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Recent Blog Posts

• Employers should review their parental leave policies in wake of parental leave class action settlement By Avi Allen    With multiple avenues for expanding a family and a plethora of different family models, employers would be wise to re-consider their parental leave policies to suit the needs of the modern family. In May, a large multi-national corporation settled a class action lawsuit regarding its parental leave policy for $5 million. As written, the employer’s policy gave its employees who were primary care-givers 16 weeks of paid leave, and gave its employees who were non-primary care-givers only 2 weeks... More
• NLRB invites businesses to provide feedback on when an employee’s offensive comments should lose the protection of federal labor law By Arslan Sheikh    The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) invited interested parties to submit feedback about when an employee’s offensive or inappropriate workplace comments should lose the protection of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Specifically, the NLRB is inviting employers and other parties to submit briefing about whether it should reconsider its standards for determining whether Section 7 of the NLRA protects employees who make “profane outbursts and offensive statements of a racial or sexual nature…during the course... More
• Sixth Circuit: Employer can’t enforce shorter contractual statute of limitations period to bar Title VII action By Brian Hall    A federal lawsuit alleging discrimination under Title VII must be filed within ninety days after the EEOC has completed its handling of the related discrimination charge and issued its Notice of Right To Sue. Some employers attempt to shorten the time for filing discrimination charges by getting employee or applicants to sign agreements to that effect. On Sept. 25, 2019, in Logan v. MGM Grand Detroit Casino, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that efforts to shorten... More
• DOL increases salary threshold for white collar exemptions to $35,568 By Jourdan Day    After more than 15 years, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is updating the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA entitles most employees to minimum wage and overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. However, employees who meet the salary threshold and the relevant duties test qualify for the executive, administrative, professional exemption (white collar exemption), and are not entitled to overtime pay. On Sept.24, 2019, the DOL issued... More
• NLRB sides with Kroger’s action to remove union representatives from company property By Adam Bennett    On Sept. 6, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) granted a significant win to employers, ruling that businesses can lawfully limit the rights of nonemployee union supporters to access company property that is otherwise open to the public. In a 3-1 decision, the Board ruled that Kroger did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it removed nonemployee union supporters from the parking lot of a Kroger store. The decision overruled a 2016 ruling by... More
• Misclassifying employees as “independent contractors” does not violate NLRA By Mike Underwood    The decision to classify a worker as an independent contractor, rather than as an employee, carries significant legal implications. Misclassifying employees as independent contractors can result in employer liability for unpaid payroll taxes, unpaid unemployment and workers’ compensation premiums, and responsibility for failure to provide the various rights afforded under employment laws to employees but not to independent contractors. A careful approach, including legal advice, is always wise in evaluating whether a worker can properly be classified as... More
• New York’s new discrimination law—Aberration or the start of a trend? By John Stephen    Employers with facilities in New York are probably aware of the significant piece of anti-discrimination legislation Gov. Cuomo signed recently. The new law: expands coverage to all employers regardless of size; expands protections against discrimination to certain non-employees; increases the statute of limitations for sexual harassment claims from one to three years; adds punitive damages and mandatory attorneys’ fees as potential remedies; prohibits mandatory arbitration of discrimination claims; adds to the notice requirements an employer must provide regarding its sexual harassment policy, including in... More
• Are Ohio workers’ compensation laws changing? By Rebecca Kopp Levine    As we reported in June, the Ohio legislature attempted to make substantial changes to workers’ compensation laws as part of the overall budget. However, after the House and Senate could not reach an agreement on many parts of the budget, Gov. DeWine permitted the legislature additional time to reach a compromise. The actual budget submitted to and signed by the governor contained NO changes to the workers’ compensation laws. Conspicuously absent from the budget was the House’s... More
• Myths, rumors and clarification on the status of the H-4 EAD By Rob Cohen    In February of this year, USCIS announced that the proposed rule to eliminate the ability of foreign nationals in H-4 status to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) was sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final approval. Five months later, OMB has still not released the proposed rule for publication. The delay likely reflects substantive issues and is more than mere bureaucratic delay. In the meantime, the H-4 EAD is alive and well.... More
• EEO-1 reporting: Pay data filing begins July 15, 2019 By Jourdan Day     The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the filing window for the newly required Component 2 pay data opens July 15, 2019. Private employers with at least 100 employees are required to submit pay data for calendar years 2017 and 2018 by Sept. 30, 2019. This new requirement is ordered by the court decision in the National Women’s Law Center v. Office of Management and Budget case. The EEOC has taken a number of steps to assist employers... More