Newly appointed Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced on June 27 that the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) would resume issuing opinion letters in response to employers and employees who submit inquiries seeking fact-specific interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). Opinion letters are official, interpretative … Continue Reading
On June 7, 2017, the US Department of Labor (DOL) withdrew its 2015 Administrator’s Interpretation on “independent contractor” status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its 2016 Administrator’s Interpretation for determining “joint employment” under the FLSA. The two guidance memos specifically were intended to increase liability for employers under the Fair Labor Standards … Continue Reading
Court joins Seventh and Ninth Circuits in holding that employer’s requiring employees to waive class and collective action procedures as a condition of employment is unenforceable, but issue will be resolved late this year by United States Supreme Court The issue of whether an employer can require, as a condition of employment, that an employee … Continue Reading
Rumbling around at the less well-publicised end of the holiday pay saga is the question of just how far back such claims can go. Changes to the Employment Rights Act 1996 limited this to two years for claims brought after 1 July 2015, but thanks to Bear Scotland Limited, the actual exposure may be very … Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs presents a webinar to discuss recent changes and trends in the employment landscape in Asia that have or will have a significant impact on the cost of doing business in the region. On 24 May 2017 at 8 a.m. GMT (9 a.m. BST (UK), 10 a.m. CEST, 4 p.m. SGT) Julia Yeo, … Continue Reading
A federal appeals court ruling in a case coming out of Maine involving overtime pay and dairy delivery drivers didn’t come down to trucks, milk, or money. Instead, it revolved around one of the biggest debates in the “grammar nerd” world – the “Oxford comma.” Do you remember the Oxford comma from your grammar school days? … Continue Reading
As we previously reported, in November 2016, a Texas District Court’s temporary restraining order halted implementation of the Obama administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) regulations that were set to expand overtime pay for many US workers starting in December 2016. The Obama administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed that order, and asked for expedited review by the … Continue Reading
During the December lame duck session, the Ohio legislature passed SB 199. Among other things, the law provides that a business entity, property owner, or public or private employer may not establish, maintain, or enforce a policy or rule that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting a person who has been issued a valid concealed … Continue Reading
For those of you traveling, it has nothing to do with time spent at the airport duty-free shop! Instead, it has everything to do with what a California employer can require of its employees during a rest break, which is nothing. Last week the California Supreme Court ruled in the case of Augustus v. ABM … Continue Reading
Belgium is the latest EU country to take a cold hard look at whether employment laws introduced in the sixties and seventies and little changed since are still meeting the needs of employees and employers in the modern world. A number of member states have found themselves forced to move away from protective and paternalistic … Continue Reading
As we reported previously, in September 2016, 21 U.S. states filed a lawsuit to enjoin the implementation of the long-anticipated Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) regulations, which were scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016. The states argued that the Department of Labor’s regulations (the “Final Rule”) would force states and businesses to … Continue Reading
As we have previously reported, the final FLSA overtime rule is set to go into effect on December 1, 2016—now just days away. The new rule raises the salary threshold for workers to qualify as exempt from overtime pay requirements from $455 to $913 per week (or from $23,660 to $47,476 per year), and increases … Continue Reading
The election results are in, and President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Secretary Hillary Clinton has the nation abuzz and undoubtedly will for the foreseeable future. However, the Presidential race was not the only notable race or measure on the ballot. Although the dust hasn’t quite settled from last night’s historic vote, there a number of … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, September 28, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act [pdf], by a vote of 246 to 177. The Act would delay implementation of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule modernizing the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white‑collar exemptions from December 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017. … Continue Reading
As most of you know, in May 2016 the Department of Labor (DOL) released its long-awaited Final Rule modernizing the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) white-collar exemptions to the overtime requirements of the FLSA. See our rundown of the changes in our earlier post here. The new rule is scheduled to take effect December 1, … Continue Reading
Illinois passes two new leave laws; bars non-compete agreements for low wage workers. First, the Child Bereavement Leave Act, which became effective July 29, 2016, requires Illinois employers with 50 or more employees to grant up to two weeks (10 days) of unpaid leave to eligible employees who have lost a child (and 6 weeks … Continue Reading
Ninth Circuit joins Seventh Circuit in holding that class and collective action waivers in arbitration agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act and therefore are unenforceable. The question is straightforward enough: does an employer violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by requiring that employees sign an agreement to arbitrate any claims concerning their wages, … Continue Reading
Way back in, ooh, last month we reported on Carreras –v- UFPS, a case on the extent to which an employer’s expectation of overtime working could be the basis of a disability discrimination claim even where it was the employee’s conduct which had generated it https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/when-overtime-goes-bad-employers-duties-to-clarify-expectations-for-disabled-staff/. As if to shed some further light on that … Continue Reading
Minneapolis is the first city in the Midwest to jump on the sick leave bandwagon. On May 27, the Minneapolis City Council passed a sick and safe time ordinance that requires employers of employees working in Minneapolis to provide sick leave to those employees. Beginning July 1, 2017, employers of 1-5 employees must provide unpaid … Continue Reading
The court is the first federal appellate court to accept the NLRB’s position on the issue The long-running teeter-totter battle between National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) and employers regarding the lawfulness of class and collective action waivers in employment arbitration agreements continues. Joining the fray this week is the U.S. Court of Appeals … Continue Reading
The wait is over. The US Department of Labor has released the long-awaited Final Rule modernizing the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) white-collar exemptions. The good news, for those who have been following the development of the Final Rule, is that there are no big surprises. What are the changes? Expected to require employers … Continue Reading
Many employers maintain policies that restrict the amount of time an employee can take off from work, or that prohibit employees who are ineligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take time off from work at all even when ill or injured. But a new resource document issued by the EEOC … Continue Reading
Readers with long memories may remember my blog from a year ago regarding potentially offensive tattoos in the workplace. https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/offensive-tattoos-in-the-uk-workplace-come-on-be-reasonable/ That blog focused on the scenario where an employee bears a tattoo which offends another employee in the workplace, but what about a tattoo that you as employer feel is plainly inappropriate for the working … Continue Reading
The Guardian Online reports the case of Paris resident M. Frederic Desnard last week. He is claiming over £280,000 in compensation for a nervous breakdown allegedly caused by his managerial job at French perfumiers Interparfum. However, no tale of excessive pressure and punishing working hours, this one. Instead, M.Desnard claims that his job was so … Continue Reading
