Tag – Mr. Dithers: Employment & Labor Insider

Posts tagged Mr. Dithers.

You've gotta be kidding. THIS is retaliation?

By Robin Shea on 1.16.15
Posted in Retaliation

Guess what? You know those SEC disclosures about pending litigation that publicly held companies are required by law to make? Well, if an employer says too much, it may be "retaliating" against the litigants.

I am not making this up. International Monetary Systems, Ltd., is facing a jury trial on a retaliation claim made by a former employee. The company is going to trial because it listed ...

Can courts second-guess the EEOC's conciliation efforts?

By Robin Shea on 1.14.15
Posted in Discrimination, Settlements

SCOTUSblog has the transcript of yesterday's oral argument in Mach Mining v. EEOC.

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 ...

EEOC promises guidance on wellness programs in February

By Robin Shea on 11.26.14
Posted in Affordable Care Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, GINA

Good news! The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced in its 2015 regulatory agenda that it will be issuing proposed regulations on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act on wellness programs. The proposed regs are expected in February.

To read about the continuing saga of the ADA/GINA and employer ...

Wal-mart, EEOC reach accord in drug test "accommodation" lawsuit

10.31.14
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Drug Testing, Transportation Industry

Laura Jones was offered a sales job at the Wal-Mart store in Cockeysville, Maryland, and was told that she would have to take a drug test. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Ms. Jones told an assistant store manager that she had end stage renal cancer, which prevented her from taking a urine test. The EEOC says that Jones then went to the drug testing collection ...

BREAKING: EEOC seeks court order to halt Honeywell's biometric testing

By Robin Shea on 10.28.14
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act

UPDATED 10/29/14 and 11/7/14 (see below). Thanks to Kate Bischoff of The Employment Law Navigator for bringing this to our attention.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a petition yesterday in federal court in Minnesota to stop Honeywell International, Inc., from requiring that employees (and spouses, if the employees have family health insurance coverage ...

LGBT charges are rolling in, EEOC Commissioner says

By Robin Shea on 10.24.14
Posted in Discrimination, Gender Identity Discrimination

Chai Feldblum, a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, recently presented an update on the EEOC's handling of charges alleging sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.

At the meeting, reported this week in Bloomberg BNA, Commissioner Feldblum said that the EEOC is now tracking the intake and resolution of these charges, which I'll refer ...

An employer should never ask about disability or religion. Except when it should.

By Robin Shea on 10.3.14
Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, Discrimination

Everybody knows that an employer should never, ever, ever ask an applicant about religion or disability until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. And maybe not even then. Right?

Right?

Well, mostly right. But, as a couple of EEOC lawsuits show, there may be times when you have to make an exception to this rule. ~~(Otherwise, it would be too easy for employers to stay out of ...~~

BREAKING: EEOC files first transgender suits against private employers

By Robin Shea on 9.26.14
Posted in Gender Identity Discrimination

Bloomberg BNA reports this afternoon that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed two transgender discrimination lawsuits yesterday, the agency's first ever against private-sector employers. One is against a Michigan funeral home, and the other is against a medical clinic in Lakeland, Florida. Both cases appear to involve straightforward discrimination ...

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