On Sept. 8, 2020, a New York federal judge struck down substantial portions of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL’s) joint employer final rule, which went into effect March 1, 2020. As reported in a prior GT L&E blog, the DOL’s final rule announced a four-factor balancing test for determining joint-employer status when one employer … Continue Reading
As the new school year approaches, some California employers will have to deal with the continued closure of schools, which impacts many working parents, and consequently their employers. Already, the Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento Unified School Districts have announced they will not re-open in the fall. (Read the California Department of Public Health Reopening Framework). … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig Shareholder John Richards and Associate Nicholas Corsano penned a guest article for Corporate Counsel following the recent Supreme Court ruling extending workplace protections to LGBT+ people. In their article titled, “Practical Implications for Employers on Recent SCOTUS Ruling Giving Title VII Protection for LGBT+ Employees,” Richards and Corsano offer advice for LGBT+ inclusion … Continue Reading
What do a gay child-welfare advocate from Georgia, a transgender funeral home employee from Michigan, and a gay skydiving instructor from New York have in common? According to the Supreme Court of the United States, they were all discriminated against in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) when their … Continue Reading
In April, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission released a Joint Statement, warning they are “on alert” and will scrutinize employers – especially employers of front-line and essential workers such as doctors, nurses, grocery store employees, pharmacists, and warehouse workers – who engage in … Continue Reading
Work stoppages and disruption of operations are consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This GT Alert provides an overview of federal law regarding employee protections associated with work stoppages that protest safety in the workplace. Read the full GT Alert here: “Handling Employee Concerns and Protests During the Pandemic: Federal Law on Interference … Continue Reading
On Dec. 6, 2019, the Second Circuit issued a decision in Yu v. Hasaki Restaurant, Inc. that will likely impact settlement of wage and hour actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In a split decision, the court reversed a district court ruling and held that judicial approval is not required when settling an FLSA claim … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) final rule raising the annual minimum salary requirements for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees is effective Jan. 1, 2020. Employers who have not yet begun or completed their audit and review of their employee classifications should immediately start the process … Continue Reading
Our January 2019 GT Benefits and Compensation Alert addressed the unprecedented level of potential liability for compliance failures in 401(k) and other retirement plans and the importance of performing a plan compliance review and correcting plan document or operational failures before an IRS auditor knocks on the door. Doing nothing and playing the audit lottery … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on March 7, 2019, issued a new proposed rule raising the annual minimum salary requirements for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees. Under the new rule, the salary level for these “white collar” exemptions will increase from $23,660 per year ($455 per week) … Continue Reading
House Democrats have set their sights on workplace violence in health care and social service industries. According to congressional findings, the health care and social service industries suffer the highest rates of injuries caused by workplace violence. Health care and social service workers made up 69 percent of all workplace violence injuries in 2017 and … Continue Reading
There are myriad special rules for employers operating in California, and even more were signed into law last term. 2018 was Jerry Brown’s last year of his second “two-term” round as governor. Both legislatively and judicially, 2018 was a busy year, with the legislature sending more than 1,000 bills to the governor. This GT Alert … Continue Reading
How confident are you that your company’s retirement plans are being run in accordance with all legal requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)? Are you comfortable with the integrity of the annual representations made to your plan auditor that key benefit-plan controls are in place to … Continue Reading
Congress passed the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (the Act) in 2018 to prevent “patient brokering” in treatment for substance abuse disorders. The Act imposes criminal penalties against anyone who knowingly and willfully “solicits or receives any remuneration . . . in return for referring a patient or patronage to a recovery home, clinical treatment … Continue Reading
The past year saw many significant developments in the area of labor and employment law at all levels of government. Simply by way of example, new legislation imposed additional obligations on employers that operate in New Jersey and New York; federal Courts of Appeals “clarified” standards applicable to workplace discrimination claims; and under the Trump … Continue Reading
A provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Tax Act will increase the “after-tax cost” for companies to settle “sexual harassment” or “sexual abuse” claims if they wish to maintain a “nondisclosure agreement” of the details. The law will disallow a business deduction for the amounts paid to settle such claims (including attorneys’ fees) if … Continue Reading
On Jan. 9, 2017, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed Executive Order 162, which requires state contracts and procurements entered into or issued as of June 1, 2017, to include new reporting obligations for contractors, subcontractors, and bidders. Employers seeking to contract with the State will be required to disclose, on at least a … Continue Reading
On Nov. 8, 2016, Massachusetts voters passed Question 4, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana (Recreational Use Law). The Recreational Use Law follows passage of a 2012 Massachusetts ballot question which legalized the medicinal use of marijuana. Please see our previous May 15, 2013 GT Alert, What Does the Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Act Mean … Continue Reading
On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law. The DTSA is immediately effective, and applies to misappropriation that occurs after its enactment. The DTSA is the most significant expansion of intellectual property law since the Lanham Act was passed in the 1940s. The DTSA largely tracks the Uniform … Continue Reading
Jim Boudreau, shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, was recently quoted in two articles in Bloomberg BNA’s Labor and Employment Blog series discussing issues relating to Article III in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class and collective actions. Jim also discussed the federal courts’ reaction to Campbell-Ewald and the potential for due process issues that may arise … Continue Reading
Hey employer, remember that workplace injury that you reported to OSHA a few months ago? You remember, right? The one where after you gave OSHA information about the workplace injury, like the root cause of the incident, and a few days later OSHA informed you that it considered the matter “closed.” Well guess what? OSHA … Continue Reading
Some important Supreme Court cases are hard to accurately capture in a sound bite, and this is one of them. In a narrow holding, the Supreme Court issued a 6-2 decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. ___ (2016), addressing class claims for overtime compensation certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 … Continue Reading
Recent Surge of FCRA Employment Lawsuits The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to take important compliance steps before obtaining and using consumer reports to make employment-related decisions such as hiring, promotion, and termination. Consumer reports include, but are not limited to, criminal records, motor vehicle reports, credit checks, reference checks, education verification, employment … Continue Reading
On Monday, Sept. 7, 2015, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) that requires federal contractors to grant at least seven days of annual paid sick leave to their employees. The Order gives an estimated 300,000 federal contractors new access to paid sick leave. Under the Order, employees of federal contractors will earn … Continue Reading
