applicant or employee need not prove that an employer had...more
6/2/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Discrimination ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS
The DOL has issued new FMLA leave certification forms.
The only changes are a new May 31, 2018 expiration date, a few more instructions from the DOL regulations and a reference to the GINA safe harbor exception....more
We have previously updated you on Tennessee's new "non-retaliation for the lawful possession of a firearm" law which will go into effect on July 1, 2015.
However, now that the State Legislature has wrapped up its 2015...more
Last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court narrowed the definition of retaliation under state law. Less than one month later, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (which has jurisdiction over Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio and...more
On Friday, March 27, 2015, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld a Court of Appeals decision that in order to be a "whistleblower," an employee must "blow the whistle" to someone aside from the perpetrator of the alleged illegal...more
This is one of our "ones to watch for 2015" – Young v. UPS.
The legal question certified by the Supreme Court in 2014 was: Whether, and in what circumstances, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires an employer that...more
3/26/2015
/ Disability ,
Discrimination ,
Duty to Accommodate ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Disability Leave Law ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
UPS ,
Young v United Parcel Service
In another effort to remedy the chaos caused by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of the DOMA in June of 2013, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its final rule defining who is a “spouse” for purposes of the federal...more
While you are making your other holiday lists (and checking them twice!) this season, one you may want to think about is an "HR holiday list" – a checklist of Human Resource-related items to consider for 2015.
These...more
The recent pregnancy accommodation Guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") makes it clear that discrimination against a female employee who is lactating or breastfeeding is illegal, in violation of...more
Many of you may have heard about the new pregnancy Guidance which was issued by the EEOC this week, as the EEOC distributed it to the mainstream media....more