I've been asking this a lot lately. Continue Reading ›
We gotcher employment law news right here. Continue Reading ›
I am pumped! Are you? Continue Reading ›
Pregnancy and lactation accommodation. Continue Reading ›
Employers, proceed with caution. Continue Reading ›
Do you make the grade? Continue Reading ›
Health care employers especially, take note! Continue Reading ›
The Department of Labor has issued new FAQs. Continue Reading ›
This is not good news. Continue Reading ›
Some of them, anyway. Continue Reading ›
On a party-line vote. Continue Reading ›
He's a talented guy. He hardly said a thing. Continue Reading ›
DOL official gets his job back. Continue Reading ›
That article he wrote on sexual harassment was fine. Continue Reading ›
This just in, from The New York Times. Continue Reading ›
Not much of a showdown. Continue Reading ›
It's spring, and a young person's fancy turns to . . . Continue Reading ›
But it ain't over yet. Continue Reading ›
We recently witnessed the DOL's 401K audit priorities first hand. Continue Reading ›
Yes, that is possible. Continue Reading ›
Let your voice be heard! Continue Reading ›
Of course he does! Continue Reading ›
NOTE FROM ROBIN: I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that this is the last post from the Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Practice Group that will appear on Employment & Labor Insider. The good news is that the group is starting its own blog, Affirmative Action Edition, in late October. We will let you know as soon as it’s up and running. Thanks very much to Cara Crotty and her team for the excellent guest posts they have contributed over the past year. We will miss you, but we can’t wait to subscribe to and read your new blog!
On September 15, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the 2018 minimum wage rates for covered federal contractors and subcontractors. Beginning January 1, 2018, federal contractors covered by these requirements will be required to pay a minimum wage of $10.35 an hour. The minimum cash wage for tipped workers will increase to $7.25 an hour.
The current minimum wage for federal contractors is $10.20 an hour, and the current minimum cash wage for tipped workers is $6.80 an hour.
These increases are required by an Executive Order issued by President Obama in February 2014, which mandates that the DOL raise the hourly minimum wage paid by certain federal contractors every year based on inflation. The Executive Order also specifies that the minimum cash wage for tipped workers must increase by 95 cents per year until it reaches 70 percent of the minimum wage paid to other hourly workers under the Executive Order. This requirement was met with the 2017 wage increase. Continue Reading ›
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.
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. Continue Reading ›
Bloomberg BNA reported Friday evening that President Trump has nominated Cheryl Stanton of South Carolina as Administrator of the Wage Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Ms. Stanton is currently executive director of the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, which administers unemployment compensation for the state. She has been a shareholder with the management-side employment firm Ogletree Deakins twice, separated by a period in which she was the principal White House liaison to the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under former President George W. Bush. She is a 1994 graduate of Williams College, and a 1997 graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law. According to the Trump White House, she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lots going on in the wage-hour area! The USDOL filed a motion to dismiss as moot its appeal of the preliminary injunction blocking the Obama-era overtime rule. Continue Reading ›
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!
This is Constangy’s flagship law blog, founded in 2010 by Robin Shea, who is chief legal editor and a regular contributor. This nationally recognized blog also features posts from other Constangy attorneys in the areas of immigration, labor relations, and sports law, keeping HR professionals and employers informed about the latest legal trends.
