Are you in the know?

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the unopposed motion of 

the U.S. Department of Labor to dismiss as moot the appeal in the “overtime case” of Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor. The Fifth Circuit order brings that litigation to an end.

For more details on this litigation, please read our recent bulletin by Jim Coleman and Ellen Kearns, the co-chairs of our firm’s Wage and Hour Practice Group.

The DOL is expected to begin a new rulemaking process and is expected to propose increasing the salary thresholds for the executive, administrative, and (some) professional exemptions to the overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act — but not by nearly as much as they would have been increased under the Obama Administration rule that has been struck down.

Image Credit: From flickr, Creative Commons license, by State Farm Insurance.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been on a tear this week, suing employers right and left, and getting some "wins" including a couple of big settlements . . .

Train-wreck boss. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) vacated a summary judgment decision for a Tex-Mex restaurant franchisor that had been sued by the EEOC because ...

Do you think you have that employee termination all buttoned up, and no one will be able to challenge you? Defending that EEOC charge will be a slam dunk? No plaintiff's lawyer in his right mind would represent your soon-to-be-ex employee?

Are you sure about that? Can we talk?

Don't commit these five firing faux pas*.**

*This is not an all-inclusive list. There are probably more than five.

Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Wisconsin-based Orion Energy Systems, Inc., over its wellness program and its treatment of ex-employee Wendy Schobert, who was not a fan of the program. The lawsuit contends that the program's health risk assessment is an unlawful "medical examination" and that the company retaliated against Ms. Schobert ...

Following up on my Tuesday morning post on how the labor and employment agencies are affected by the government shutdown, I spoke with Colin O'Keefe of LXBN on the topic. In the brief interview, I explained what private employers should know about the shutdown and the effects on employees of the federal government.

One thing we did not discuss in the video or in my Tuesday post -- the ...