The same week that the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules on analyzing and determining who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) took effect, both houses of Congress introduced legislation to shorten the workweek. On Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee…
Suppose one of your employees, a widget maker, takes leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. As a widget maker, the employee has a monthly quota of 100 widgets. The FMLA does not require an employer to adjust its performance standards for when an employee is on the job.…
(At least I didn’t say, “It depends.”) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who oppose a practice that Title VII forbids, such as discrimination or fostering a hostile work environment based on race, color, national origin, sex, or religion. An internal…
Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons I read a recent NJ federal court decision where a plaintiff began working for the defendant in New Jersey but later requested and received a transfer to Pennsylvania. And that’s when things went awry. The plaintiff alleged that, at an operation leadership meeting,…
On Friday evening, a Texas federal judge blocked a proposed National Labor Relations Board rule that would have made it much easier for employees to unionize when he determined that enforcing the Board’s proposed joint employer rule “would be contrary to the law” and “arbitrary and capricious.” I’ll give you…
Spoiler alert: it often doesn’t end well for the plaintiff or their lawyer. For example, let’s discuss this Second Circuit decision in which a plaintiff had sued her employer and two of its employees, asserting claims of sexual harassment during and retaliatory discharge from her employment. For a time, it…
Let’s explore whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against accusations of racism. The inspiration for today’s post comes from a recent Georgia federal court decision. The plaintiff in this case, a white woman, claimed that the defendant had falsely accused her of calling a…
In 2022, Florida passed The Individual Freedom Act. But most people know this law as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which stands for “Stop the Wrongs to our Kids and Employees.” Whatever we call it, the Act says employers cannot subject “any individual, as a condition of employment,” to “training, instruction,…
Right or wrong, an honest belief may be all it takes to proffer a nondiscriminatory reason for an adverse employment action. Do you remember that employer that terminated 65 employees seeking FMLA simultaneously with the same doctor’s notes? The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the company suspected shenanigans,…
The U.S. Department of Labor rules on analyzing and determining who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) take effect on March 11, 2024. Has your business procrastinated in preparing for them? If so, do not worry; I’ve got your back. Join me on…