Labor & Employment Law Update

On March 9, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association that should put all employers on notice.  In this decision, the Court held that federal agencies, specifically the Department of Labor (DOL), do not need to go through the same rulemaking procedure of providing notice to the public and soliciting input before issuing their own interpretive guidance, even if it contradicts the agency’s prior guidance.

In Perez, the DOL issued opinion letters that stated mortgage loan officers were not eligible for overtime under the ...

Beginning January 1, 2015, California employers (with 50 or more employees) must provide anti-bullying training to supervisors within 6 months of assuming a supervisory role, and during biannual anti-sexual harassment training.  California broadly defines workplace bullying as: “Conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests.”  This may include:

• Repeated infliction of verbal abuse (e. g., derogatory remarks, insults, and ...

Many federal contractors had their 2014 annual affirmative action plans in place prior to the March 24, 2014 effective date for contractors to begin analyzing and maintaining a hiring benchmark for protected veterans, as well as a utilization goal for disabled individuals.  However, the time is nearing to update those plans and be compliant with the new regulations.  What does this mean for you?

Veterans

If you haven’t already started, you should begin asking your applicants to voluntarily self-identify whether they are a protected veteran or not (you do not ask them to ...

Treat each other with dignity and respect.  Do not harass one another.  They seem innocuous enough.  However, the NLRB may deem these common rules unlawful, if they are implemented or more strictly enforced following protected activity, such as a strike or an election, or in the context of unfair labor practice charges filed against an employer.  In Care One at Madison Avenue, 361 NLRB No. 159 (Dec. 16, 2014), the board held that an employer violated the law by posting a memorandum shortly after a union election, urging employees to treat each other with “dignity and respect” ...

On January 23, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its 2014 Union Membership Annual Report.  Most notably was a decrease in union membership overall by .2%.  The private sector union rates fell from 7.5% to 7.4% between 2013 and 2014 while the public sector rose from 38.7% to 39.2%.

The DOL report indicated that in 2014, 7.2 million employees in the public sector were members of a union compared to 7.4 million workers in the private sector.  However, public sector workers have a much higher percentage of union membership – 35.7% for the public sector vs. 6.6% for the private ...

Last week the Indiana Court of Appeals reaffirmed its earlier decision holding an employer liable for its employee’s breach of its privacy policy. After the employee’s husband divulged he had fathered a child with another woman and contracted herpes, the employee searched her employer’s database and accessed the other woman’s prescription records. Of course the employer had a strict confidentiality policy in place. In fact the employee admitted she knew accessing patient information for personal reasons violated company policy. Why then is the company on the hook for ...

It’s January and you know what that means….it’s time to take down your Christmas lights and get your OSHA Form 300A ready for the February 1, 2015 deadline. Oh, the fun never ends! Every year we receive numerous inquiries regarding requirements under the OSHA Form 300A, and this year is no exception – except it is an exception.  As of January 1, 2015, some of the industries that were exempt from this requirement have changed.

Prior to the change, the list of exempted industries was based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.  As of January 1, 2015, the list ...

California: Effective January 1, 2015, the required paid for rest periods are considered “hours worked” by the employee, and, consequently, are not subject to wage deductions by the employer.  (California also has special requirements for making any deductions from their paychecks that you should be aware of before making any).

Colorado: Minimum wage rose to $8.23 per hour on January 1 

Connecticut: As of the first of the year, CT’s minimum wage went to $9.15 per hour.  Are you aware there is a paid sick leave law in CT?  If not, be sure to contact your employment counsel or the ...

Effective January 1, 2015, employers that have fewer than 15 employees and either maintain a business facility within Chicago’s city limits or are subject to any of the license requirements of Title 4 of the Chicago Municipal Code (or both), are prohibited from pre-screening applicants for employment based on criminal history.  Essentially, Chicago has taken the Illinois Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act (otherwise known as the Illinois Ban-the-Box law), and applied it to the employers doing business in Chicago who are too small to be covered by the statewide ...

Terminating an employee for willful misconduct while on light duty related to a compensable workers’ compensation claim, has long resulted in the employee’s loss of total temporary disability benefits in most jurisdictions.  However, an Illinois Supreme Court recently decided that termination of an employee based on questionable conduct (engaged in by other employees without discipline), does not provide a basis for termination of total temporary disability benefits.

Rather than focus on an evaluation of the issue of misconduct, the Court applied a test as to ...