Unless you have been stranded on a deserted island over the past few years, you’ve likely heard that Starbucks has been fighting a protracted battle over unionization of its employees. In addition to dealing with the union seeking to represent its employees, Starbucks also has had to contend with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB … Continue Reading
Two major developments this week illustrate a new landscape for employers with regard to union organizing campaigns. First, the National Labor Relations Board has reported a dramatic increase recently in the number of union election petitions (i.e., requests for elections to decide whether a union may represent a group of workers). During the first half … Continue Reading
After the recent high-profile deaths of Black Americans due to police use of force, discussions of systemic racism are now front and center in all organizations. Please join Squire Patton Boggs partners Carmen Cole, Meghan Hill and Katharine Liao on Thursday, July 23 at 1 p.m. EDT for an open and candid discussion about the … Continue Reading
Rule establishes standard under which two employers will be deemed jointly and severally liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act as of March 16, 2020 In January 2016, we posted about an Administrator’s Interpretation issued by the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) then-Wage and Hour Division Administrator that provided guidance for when two or more … Continue Reading
Rule Would Return To Direct and Immediate Control Test, But Adds New Requirement That Such Control Be “Substantial” On September 14, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Notice”) proposing a new rule to be applied by the NLRB to determine whether … Continue Reading
Massachusetts Imposes One-Year Cap and Other Restrictions On Non-Compete Agreements The Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (see link, at Section 24L) (“MNAA”) effective October 1, 2018, places new restrictions on the length and applicability of non-compete agreements between employers and employees who work within the state of Massachusetts. (Note that the law defines employees to include … Continue Reading
Mergers, acquisitions, and sales can be a common event for employers. These types of deals involve many moving parts, from both legal and operational perspectives. Given how complex deals can become, it can be easy to overlook obligations to labor unions when they arise. One recent National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) decision illustrates a key … Continue Reading
During the first month and a half of 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) released a torrent of memoranda authored by its Division of Advice (“Advice”), a section of the NLRB’s Office of the General Counsel. As you may have read on our blog before, Advice memoranda are issued by the NLRB’s … Continue Reading
Protecting your enhanced severance scheme Some employers pay only the statutory minimum entitlement on a redundancy dismissal, but others recognise that redundancy is a no-fault reason for termination and try to do something to sweeten an otherwise bitter pill. Maybe this is no more than paying in lieu of notice without deduction of tax (for … Continue Reading
Germany is considered a leading industrial nation in many areas of business and technology but when it comes to law and formal requirements it is still rather traditional. For entrepreneurs doing business in Germany for the first time this may come as a surprise. German legal practice still widely depends on original handwritten signatures and … Continue Reading
Last month the Australian Fair Work Commission made its first formal bullying finding since the introduction of new anti-bullying laws at the start of 2014. The Commission found that two employees of a small real estate business subjected to repeated unreasonable behaviour by a property manager had been bullied at work within the meaning of … Continue Reading
As MPs debate the Trade Union Bill (see our initial summary https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/uk-trade-unions-get-the-bill-for-transport-strikes/), the issue for employers is whether the Bill is political or practical and whether the tightening of the rules on picketing will actually backfire, resulting in unions using more unorthodox methods to achieve their objectives. The Bill has come in for a lot … Continue Reading
The world of social media is alive with debate about the treatment of new mothers in the workplace. Prompted by the results of a recent survey by Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission which suggests that 54,000 new mothers are being forced out of their jobs each year, Stylist (a free weekly magazine for women … Continue Reading
New Acas guidance on handling discrimination allegations in the workplace has been issued this week. This is particularly interesting because of the degree of prominence which it gives to informal resolutions of discrimination complaints in place of the often process-driven guidance which Acas has issued in the past. Seeking an informal resolution of a discrimination … Continue Reading
Here is a short guide to the main provisions of the Trade Union Bill which went through its first reading in Parliament earlier this week. The Bill is either a malicious attack on the noble workers of Britain or a welcome redrawing of the boundaries around the disruption which striking can be allowed to cause, … Continue Reading
Reforms of the Spanish Companies Act (‘Ley de Sociedades de Capital’) which came into force at the end of 2014 introduced new regulations challenging the historical professional relationships of members of Boards of Directors. Now that we are in the middle of the Annual General Meeting season in Spain, perhaps it is time for a … Continue Reading
Are you struggling how to know how to calculate holiday pay at the moment? Do you add in commissions or overtime or not? If you need some reasonably definitive guidance on these issues, perhaps I could steer you firmly away from the very recent Acas publication on the point, which with the best will in … Continue Reading
In the first two parts of this series (part 1, part 2) we looked at how the Courts still regard the 2002 judgment in Hatton –v- Sutherland as the definitive statement on the law for liability for stress-induced psychiatric injury in the workplace. However, although still commanding respect in relation to breach of duty and … Continue Reading
In Part 1 of this piece https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/uk-high-court-gives-useful-recap-on-liability-for-stress-induced-psychiatric-illness-in-the-workplace-part-1/ we considered the requirement of foreseeability as a condition of establishing an employer’s liability for stress-related psychiatric harm. Here we look at the other main ingredient, a breach of duty by the employer. It is not enough that an employee’s illness is as a matter of medical fact … Continue Reading
Every so often, there comes along a case which becomes the new baseline by which decisions in a particular field are made. In relation to employer liability for psychiatric illness caused by workplace stress, that case is Hatton -v- Sutherland in 2002, still going strong after 13 years and most recently upheld by the High … Continue Reading
Last month the Squire Patton Boggs Labour & Employment team issued a survey to over 3,000 UK clients and contacts of different sizes and industry sectors in relation to the arrival of the SPL Regulations next month. By way of context, the Regulations have been widely criticised among employers and legal commentators as grossly over-engineered … Continue Reading
In France, employees have in the past accrued each year 20 hours of Individual Right to Training (“droit individuel à la formation” or “DIF”) up to a maximum of 120 hours. Law 2014-288 of 5 March 2014 has now come into force and has substantially amended the previous law, notably by replacing the DIF with … Continue Reading
One of the players at Queens Park Rangers FC, Adel Taarabt, has not been playing very regularly of late. When asked about this back in October, manager Harry Redknapp told the Press that Taarabt was “not fit to play football, unfortunately” and then referred to his not being able to protect people who are “about … Continue Reading
France has recently introduced new rules obliging smaller companies to provide increased information to their employees regarding prospective takeovers and ownership changes and also regarding opportunities for the staff to make acquisition offers themselves. The laws are a part of the Lois sur l’économie sociale et solidaire,a scheme of reforms designed to strengthen economic social … Continue Reading
