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Employment Law

Can we limit our applicant pool to U.S. citizens?

07/29/2014
Q. Is it legal to hire only U.S. citizens and, when advertising, say that people must be citizens to apply?

One circuit court guts ACA, another revives it

07/28/2014

On July 22, a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a potentially lethal blow to the Affordable Care Act, ruling that health insurance premium subsidies on which the ACA’s individual mandate depends are illegal in states that don’t run their own insurance exchanges. Two hours later, a panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reached exactly the opposite conclusion.

When does ‘almost eligible’ qualify for FMLA?

07/25/2014

Eligibility for job-protected FMLA leave kicks in for employees after they’ve worked at a covered employer for at least 12 months (and for 1,250 hours). But take note: That doesn’t mean you can fire employees who request FMLA leave just days before they hit their 12-month anniversary date. As this new case shows, employees can use other accrued leave to “bridge the gap” until they reach the 12-month eligibility limit.

Am I allowed to search a worker’s backpack?

07/23/2014
Q. One of my workers brought a backpack into work today that I have reason to believe contains illegal substances. The worker stored the bag in his company-provided locker. Can I search his belongings?

OK to fire for Facebook complaint about work?

07/23/2014
Q. One of my employees recently made a post on Face­­book expressing his dissatisfaction with his job. In the post, he talked about being paid too little for the amount of work he performs, and that the whole office needs renovating, claiming, “rats don’t even want to work there.” Can I fire him for this, or at least discipline him?

California Supreme Court: Undocumented status doesn’t bar back pay

07/23/2014
The California Supreme Court has ruled that federal immigration law does not preempt a California law that extends state law protections to all workers regardless of their immigration status. However, the court held that federal law does preempt state law on the issue of liability for lost wages for any period after an employer discovers that an employee is not authorized to work in the United States.

EEOC eyes personal training company for legal workout

07/23/2014
Custom Built Personal Training in Modesto, Ca. will have to whip its pregnancy-leave policy into shape after the EEOC threw its weight behind a fired employee’s lawsuit.

DOL seeks $2 million–and ban from H-2B Visa program

07/23/2014
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) hopes to harvest some green from Watsonville, Ca.-based Fernandez Farms. According to the DOL, the farm failed to pay the minimum wage to workers brought into the country under the H-2B visa program.

Trucking firm pays $262,000 to settle labor charges

07/23/2014
Yuba City, Ca.-based Dispatch Trans­por­­tation has settled an unfair labor practice charge with the Teamsters Local 137 and the NLRB.

Must we grant time off so employees can vote?

07/23/2014
Q. A number of my employees have stated that they will not be able to vote in the upcoming statewide election because their local polling centers are only open during these employees’ work hours. Should I give them some time off during the day to vote?