The Supreme Court of the United States’ May 18, 2016 ruling in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins has potentially far-reaching impacts on lawsuits brought under federal statutes—in this case, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”)—that may curtail creative plaintiffs from “no-harm” class actions. This is a potentially significant victory for employers seeking to limit their exposure […]
Potential relief for Employers being sued under federal statutes after U.S. Supreme Court ruling on consumer class actions.
The Power of Arbitration Agreements and Class Action Waivers
The most significant exposure an employer faces in employment litigation is a class action lawsuit. Whether it is a class asserting claims for discrimination, harassment, or overtime, the potential damages can quickly escalate when there are multiple employees all asserting the same claim. Matters only get worse when those claims are decided by juries, which […]
OSHA updates for 2016
Two meaningful developments have transpired in the Occupational Safety & Health realm. First, the fines for violations have been adjusted for inflation and significantly increased. Second, employers may now report fatalities and other serious injuries online. In November, legislation was passed that provided for increased fines for OSHA violations. The increase was intended to account […]
Trade Secrets: Three Ways you May be Unwittingly Sharing Yours.
Trade secrets come in many forms. They commonly include customer lists, programming data, pricing information, cost matrices and secret recipes. Whatever information a company develops or acquires for the purpose of having a competitive edge that it does not share with others can usually be shoe-horned into the definition of “Trade Secret.” The Achilles’ heel […]
Don’t Forfeit an Employee’s Exempt Status
One of the most significant employment law risks currently facing employers are collective action lawsuits brought by current or former employees claiming they were not paid overtime. These lawsuits are often the result of misclassifying employees as salaried, exempt employees and not paying them for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Even if an […]
Are you using pre-employment tests as part of the interview process?
If your company uses pre-employment tests to screen individuals in an attempt to find the best candidates during the interview process, then Target Corporation’s payment of $2,800,000 to the EEOC might catch your attention. The EEOC announced yesterday that the retail giant agreed to resolve its dispute with the EEOC over whether the test questions […]
INTERMITTENT LEAVE UNDER THE FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
The Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid and job protected leave.[1] During the course of the FMLA leave, employees are entitled to maintain group health benefits in the same condition as if the applicable employee were not on leave. Note that where applicable, employees will still […]
DOL OFFERS GUIDANCE ON DEFINITION OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
On July 15, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued guidance regarding the proper classification of workers as either employees or independent contractors for purposes of complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The FLSA governs how people are compensated, e.g., on an hourly basis versus salaried employees. The DOL indicated that the […]
U.S. SUPREME COURT’S DECISION ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE—IMPLICATIONS FOR TEXAS EMPLOYERS
On June 26, 2015, in the Obergefell v. Hodge, et al. case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that: (i) all states must permit marriages between same-sex couples; and (ii) all states must recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed in other states. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to marry is a fundamental right […]
Employer may fire employee for use of medicinal marijuana
Numerous states have authorized the use of medicinal marijuana. Several others have even permitted limited recreational use. How does this movement coincide with an employer’s “zero tolerance” policy of prohibiting drug use, whether during or after working hours? According to the Colorado Supreme Court (one of the few states that has permitted not only medicinal […]