Labor & Employment Law Update

On April 13, 2017 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set aside a vote defeating a union organizing campaign and ordered a new election because the workforce could have perceived management’s statements as impermissible promises to provide benefits if they voted down the union.

During a unionizing campaign, management held a meeting in which it advised employees that another facility’s employees received a 12% pay raise the pay period after they rejected union representation. Management explained that the raises were the result of a survey of wages in that ...

While the H-1B petitions submitted for the lottery this cap season were still in transit to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), both the USCIS and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced several measures aimed at detecting H-1B visa fraud and abuses.

1. Beginning April 3, 2017, USCIS is taking a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. The focus will be on the following: (1) cases where USCIS cannot validate an employer’s basic business information through commercially available ...

An OSHA investigation concluded on April 11, 2017 found that Atlantic Drain Service Company, Inc. failed to train its employees to recognize and avoid cave-in and collapse hazards, and failed to provide basic safeguards against trench collapse.  Two Atlantic Drain Company employees died on October 21, 2016 in Boston when a trench collapsed which ruptured an adjacent fire hydrant supply line filling the 12 foot deep trench with water in a matter of seconds.

In announcing $1,475,813 in proposed penalties for 18 willful, repeat, serious and other violations, OSHA determined that both ...

On April 4, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, held that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The seventh circuit decision is significant as the first of its kind. The United States Supreme Court has never ruled whether Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the seventh circuit, as well as the other United States Circuit Courts of Appeals had previously established a long line of precedent holding that claims ...

The “Cat’s Paw Theory” in discrimination cases is based upon a fable in which a clever monkey tricks an unwitting cat to pull chestnuts from a fire, so that the monkey can make off with the chestnuts without burning himself. Courts have applied the “cat’s paw theory” to hold employers liable for discrimination where the decision maker was not biased or based the decision on discriminatory animus, but was influenced by a supervisor or co-worker who was biased or took actions based on discriminatory intent. Just as the unsuspecting cat is left nursing his burnt paws in the ...

Small employers struggling to assist their employees with the cost of health coverage, but daunted by the high cost of a group health plan, now have another option.

The 21st Century Cures Act, passed at the end of 2016, created a new type of reimbursement plan called a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA). QSEHRAs allow eligible small employers to reimburse employees for premiums for individual health insurance policies and other eligible medical expenses. This is a change, as since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers of all ...

Exactly a year ago today in what now appears to be a temporary reprieve, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.  An “equally divided court” affirmed the judgment of the 9^th Circuit that “fair share” or “agency” fee provisions in public sector contracts were valid.  Up to that time, observers had anticipated that the Supreme Court would use Friedrichs to overturn its 1977 opinion in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which held agency fees were deemed proper if exacted for “collective ...

On March 22, 2017, the U.S. Senate passed a measure to revoke OSHA’s modification to the six-month statute of limitations for recordkeeping violations. Under the Obama Administration, OSHA issued a new rule to extend the statute of limitations for recordkeeping violations from six months to five years. The changed recordkeeping regulation went into effect in January 2017, but a bill is now on its way to President Trump who is expected to sign the bill and revoke the new regulation.

OSHA issued the new recordkeeping rule on December 16, 2016 in response to an adverse decision by the ...

Although bathroom use seems to be at the forefront with the media in regards to transgender issues; there are several other issues to consider, and the final rule on health plan nondiscrimination is no exception. Transgender related health services tend to deal with gender dysphoria, a medical condition where an individual’s gender identity is different from the sex assigned to that individual at birth.

The final regulations implementing Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1557 is applicable to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Within the final rule, the following ...

Nondiscrimination and privacy laws make recordkeeping a daunting task. Here are some compliance tips for today’s highly legislated and regulated business world:

Know the File Types

Not all files are the same.

Personnel Files

A personnel file contains documents used to determine qualifications for employment (e.g., promotion, transfer, compensation), discharge, and other discipline. Therefore, do not include records indicating protected characteristics – race, religion, marital/dependent status, date of birth (age) and the like – because this information ...