The Supreme Court’s Masterpiece Cakeshop decision by Justice Kennedy follows the the unwritten Slender Reed Rule which goes like this: If SCOTUS has to decide a case with narrow facts that could lead to a precedent that’s either slender or rotund, go with the slender reed and save the big issues for another day. The slender reed Justice Kennedy ...
25 million employees have signed employment contracts containing arbitration clauses and waivers that bar the employee from filing a class action lawsuit. Many employers favor arbitration provisions because they believe arbitrations to be quicker, cheaper, and more efficient than traditional litigation. There is anecdotal evidence on ...
In October of last year, Tom Homan, the Acting Director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), promised employers that they would see a significant increase in worksite enforcement actions in the next fiscal year. So far, Mr. Homan has delivered on that promise. On Monday, ICE announced that in the first seven months of this ...
Handbooks. The mere mention of the company handbook typically sends HR professionals into a furious search for any project other than the company handbook. Sorry, I can’t work on the company handbook, I have to watch the paint dry in my office.
For this reason, beyond passing them off during perfunctory onboarding, handbooks typically get ...
The Department of Justice has taken particular interest in examining employment agreements or practices that include no-poaching agreements – that is, agreements between companies not to recruit or hire each other’s employees. The DOJ has long taken the position that such agreements or practices violate federal antitrust laws. And at the ...
Emojis have quietly crept into the workplace over the last several years , particularly as the use of text messaging for work-related communications has increased.
As more and more employees express their thoughts with symbols instead of words, what’s an employer to do?
Using emojis in work-related communications can be a creative and fun ...
Overtime pay under the FLSA frequently causes confusion among higher education institutions due to the unique application of the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions to these institutions. Thankfully, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a fact sheet last week clarifying the FLSA’s application to many common higher education ...
Wage Garnishments! How exciting! Not buying the enthusiasm? Me either. Garnishments just might be the most boring wage & hour topic ever. Nonetheless, most employers will have to deal with employee wage garnishments at one point or another. It might be for child support, alimony, taxes or an employee with bad debt. Regardless of reason, it is ...
Julie R. Pugh & Lee P. Geiger
When I received the announcement that the DOL released - not just one but THREE - long-awaited, brand spanking new Opinion Letters, I held my breath. Giddy with excitement (because I’m a huge nerd), I clicked on the one that hinted at an FMLA and FLSA intersection. The DOL was going to address two of my favorite laws in the ...
Spring has sprung at the Department of Labor with three new opinion letters after a nearly decade hiatus. The first is an opinion letter on travel time and responds to an employer asking for clarity on the compensability of travel time for hourly, non-exempt employees in two common situations.
1. Whether an employer must pay the travel time of a ...