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The Employer Handbook BlogThe Moment FMLA Protection Kicks In Might Be Earlier Than You Think
It didn’t take a formal leave request. It didn’t take a doctor’s note. One email asking for FMLA forms was enough to trigger retaliation protection.
The EEOC Just Told Employers Which Cases It’s Coming After. DEI Programs Made the List. What Else Did Too?
The EEOC approved a new National Enforcement Plan last week, and for the first time in recent memory ever, the agency has put DEI programs, religious accommodations, and national origin bias against American workers on the same priority list.
Rejected for a Positive Cannabis Test in New Jersey? Now Applicants Can Sue.
A federal appeals court ruled in 2024 that New Jersey job applicants had no legal recourse when employers rejected them over a positive recreational cannabis test. The New Jersey Appellate Division just disagreed.
Does Your Quarterly Bonus Program Create an Overtime Recomputation Obligation?
If your quarterly bonus is calculated as a proportional share of each employee’s total earnings — straight time plus overtime — the DOL says you do not owe any additional overtime on top of it. The overtime premium is already in the math.
Do You Owe Employees More Paid Time If Leaving the Building Takes Half Their Lunch Break?
An employee at a large secured facility argued that a 30-minute meal break was effectively coercive because the walk to the parking lot consumed most of it. The DOL disagreed — and the reasoning applies to any employer whose physical layout makes leaving the premises during a break impractical.
Can a Salaried Exempt Employee Work Hourly Shifts Without Triggering Overtime on the Whole Salary?
Some salaried employees want to pick up extra hourly shifts — in a warehouse, on a retail floor, at a patient bedside. The DOL just confirmed that arrangement can work under the FLSA, with conditions worth understanding before you build it into your scheduling.
“De Minimis” Is Not a Magic Eraser for Seven Daily Minutes of Off-the-Clock Work
Seven minutes doesn’t sound like much. Multiply it by 18,000 employees, every workday, and it’s a wage and hour audit waiting to happen.
How an Employer Survived a Discrimination Claim After Violating Its Own Hiring Policies
The city’s civil-service commission told it to follow its own hiring policies. It didn’t. It still won.
Illegal Deductions, No Records, No Tip Credit: A Restaurant’s FLSA Trifecta
A restaurant charged its servers a dollar a shift for silverware and pens. That dollar voided the tip credit for every hour every server ever worked, and the liquidated damages doubled the bill.
The Comparator Problem: What This Teacher’s Case Gets Wrong About Religious Discrimination
A teacher gets twice the students, a warning for observing a religious holiday, and a misconduct investigation after venting on a union Facebook page. She loses every claim.