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Supreme Court to Decide Two Cases Addressing Important Class and Collective Action Issues

June 29, 2015 | Blog

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases during its Fall 2015 term that could further transform the wage and hour class action landscape.  We briefly discuss those two cases below.
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Rocky Mountain High Part II: Colorado’s Highest Court Approves Employer’s Stance that Employee Toke is No Joke

June 29, 2015 | Blog | By David Katz

Last week the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that an employer can fire an employee for use of medical marijuana away from the workplace.  The case is Coats v. Dish Network, No. 13SC394 (June 15, 2015).
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Third Circuit Issues Bright-line Interpretation of FMLA’s “Overnight Stay” Rule

June 22, 2015 | Blog | By Frank Hupfl

Early last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a former employee’s hospital stay did not count as an “overnight stay” under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and thus did not trigger the FMLA’s protections, because the employee was not admitted to the hospital and discharged on two separate calendar days.
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Corporate Divorce: Treat Your Employment Contract Like a Prenup

June 22, 2015 | Blog | By Jennifer Rubin

Welcome to the latest installment in my corporate divorce series. In my last article I gave some practical advice about how to handle an unexpected firing – a corporate break-up.
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Attorney General’s Office Issues Final Regulations on Massachusetts Sick Time Law

June 22, 2015 | Blog | By Jill Collins

On June 19th, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) issued final regulations for the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law, which goes into effect next week on July 1, 2015.
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California’s Paid Sick Leave Law Takes Effect July 1

June 22, 2015 | Blog | By Jennifer Rubin, Brent Douglas

As of July 1, 2015, any employer with employees in California must comply with the state’s new Paid Sick Leave Law (AB 1522). Below is a brief summary of what this change will mean to employers:
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Add Connecticut to Your List of States with a Social Media Privacy Policy Law Favoring Employees

June 16, 2015 | Blog

Since 2012, many states have enacted laws that restrict an employer’s capacity to access employees’ personal email and social media accounts.  Last month, Connecticut joined the party and became the 21st state to enact an employer-employee social media privacy law.
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Ban the Box (Plus) Comes to New York City; Jurisdiction Latest to Prohibit Employers From Inquiring About Criminal History

June 15, 2015 | Blog

Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that was not dismissed, expunged, or sealed?  New York City employers, if you ask that question on your employment application or some version of that question, then remove it.
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Supreme Court Holds That Employers Do Not Need Actual Knowledge of an Applicant's Need for a Religious Accommodation Before They Can Be Held Liable for Discrimination

June 12, 2015 | Blog | By George Patterson

The Supreme Court recently held that job applicants may hold their potential employer liable for intentional discrimination under Title VII if the applicant can show that his or her need for an accommodation was a motivating factor in the potential employer’s decision not to hire that applicant
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Student Employees and the Affordable Care Act – Part 4 of 4: If students are employees, how are their hours counted?

June 12, 2015 | Blog | By Patricia Moran

In our prior installments, we determined that students who work at least 30 hours per week for their educational institutions are “full time” employees of those institutions under the Affordable care Act’s employer shared responsibility mandate.
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Student Employees and the Affordable Care Act – Part 3 of 4: Can we subsidize student health insurance?

June 10, 2015 | Blog | By Patricia Moran

In Part 2 of this miniseries, we discussed whether a student health insurance plan may be used to help an educational institution avoid penalties under t the Affordable Care Act’s “employer shared responsibility” mandate with respect to individuals who are both students and full-time employees of the institution.  Conclusion: it cannot.
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Student Employees and the Affordable Care Act - Part 2 of 4: Can an offer of student coverage count as an applicable large employer’s “offer” of coverage?

June 4, 2015 | Blog | By Patricia Moran

In the previous installment of this series, we addressed whether student employees may be excluded from an employer’s offer of coverage.  We concluded that a blanket exclusion of this nature could put an employer at risk for ACA penalties.
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No Parade for Employers: NLRB Judge Invalidates Several Policies in Macy’s Handbook

June 4, 2015 | Blog | By David Katz

The NLRB continued its assault on employee handbooks and policies, as an administrative law judge recently found several provisions in the Macy’s handbook, including the confidential information policy, to be unlawful, as employees would reasonably read them to restrict protected concerted activity.
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U.S. Department of Labor Re-Proposes Rules Governing the Definition of “Fiduciary”—Part 4: The Impact on 401(k) Plan Consultants to Mid-Sized and Small Plans

June 2, 2015 | Blog

This post highlights the significant impact the proposed regulations may have on advisers to mid-sized and small 401(k) retirement plans if adopted.
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Student Employees and the Affordable Care Act - Part 1 of 4: Can we exclude student workers from our health plan?

June 2, 2015 | Blog | By Patricia Moran

Educational institutions employ students in a variety of positions including work-study positions, teaching and research assistantships, and resident assistantships.  This four-part series will discuss several issues that have arisen under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility mandate with respect to those student workers.
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U.S. Department of Labor Re-Proposes Rules Governing the Definition of “Fiduciary”—Part 3: The Impact on Large Retirement Plans

May 27, 2015 | Blog

In Part 1 of this series, we reported on recently proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor amending the definition of the term “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”).
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Duty to Monitor Investments Extends Statute of Limitations for Fiduciary Breach Claim Says Supreme Court

May 20, 2015 | Blog | By Ann Fievet

The Supreme Court has decided an important statute of limitations issue in an ongoing fiduciary breach case, Tibble v. Edison International.  Tibble has attracted attention up to this point for its substantive claim: that plan fiduciaries breached their duty of prudence when they failed to use the plan’s status as an institutional investor to gain an edge on fund fees.
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U.S. Department of Labor Re-Proposes Rules Governing the Definition of “Fiduciary”—Part 2: The “Best Interest Contract” Exemption

May 19, 2015 | Blog

In Part 1 of this series, we reported on recently proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor amending the definition of the term “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”).
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Lowering the Bar: Fourth Circuit Rules Single Incident Sufficient to Trigger Title VII Hostile Work Environment Claim

May 17, 2015 | Blog | By Frank Hupfl

Out with the old and in with the new.  In a decision issued last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a single incident of harassment was sufficient to move a harassment claim forward.
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Surprise! You Get to Arbitrate! Massachusetts Courts Continue to Permit Third Parties to Enforce Arbitration Agreements

May 17, 2015 | Blog

Two Massachusetts decisions—including one from the state’s highest court—applied the same standard regarding enforcement of an agreement to arbitrate.  In each case, plaintiffs signed arbitration agreements with another party.
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