Tag – Mickey Mouse: Employment & Labor Insider

Posts tagged Mickey Mouse.

By Robin Shea on 8.21.15
Posted in Corporate Culture

Are Human Resources representatives advocates for employees, or shills for the corporate bigwigs?

I suppose you've been following the story about how Amazon (1) is the worst place in the world to work, (2) no it isn't, (3) anyway, the New York Times didn't do good research and based its story on too many anecdotes, and (4) yes, it did do good research, and anyway how are you supposed to do a ...

5 ways employers can spend a lot less time in court

By Robin Shea on 8.7.15
Posted in Corporate Culture, Discrimination, Retaliation, Wage-Hour

"An apple a day keeps the ~~doctor~~ lawyer away." Here are five easy and inexpensive things that employers can do to minimize their risk of being sued and maximize their chances of victory if they do get sued. None of these involve major expense, or even the use of lawyers.

1. Err on the side of treating your workers as (a) non-exempt and (b) "employees." Let this be your default ...

BREAKING: DOL issues memo on independent contractors

By Robin Shea on 7.15.15
Posted in Independent Contractor, Wage-Hour

Law360 reported this morning that the U.S. Department of Labor issued a memorandum addressing the "independent contractor versus employee" issue, taking the position that most workers are actually employees within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

We'll have more on this after we've had an opportunity to review it in more depth. Meanwhile, here is the Memorandum

Five harassment "must haves" for employers

By Robin Shea on 5.29.15
Posted in Harassment

Maybe it's just me, but workplace harassment issues seem to come in waves -- I'll go months, or even a year, without an issue, and then WHAM! everybody has a "situation," or at least they need to get their preventive training done.

Right now, we're in a bit of a "flash flood," so I thought it might be a good time to review the basics, with some updates.

WHAT ARE THE FIVE HARASSMENT ...

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!

Four reasons to be careful about contingent workers

By Robin Shea on 8.9.13
Posted in Discrimination, Employment at Will, Harassment, Independent Contractor, Wage-Hour

Two weeks ago, I wrote about whether harassment training should be offered to employees in "the Twilight Zone" -- mainly, lead persons and contingent workers (temporaries and independent contractors). Reader Paul C. suggested that I do a post on the dangers associated with keeping "temps" too long, which I thought was a great idea. So, Paul, thank you!

In our insecure economy, temps and ...

Workers in "The Twilight Zone" -- should you offer them harassment training?

By Robin Shea on 7.26.13
Posted in Harassment, Independent Contractor

Who should get harassment training, and why?

Executive Team? Of course. These are the leaders. If they don't set an example, then the company is in trouble. And it's hard for them to set an example if they don't know a little bit about workplace harassment and their responsibilities.

Managers? Of course.

HR? What, are you kidding?

Front line supervisors? Absolutely. These folks are the

Employment law leftovers: Best of 2011, what's up for 2012, and resolutions

By Robin Shea on 1.6.12
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Discrimination, GINA, Harassment, Independent Contractor, Labor Relations, Retaliation, Social media, Wage-Hour

After a great holiday feast, isn't it fun just to eat the leftovers? Like a nice, cold roast beast sandwich with a wedge of leftover pie? Yum!

Here are some great labor and employment blog "leftovers" from the holidays that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did, followed by a few new year's resolutions for employers and employees. Please add to my list!

In case you were chillaxin' last week and ...

Happy *hic* New Year! 2011 labor and employment law year in review

By Robin Shea on 12.31.11
Posted in Affirmative Action, Americans with Disabilities Act, Class actions, Discrimination, Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, GINA, Harassment, Independent Contractor, Labor Relations, Protected Concerted Activity, Retaliation, Social media, Wage-Hour

What a year, am I right or am I right? Here is a catalog of the major employment and labor law developments from 2011. And, just to keep it entertaining, I've started off each month with a weird but true off-topic story that was in the news that month. Many thanks to Drudge Report archives for the strange stuff. Thanks also to Esquire magazine's annual Dubious Achievement Awards (sadly ...

Employment law roundup: Do sexy immigrants who E-verify on Facebook cause obesity?

By Robin Shea on 5.27.11
Posted in Discrimination, Harassment, Protected Concerted Activity, Social media

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everybody! Top stories this week:

When are employers liable for the bad behavior of their customers? The sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, who allegedly attacked an African-immigrant maid in his hotel room in New York City, have spurred some interesting discussion about female ...

Subscribe

Contributors

Archives

Related Blogs