Category – Labor Relations: Employment & Labor Insider

Posts in Labor Relations.

BEFORE YOU FIRE: 20 questions every employer should ask

By Robin Shea on 11.13.15
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Discrimination, Employment at Will, Evidence, Family and Medical Leave Act, Harassment, Labor Relations, Protected Concerted Activity, Retaliation, Safety, Settlements, Unemployment, Workers' Compensation

So you think you're ready to terminate an employee. Are you really?

Magic 8-Ball.flickrCC.WaiferX — "Uh-oh."

Here are 20 questions that every employer should ask itself before going ahead with a termination. If you think I've missed anything, please feel free to add your own in the comments.

GETTING STARTED

No. 1. Is the employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement? If so, make sure that whatever you do is ...

Where's Jimmy Hoffa?

By Robin Shea on 7.31.15
Posted in Labor Relations

It's been 40 years since Jimmy Hoffa disappeared. Yesterday's Detroit Free Press had a great article about the whole mysterious story, including the mobster suspects and all the leads that turned out to be dead ends. Hey, it's labor-related!!

Quickie elections, ASAP!

By Robin Shea on 4.15.15
Posted in Labor Relations

The National Labor Relations Board's so-called "quickie election" rule, providing for expedited union votes, took effect yesterday. I can't improve on what David Phippen of our Metro-Washington D.C. office posted about it here in December after the rule was first issued, so here ya go!

Employers may not like NLRB General Counsel report on handbook rules

By Robin Shea on 3.27.15
Posted in Labor Relations, Protected Concerted Activity

Thanks very much to David Phippen from our Metro D.C. Office for letting me get some depositions taken this week and allowing me to republish his analysis here.

As we have previously reported, the National Labor Relations Board in recent years has put employee handbooks and policy manuals under a magnifying glass, searching for any provision that might, in its view, violate the ...

A conversation about race

By Robin Shea on 3.20.15
Posted in Discrimination, Labor Relations, Retaliation, Social media

March 1

Dear Diary:

I start my new job as a Starbucks barista tomorrow. I am super-excited!!!!! I just hope I can handle the fast pace!

***

March 2

Dear Diary:

Wow! This job is hard! There is a lot to learn! But my supervisor, Xander, is super-nice (and cute, too!). When I accidentally gave a customer an Espresso Macchiato instead of a Cinnamon Dolce Latte, he said I shouldn't worry, because I ...

EMPLOYMENT LAW BLOG CARNIVAL: April Fools' Edition

By Robin Shea on 3.18.15
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Discrimination, eLaw, Employment Law Blog Carnival, ERISA, Family and Medical Leave Act, Gender Identity Discrimination, Labor Relations, Lactation, Protected Concerted Activity, Retaliation, Safety, Same-sex marriage, Social media, Wage-Hour

(St. Patrick's Day is sooooo nine hours ago!)

Ever looking to the future, we celebrate the coming April Fools' Day with this month's greatest employment law blog posts. Some of my summaries are accurate, and others are "fools' editions" - you'll have to read the actual posts to know which is which. There are so many excellent posts that I'm listing them in alphabetical order by ...

15 for '15: Employment and labor resolutions for the new year

By David Phippen of our Metro D.C. Office.

While the year is still young, here are 15 New Year's resolutions that employers may want to make:

1. Make sure your "independent contractors" are really independent contractors. "Independent contractors" are under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, state and local agencies, plaintiffs' lawyers, and union organizers. A misclassification can cost you back taxes, back pay (including overtime), and back benefits, as well as penalties and interest.

2. Review your email policies. The NLRB recently found that employees generally have a right to use employer email systems during non-working time in support of union organizing and concerted activity. The Board's decision means that many employer email use policies, as currently drafted, would probably be found to violate the National Labor Relations Act if an unfair labor practice charge were filed or a union tried to organize employees and argued that the employer's email policy interfered with the organizing efforts. In light of the new "quickie election" rule that the NLRB issued last month, both union and non-union employers would be well advised to review their email policies and revise as needed. (The "quickie election" rule is scheduled to take effect on April 14, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other employer groups, including the Society for Human Resources Management, filed suit on Monday seeking to block the rule.)

It's not too late to register for our webinar on the NLRB's new rules on "quickie elections" and employee email use. The webinar, featuring labor attorneys Tim Davis, Jonathan Martin, and Dan Murphy, is from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern tomorrow (January 8). Be there, or be square!

Year-end employment law roundup -- happy 2015!

By Robin Shea on 1.2.15
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Class actions, Discrimination, eLaw, Family and Medical Leave Act, Harassment, Labor Relations, Retaliation, Wage-Hour

NOTE: On January 15, this post was updated and one correction made (see "Nipped in the bud" and "Jury clobbers Catholic diocese," below).

Happy New Year, everyone! While I've been out for the holidays, the courts and government agencies have stayed busy with employment law matters. Here are the developments that I thought were especially noteworthy:

WAGE AND HOUR

Twenty states raised ...

Christmas won't be merry for these employers!

By Robin Shea on 12.19.14
Posted in Affordable Care Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Discrimination, Employment Law Blog Carnival, Harassment, Labor Relations, Lactation, Pregnancy, Wage-Hour

Oh, you better watch out! A lot of employers have been naughty. I checked the court dockets, and would you believe all of these employment lawsuits filed in the week before Christmas!

Cratchit v. Scrooge & Marley (Madison Co. (London) OH Ct. of Common Pleas). Plaintiff asserts claims against employer under Americans with Disabilities Act, contending he was harassed and ...

NLRB Issues Final Rule on Quickie Elections: What employers can expect, and how to prepare

By Robin Shea on 12.19.14
Posted in Labor Relations

This is a client bulletin by David Phippen that we emailed to subscribers yesterday afternoon. I'm re-posting it here, in case you don't already subscribe to Constangy's bulletins. (If you don't and would like to, please send me (Robin) an email, and we'll put you on the list. Subscription is free.)

By David Phippen

Metro Washington D.C. Office

As we alerted you last week, on Monday the ...

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