On February 25, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a Final Rule revising the definition of spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so that eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages may take FMLA leave to care for their spouse or family member. Effective March 27, 2015, the term … Continue Reading
Maybe we should start calling it ‘chic’ leave, since it’s all the rage right now. Tacoma and Philadelphia are the latest municipalities to require private employers to provide employees with sick leave. They join three states (California, Connecticut and Massachusetts) and fifteen other municipalities (D.C.; Oakland and San Francisco, CA; East Orange, Irvington, Jersey City, … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, Democrats in the Arizona legislature introduced three measures that would significantly change the legal landscape for Arizona employers. While none of the bills are likely to be passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature or be signed by newly-elected Republican Governor Doug Ducey, the proposed laws nonetheless have gotten Arizona employers’ attention. Most recently, … Continue Reading
Two brief items to pass along as we head into the weekend: In his State of the Union address earlier this week, President Obama urged passage of the Healthy Families Act, a measure that would require private sector US employers to allow employees to accrue up to seven paid sick days per year (see our … Continue Reading
Although a few states – most notably California – as well as a handful of cities have passed legislation requiring that employers provide paid sick leave benefits to employees, federal law presently does not mandate that employers offer this benefit. (The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires that certain employers provide time off … Continue Reading
The Employment Appeal Tribunal, as everyone now knows, has decided that certain types of overtime earnings should be included in the calculation of holiday pay. However, the blanket press coverage of that decision has to some extent obscured the progress of another holiday pay case, Lock –v- British Gas, which is dealing with the same … Continue Reading
The last few weeks have seen a number of press articles on women’s pay and their under-representation at senior management levels. This was prompted by a study carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which suggests that a key factor may be increasing childcare costs. This reinforces a culture of women, rather than … Continue Reading
Taking time off falsely, whether as sick leave, compassionate leave or otherwise, is clearly misconduct, which would entitle an employer to take disciplinary action, up to dismissal, depending on the severity of the circumstances. However, there are often difficulties establishing when it is “reasonable” for an employer to disbelieve the reason given for the absence. … Continue Reading
Often the whole point of using agency workers is the flexibility which they give to the end-user to hire for short periods, for specific tasks, for particular expertise or simply to mislead HQ about FTE headcounts. They are “employees without tears”, to some extent at least. That principle began to come unstuck through the Agency … Continue Reading
In 2012, the Coalition Government took more baby steps to improve the family rights regime in the UK. It announced that from 2015, the additional paternity leave introduced in 2010 will be abolished and in its place a new flexible parental leave provision will afford mothers the ability to share their leave with the father/their … Continue Reading
It was announced last week that the Armed Forces will be experiencing cuts, with a drive by the Government to reduce the current number of soldiers as part of a cost saving exercise. How short-lived its gratitude for stepping into the Olympics! To keep the Forces well stocked and ensure the Army has sufficient resources, … Continue Reading
