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NLRB Postpones Implementation of Rule Requiring Non-Union Employers to Post Notice of Unionization Rights

October 10, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

According to a press release posted on its website, the National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months in order to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium sized businesses.
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USERRA Requires Employer to Provide Returning Employee Equivalent Amount of Pay Rather than Equivalent Rate of Pay

October 4, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In a case of first impression, the United States District Court for the Second Circuit recently held that the law requires an employer to pay an employee returning from military service to a commission-based job the same total amount of pay he or she received prior to activation- the employer violates the law by returning the employee
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California's DFEH Drops The Disability Discrimination Hammer - Largest Administrative Award In Its History

September 28, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

On September 12, 2011, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) announced its largest-ever administrative award of $846,300 (and no, that’s not a typo) against electrical supplier Acme Electric Corporation (“Acme”) for firing an employee, Mr. Charles Richard Wideman, because he had cancer.
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Employer Exposure in Unpaid Wage Lawsuits Increases as Court Applies New York Wage Theft Prevention Act's Liquidated Damages Provision Retroactively

September 28, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

The New York Wage Theft Prevention Act went into effect last April.  (You can read our two previous alerts about this Act here and here).  Among other things, that Act amended Section 198(1-a) of the Labor Law to require courts to impose a liquidated damages award of 100% of the total unpaid wages found to be due – up from the previous 25% cap. 
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California's New Job Killer Act - The Independent Contractor Classification Just Got More Serious for California Employers

September 26, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Classifying workers as independent contractors in California- already a difficult minefield to navigate for employers– is about to get a bit harder, more convoluted and, unfortunately, more expensive. Under existing California law, a worker is presumed to be an employee, rather than an independent contractor.
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Adverse Action: More Expansively Construed Under SOX than under Title VII

September 22, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In a case of first impression, the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) finds that the meaning of the term “adverse action” under the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is substantially broader than the meaning of the same term under Title VII
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NLRB Poster on Employee Unionization Rights Now Available

September 16, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

We recently alerted you that beginning on November 14, 2011, union and non-union employers alike must post unionization rights notices in their workplaces. You can access that alert here.
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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Affirms Lower Court Ruling in Favor of Employees Misclassified as Franchisees/Independent Contractors

September 13, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

My colleagues Ivan Blumenthal and Robert Gault just published an Alert describing a recent decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court pertaining to a challenge to a company’s imposition of certain fees and costs on service providers it classified as franchisees/independent contractors.
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State of New York Forms Task Force Targeting Excessive Compensation at Nonprofits

September 9, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

My colleague, Tyrone Thomas, writes that "The Governor of New York has taken a strong and outspoken stance aimed at placing those with the largest paychecks at institutional nonprofits under a microscope.
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NLRB Requires Non-Union Employers to Post Unionization Rights Notices

September 7, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

My colleagues Richard Block and David Katz just published a new alert, describing the new NLRB rule requiring private sector employers to post notices explaining employees’ unionization rights, regardless if their workplaces are unionized or union free.
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Employers May Need to Provide Employees with Leave For Involvement With School-Related Activities

September 1, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Next week, millions of children around the country will return to school, which serves as a good time to remind employers that they may have to provide short-term unpaid job-protected leave to their employees seeking to participate in their children’s school-related activities.
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Immigration-Related Discrimination Alleged Based on I-9 Violations

August 31, 2011 | Blog | By Douglas Hauer

On August 26, the Department of Justice reached a settlement with Kinro Manufacturing Inc. with regard to allegations that it “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against work-authorized non-citizens in the employment eligibility verification process” by requiring certain new hires to provide proof of employment eligibility beyond that required by law.
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Recent First Circuit Decision By Justice Souter Provides an Important Lesson on the Drafting of Effective Non-Compete and Other Post-Employment Covenants

August 30, 2011 | Blog | By David Barmak

In a short but interesting opinion by Justice Souter, sitting by designation, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that, under Massachusetts law, the court may not enter an injunction enforcing a non-compete or other restrictive covenant which expired during the course of litigation, at least where the contract does not expressly provide for tolling of the covenant
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Hurricane Irene, Wage Issues and Inclement Weather

August 26, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

An earthquake and a hurricane in one week in New York and elsewhere!? With the former, you may have had to evacuate your employees from the building; with the latter, it is becoming increasingly likely that your east coast employees may not even make into the building.
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EEOC: Employer Liable for Violating ADA Despite Employee's Failure to Adequately Document Disability or Need for Accommodation Prior to Filing Her Claim

August 24, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In a case all employers should find troubling, the EEOC recently held that a federal agency-employer discriminated on the basis of disability by denying an employee’s request for accommodation, despite the fact that information the employee provided when making his request and during the time in which the employer and employee engaged in the required interactive process
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Retaliation Against Applicant Who Sued Former Employer Does Not Violate FLSA, Says Court

August 23, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismissed a Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claim where the plaintiff alleged that the defendant refused to hire her because she had sued her previous employer for wage and hour violations.
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New York City Council Expands Human Rights Law

August 22, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

The number of religious discrimination cases has risen steadily over the past decade. This trend may continue, at least in New York City, well into the future.
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Second Circuit Analyzes Scope of Material Adverse Employment Actions in a Family Medical Leave Act Retaliation Claim

August 15, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Millea v. Metro-North R.R. Co., --- F.3d ----, 2011 WL 3437513 (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2011), found that  a “material adverse employment action” in the context of a Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) retaliation claim need not be all that “material” .
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NLRB: Broad Confidentiality Clauses May Be Per Se Unlawful

August 12, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

Many employers have employees sign confidentiality agreements aimed at prohibiting disclosure of confidential business information to third parties, and it has been widely assumed that such clauses were lawful.
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Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Not Okay

August 10, 2011 | Blog | By Martha Zackin

In this day and age, all employers know that sexual harassment in the workplace is wrong.  Right?  Not so fast.  If the allegations set forth in a case filed in in Utah on August 4, 2011 prove to be true, there is at least one supervisor out there who simply does not get it.
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