And some catching up we have to do!

Everyone is back to school, and our friend David Phippen is back with the July-August edition of the Executive Labor Summary. David has the best summary of the National Labor Relations Board's position on employer handbook policies that I've ever seen. (Well, with the possible exception of the last one he did . . .) Seriously, do check it out. He also ...

As of October 1, “places of public accommodation” in Massachusetts will be prohibited from discriminating based on gender identity. That is, persons accessing a “place of public accommodation” must be permitted to use gender-segregated locations (such as restrooms and locker rooms) consistent with their gender identity. Any place that is open to and accepts or solicits ...

Labor relations go back to the future. Mel Haas and John Weltin of our Macon Office have the rundown on the recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board in Miller & Anderson, Inc. In that case, the Board found that an appropriate bargaining unit can include a mix of contingent workers who are jointly employed by a staffing agency and the primary employer, and the primary ...

And you don’t have the right to remain silent.

On July 1 the federal Office of Management and Budget published the OFCCP's revised Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing that is issued to federal contractors to begin the compliance review process.

The revised Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing is here.

The majority of the changes to the letter, last revised in 2014, provide ...

To assist federal contractors in their compliance with the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order – which to date still has no final implementing regulations – the National Labor Relations Board has graciously offered to ensure that all unfair labor practice complaints involving federal contractors will be added to a federal database of "problem" employers.

As I've ...

Do you know the difference between an idle threat and a serious one?

Your kid plays a joke on you, and you respond, "I'm gonna kill you" while laughing at the joke. Idle threat, or serious?

A co-worker tells you she will slash your tires if you vote against the union. Idle threat, or serious?

A co-worker tells you that she heard from another co-worker that yet another co-worker said she would ...

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter yesterday to Gov. Pat McCrory, giving him until Monday, May 9, to "confirm" that he does not plan to enforce the "bathroom" provisions of HB 2 as they apply to public agencies. If he fails to confirm, the DOJ is putting him on notice that he and the State of North Carolina are engaged in a "pattern or practice" of discrimination against ...

This will be my last "analysis" post on the wrongful discharge provisions of North Carolina's HB 2. (I know you are heartbroken!)

I'll continue to post on breaking HB 2-related news as it develops.

Several commenters disagreed with my contention that Charlotte's human rights ordinance, which was amended to include LGBT rights and then nullified by HB 2, would have been ...

If your employee isn't a professional driver but spends a lot of time on the road, how "essential" a job function is driving for ADA purposes? Is driving "essential" at all?

In what I consider to be a very significant result under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently ruled that driving might not be an ADA ...

NOTE (3/16/16): This post has been corrected since it was originally posted. 

President Obama has nominated Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Judge Garland, age 63, had bipartisan support when he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit (in 1995, by President ...