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Employment Law

Don’t let holiday party end in litigation

11/15/2022
Getting together in person in a casual and festive environment is an opportunity to reestablish relationships and strengthen the corporate culture. But all that merriment comes at a price—potential lawsuits over everything from booking a non-accessible site for your disabled workers to religious objections if the party is mandatory to sexual harassment fueled by excess alcohol and lowered inhibitions. Here’s how to throw a party with minimal legal risk.

NLRB is watching: Don’t spy on your employees

11/15/2022
Concerned by the brave new world of digital supervision, the NLRB issued a memo on Oct. 31 warning employers not to use intrusive or abusive electronic surveillance.

Don’t make this $56.5 million mistake

11/15/2022
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office sued Instacart, alleging that its shoppers should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors.

Protect yourself from ADA suits with specific job descriptions

11/08/2022
You may want to stand out in your job descriptions and advertisements. But job notices are more than promotional material. They can be used in court to decide if employees who sue have a leg, or document, to stand on.

Watch those deadlines! Harvard didn’t

11/08/2022
You heard about the affirmative action case filed against Harvard University; the oral arguments took place in October before the Supreme Court. At least Harvard assumed you heard about the case. The university also assumed that their insurance company, Zurich American Insurance Co., knew about it. Wrong.

Don’t round time! Every minute counts

11/08/2022
Home Depot’s practice of rounding hourly employees’ total daily hours to the nearest quarter hour rather than the actual time worked, as recorded by a timekeeping system, resulted in underpaying an employee.

Kroger needed a policy for a rainy day

11/08/2022
Kroger has settled a religious bias claim for $180,000. Two religious employees in Arkansas refused to wear the grocery chain’s rainbow heart logo on their aprons because they claimed the rainbow represented support for LGBTQ people and politics, which they opposed on religious grounds.

IC vs. employee rule: Expect delays

11/01/2022
The DOL’s recent proposed rule on how to distinguish an independent contractor from an employee differs from the Trump administration’s rule, which never went into effect. Before the Biden administration’s rule took effect, there was already a lawsuit on procedural grounds and related delays.

Lactation breaks may cause resentment

11/01/2022
The right to unlimited lactation breaks can create scheduling headaches as co-workers and supervisors scramble to ensure coverage. Some co-workers may even express resentment. Fortunately, a recent federal appeals case doesn’t hold employers responsible for this.

DOL eyes employers’ high earners

11/01/2022
You may think that paying employees a large salary automatically means you won’t be targeted by the Department of Labor for FLSA overtime violations. Isn’t it reasonable to expect employees who earn $100,000 or more to be exempt from overtime? Unfortunately, the DOL doesn’t see it quite that way.