Employment

Sometimes a judge says what many of us are already thinking.  In Rivera v. Crowell & Moring L.L.P., Katherine B. Forrest was that judge. While lengthy, Rivera reads like a garden-variety employment discrimination summary judgment opinion; that is, until we reach page 40.

A large number of US companies relied on Safe Harbor for transferring employee data from their EU affiliates.  Since employee consent usually can’t be relied upon for data transfers, many companies have moved over to the EU’s “model clauses,” which are inflexible and cumbersome to put in place.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) made the regulation of employee benefit plans principally a matter of Federal concern. ERISA broadly and generally preempts—or renders inoperative—state laws that “relate to” employee benefit plans.

In Howard v. Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., a Hawaiian Federal Court found that Hertz Rent-a-Car could not be held responsible for its employee’s Facebook comments about one of its customers.  While employers should welcome the outcome, it did turn on the facts, and could have produced a different result under different circumstances.

This week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed its first lawsuits alleging sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII against employers in Pennsylvania and Maryland.  In both cases, the EEOC seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief.

Donald Trump has become part of the national conversation. Not a single day goes by now without Mr. Trump filling up at least one news cycle.

That’s what DOL Solicitor of Labor, M. Patricia Smith, reportedly said at the 2016 American Bar Association’s Midwinter Meeting.  But remember: she also said at another conference in November 2015 that the DOL was targeting a “late 2016” release date, while the DOL Labor Secretary, Thomas Perez, told Bloomberg BNA in December 2015 that he expected a spring 2016 release.

As many employers know, one of the first steps in responding to an EEOC charge filed by a current or former employee is to put together a position statement to refute the complainant’s allegations and otherwise support the employer’s position.

My colleague Tyrone Thomas, was quoted in the Law360 article entitled, College Athlete Employee Claims a Dead End Post-Penn Suit, in which he analyzes the Indiana court’s decision to dismiss former University of Pennsylvania student-athletes' wage-and-hour claims and the impact of this ruling on recent efforts to classify student-athletes as employees.

My colleague Natalie Young, was quoted in a Turnarounds & Workouts article entitled, “Trump Wins Again: Debtor-Employers Allowed to Reject Expired CBAs”, in which she explains the bankruptcy court’s decision to allow Trump Entertainment to reject expired collective bargaining agreements.

2015 largely brought more of same for California employers: increased wages and benefits for employees and decreased flexibility with employee classifications, the scope of arbitration agreements, and ways to structure compensation. But how will courts and the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement implement 2015’s new laws? What lies ahead in 2016?

Last month, we wrote about the Supreme Court’s opinion in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, in which the Court ruled that “an unaccepted Rule 68 Offer of Judgment for complete relief does not moot a plaintiff’s individual and class action claims.”

Last summer the Second Circuit issued an important decision that identified the proper test for determining whether an employer properly classified an individual as an unpaid intern.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Commissioner and Chair of the New York City Commission on Human Rights Carmelyn P. Malalis announced on February 9, 2016 that the Commission would begin accepting requests for and issue U and T visa certifications. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in part created U and T visas.

Off-the-clock work occurs any time someone performs work while not on their regular shift no matter where the work is performed.  Generally, this work is compensable if the employer knows or should have known that the employee was performing the work.

The Fifth Circuit recently sided with an employer in an off-the-clock overtime case where the employee failed to comply with her employer’s overtime approval and reporting policies.  For employers, this decision highlights the importance of implementing overtime authorization and reporting policies to defeat these claims.

For the last half of 2015, we spent a good deal of time explaining the Affordable Care Act reporting requirements that applied to carriers and large employers. A compilation of these posts, which generally address the content of the ACA reporting requirements, is available here.

In Q&A format, recently issued Notice 2015-87 addresses a number of pressing issues that have arisen under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including that law’s employer shared responsibility rules, information reporting requirements, and insurance market reforms, among others.

The Zika virus has been the topic of much discussion and anxiety for many weeks.  The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now issued travel warnings for more than two dozen countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America and cases have been reported in at least 13 states and Washington, D.C.

"They’re beautiful.  They’re charming.  And they’re bringing drinks.  She moves toward you like a movie star, her smile melting the ice in your bourbon and water.  His ice blue eyes set the olive in your friend’s martini spinning.