Legal

Whenever there is a change in federal administrations, employers must be aware of how various employment laws, rules and regulations will change. One hot topic in employment law, which has seen significant change in recent years, is religious discrimination and accommodation of religious beliefs in the workplace. This issue is pertinent, not only because of…

Over the past couple of months, we have been asked by our clients if there been any court rulings on whether companies can limit employees from wearing Black Lives Matter and other social justice attire to work. The answer is Yes. During this pandemic and the political and social unrest underlying the Black Lives Matter…

It is early in 2021 and already the NLRB has before it ALJ determinations that employee handbook policies conflict with the NLRA. When analyzing employee handbook policies, the Board generally applies the Boeing test, whereby a handbook policy’s potential interference with employee rights under the NLRA is balanced against an employer’s legitimate justifications for the policy, when…

A manager at a Frederick, Maryland, IHOP restaurant subjected women, including teen workers, to sexual harassment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in a lawsuit. EEOC said the manager subjected female employees to unwanted advances and touching, sexual comments and intrusive questions about their…

The U.S. Department of Labor plans to rescind a Trump-era regulation on joint employment and an impending regulation on independent contractor use, it said in a March 11 announcement. The joint employment rule took effect in March 2020 and limited employers’ liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A federal district court, however, vacated large portions of the…

Employers paid more than $439 million to resolve U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discrimination allegations. That number includes both private sector and state and local government workplaces during the agency’s 2020 fiscal year, according to a Feb. 26 statement. Retaliation claims constituted more than half of all charges filed with the agency last year, while disability-related claims and…

A recent Third Circuit Court of Appeal decision provides great guidance on what a good call-in policy can look like. In this case the employer, Penn State Health, utilized a call-in policy that required employees to make twocalls when they wanted to request FMLA leave: First, an employee had to call to a designated “call-off” line,…

As decisions are being made at the federal level, HR practitioners continue to seek guidance on FMLA certification procedures. Certifications for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave continue to challenge employers in all industries, especially as the coronavirus pandemic continues, according to the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC). The FMLA provides eligible employees up…

A doctor’s note about a worker’s physical limitations couldn’t prove the worker had a disability because the doctor had not been properly identified as an expert witness, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (Tesone v. Empire Marketing Strategies, No. 20-1093 (10th Cir., Feb. 5, 2021)). Empire, a marketing company, assigned a worker to…

Manufacturing employers probably will continue to see an increase in COVID-19-related litigation affecting the industry. Keeping up with recent trends in COVID-19-related litigation can help manufacturers ensure compliance with the common bases of alleged violations. Nationwide, manufacturers have seen one to seven new COVID-19-related employment complaint filings a week since the beginning of April 2020.…

EEOC Issues New Guidance on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation of Religious Beliefs

Federal District Court Found That Employer Did Not Violate Title VII in Prohibiting Black Lives Matter Attire

It’s Time Again for Employers to Ensure Handbook Compliance

EEOC: IHOP Manager Conditioned Leave, Scheduling on Accepting Sexual Advances

DOL Moves to Rescind Joint Employment, Independent Contractor Regulations

Employers Paid $439M to Resolve EEOC Discrimination Claims in 2020

Check Your Call-In Policies

5 FMLA Certification Questions on Coronavirus Answered

Doctor’s Note Failed to Prove Worker’s Disability, Court Finds

COVID-19-Related Employment Litigation Affecting Manufacturing Industry