Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor finalized its rules on how to analyze and determine who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In a nutshell, the final rule applies six factors — none of which is dispositive — to analyze employee or independent…
Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Commission’s newest General Counsel, Karla Gilbride, told reporters that addressing discrimination in American workplaces relating to the Israel-Hamas skirmish is a top priority for 2024. On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas staged the deadliest terrorist attack against Israel since the state’s establishment in…
About a year ago, a media organization fired one of its reporters after it found his ‘inflammatory’ Instagram posts (NSFW) showing clips of his off-the-clock standup comedy routines. Last week, an arbitrator, who found some of the reporter’s jokes ‘funny,’ ordered the company to rehire him. Why? I’ll explain by…
Gosh, in all the excitement of switching and starting a new law firm, I totally forgot to post the poll results from “Is ‘Die Hard’ a Christmas movie?” 70.6% of you said yes. And the rest of you are wrong. Yippee-Ki-Yay!
I’m not the biggest fan of progressive discipline policies, which can often be too restrictive. Plus, deviations and inconsistencies in their application are ammunition for a plaintiff claiming discrimination to get to trial. But, when companies apply these policies to the letter, they create a formidable defense to these claims.…
You’re not a doctor. (Unless you’re a doctor.) So don’t act like one when deciding which of your employees may be a direct threat to others at work. (Unless you like defending Americans with Disabilities Act claims). Here’s an example. Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced (here)…
Among the top employment issues that companies will need to navigate in 2024 is enforcing laws that have more recently taken effect. Take the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, for example. The PUMP Act, which amended the Fair Labor Standards Act, took effect in December 2022. It provides additional workplace…
I am thrilled to share that I am one of the founding partners of a new, technology-driven, full-service law firm called Pierson Ferdinand, LLP. There’s an extensive article today about Pierson Ferdinand in The American Lawyer. But I want to tell you even more about the firm! Beginning this week, the…
Today is my last day at FisherBroyles. Black Hawk Down; FisherBroyles Up But the story of FisherBroyles, my home (in every sense of the word) for the last six years, began long before I arrived in March 2018. As my friends and FisherBroyles founders, Kevin Broyles and James Fisher, tell…
“You keep reading; I’ll keep writing.” Nine times out of ten, that’s how I close my replies to readers of this blog who email me. I didn’t know that when I started writing this blog in 2011, the enjoyment I get from writing about employment law and engaging with you…