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Wage and Hour Considerations and Inclement Weather: In the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

November 6, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

With Hurricane Sandy now one week behind us (and winter storm season staring us in the face), we thought now is a good time for a refresher on the impact of a natural disaster or other emergency on federal and state wage and hour laws.
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New York Employers May Not Seek to Prevent Their Employees From Voting or Attempt to Improperly Influence Their Votes

November 5, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Tomorrow millions of employees around the nation will head to the polls to vote in the general election. No matter who wins, employers should make sure they are aware of the applicable voting leave and coercion laws to ensure that they don’t lose.
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Section 409A Document Correction Relief: Take the Final Bite of the Apple before December 31st

October 30, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

My colleagues, Tom Greene and Jessica Catlow, have published an alert pertaining to Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (Section 409A), which regulates the payment of non-qualified deferred compensation (including that provided through severance agreements) and imposes penalties for non-compliance.
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EEOC Publishes Fact Sheet Describing the Application of Anti-Discrimination Laws to Victims of Gender-Based Violence

October 29, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

On October 12, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a new fact sheet titled: Application of Title VII and the ADA to Applicants or Employees Who Experience Domestic or Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, or Stalking.
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Video Interview: Discussing Eagle v. Edcomm, the LinkedIn Employer Takeover Case, with LXBN TV

October 18, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Following up on our post on the subject, I had the chance to speak with Colin O'Keefe of LXBN regarding Eagle v. Edcomm, where a departing CEO had her LinkedIn account taken over by her employer. In the interview we discuss the background of the case and what employers should do in situations like this.
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Does the NLRA really Protect A Worker's Right to Be Rude? The NLRB Thinks So!

October 17, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

What a year it’s been for the National Labor Relations Board! Under the guise of preserving workers’ rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which includes the broad right “to engage in [ ] concerted activities for the purpose collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,” the NLRB has.
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Another Social Media Battleground: Employee LinkedIn Accounts - "It's Mine" - "No It's Not"

October 15, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In PhoneDog v. Kravitz, an employer and former employee battled over who owns a company-sponsored Twitter account (read about it here and here).  Now, LinkedIn joins Twitter, as an employer tries to claim title to the LinkedIn account of a former employee.
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New California Legislation Prohibits Employers from Requiring Access to Social Media Accounts of Employees

October 9, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

We have written here about the practice of some employers to ask applicants for their Facebook login and password information, so they can have a “look around” as part of the interview process, and about Facebook's position on such requests.
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NLRB Mandates Wholesale Changes to Costco's Social Media Policy

September 20, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

There is no denying that the NLRB has recently devoted significant attention to employee’s use of social media. Since August 2011, the Board's Acting General Counsel, Lafe Solomon, issued three reports outlining his view of how the NLRA applies to employers’ social media policies and employees’ social media postings.
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Second Circuit Confirms That Title VII Discrimination Awards are Taxable

September 14, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Recently, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that awards of back pay and front pay under Title VII constitute “wages” under the Internal Revenue Code and are therefore subject to statutory withholding requirements.
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IRS Issues Rules on "Full-time Employees" and 90-day Waiting Period Limitation under the Affordable Care Act

September 10, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In a much anticipated move, the IRS recently issued a set of important proposals aimed at helping employers identify their full-time employees for purposes the Affordable Care Act’s “employer shared responsibility” rules.  These are the 2014 rules that require employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to offer health coverage or pay money to the government.
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HHS Clarifies Temporary Enforcement Safe Harbor for Contraceptive Services under Plans of Certain Religious Employers

August 29, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

The Affordable Care Act’s requirements relating to first dollar coverage of preventive has hit something of a snag on the subject to coverage of contraceptive services on the part of religiously-affiliated entities such as colleges, universities and hospitals.
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Psychological Counseling May Constitute a Medical Examination Under the ADA

August 27, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Last week, in a case of first impression titled Kroll v. White Lake Ambulance Authority, the Sixth Circuit found that psychological counseling may qualify as a “medical examination” under the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which forbids employers from requiring medical exams unless they are job-related.
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New York Enhances Employee and Consumer Privacy Rights Under its Social Security Number Protection Law

August 24, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Four years ago, New York enacted a Social Security Number Protection Law, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law, §399-dd, aimed at combating identity theft by requiring employers to better safeguard employee social security numbers in their possession. Now, New York is going one step further with its passage of two new Social Security Number Protection laws.
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NLRB Takes Aim at Policies Designed to Ensure Confidentiality of Internal Investigations

August 13, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

The National Labor Relations Board continues to expand the scope of the National Labor Relations Act in union and non-union workplaces – this time taking issue with an employer’s policy prohibiting employees from discussing ongoing internal investigations.
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Background Checks: Stepped-Up Enforcement of FCRA

August 9, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

By this time, most employers realize that the Fair Credit Reporting Act governs all types of employment-related background checks, not just credit checks.
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Morbid Obesity as a Covered Disability under the ADA

July 27, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Almost two years ago, we wrote that the EEOC had filed its first-ever lawsuit asserting that “severe” obesity was a protectable disability under the ADA. That case, EEOC v. Resources for Human Development, Inc., provided little guidance to employers about where the EEOC would draw the line on when obesity is “severe” enough to constitute an ADA-protected disability.
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Noncompete Agreements: New NH Law Restricts Enforcement

July 24, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

New Hampshire became the latest state to enact a law pertaining to noncompete agreements.
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The Affordable Care Act, Stand-Alone Health Reimbursement Accounts, and the Prospects for Consumer-Driven Health Plans

July 17, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Employers are increasingly looking to consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) in an effort to control health insurance costs. CDHPs generally combine a high-deductible health plan with a tax-advantaged account, such as health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), that enrollees can use to pay for otherwise uninsured health care expenses.
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The Next (Big) Affordable Care Act Argument--and How it Impacts Employers and Employer-Sponsored Group Health Plans

July 11, 2012 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In a July 7 article entitled Brawling Over HealthCare Moves to Rules on Exchanges, The New York Times reported on a brewing challenge to tax credit provisions of the Affordable Care Act that will affect both employers and individuals.
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