This drug-testing case would make a great law school final exam.

Shawn Olson of Minnesota was offered a job in West Virginia by Push, Inc., a company based in Wisconsin. Mr. Olson was asked to complete a pre-hire drug test, which was originally going to be performed in Push’s state of Wisconsin. However, for Mr. Olson’s convenience, the company allowed Mr. Olson to be tested in ...

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 ...

Hallelujah! The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced this week that it plans to issue guidance on employers' ability to offer incentives to employees based on their participation in wellness programs, or whether they provide information in response to health risk assessments.

I've blogged about this issue in the past -- here, here, here, and here. There is at least a ...

After having expressed concern (here and here) that penalizing employees for not participating in "voluntary" wellness programs may render the programs . . . er . . . involuntary*, my view was somewhat vindicated this week by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) in a letter that Rep. Slaughter sent to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

*Under the Americans with Disabilities Act ...

If you fire an employee for an indefensible reason, chances are you will get a charge or a lawsuit out of it, even if the indefensible reason was legal. That's HR/Legal 101. (In other words, don't believe that "employment at will" propaganda.)

If you realize your reason wasn't too good and therefore "improve" it a little after the fact, that just makes things worse. If you "improve" it ...

Remember that Supreme Court decision involving alleged retaliation based on an oral complaint of violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act? The plaintiff in the case is now going to get a jury trial.

In its 2011 decision in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., the Supreme Court found that an informal, oral complaint could be "protected activity" under the FLSA and ...

This week, several of us bloggers (Dan Schwartz, Donna Ballman, Eric Meyer, Jon Hyman, and I) will be choosing a debate question on a labor and employment law topic for each of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates.

DISCLAIMER: I have tried to ask an "adversarial" question of every candidate. Please don't be offended, and please be aware that my questions may or may not ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit* has held that employers may use "sticks" to encourage participation in wellness programs as well as "carrots," if the wellness program is part of a group health or other benefit plan.

*The 11th Circuit hears appeals from federal courts in the states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

Let me back up and explain the issue a bit.

**NERD ALERT ...

Is it legal to bribe your employees to be healthy? Wouldn't that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or something? 

In other words, is it legal any more for an employer to offer incentives  -- like, money? -- to employees to participate in "voluntary" wellness programs?

The Bureau of National Affairs has obtained and released ...

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 ...