Labor & Employment Law Update

On November 6, Indiana’s right-to-work law cleared its most recent major hurdle. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the law overturning a Lake County decision declaring the law unconstitutional. The Seventh Circuit upheld the law in September. Meanwhile the Michigan Supreme Court announced it will hear argument in January on whether its state’s right-to-work laws properly apply to state employees.

So, Indiana and Michigan and twenty-two other states (the entire south plus several states in the west) now have right-to-work laws on the books and several others have considered ...

Six months ago, the NLRB held (on remand from the Ninth Circuit) that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by firing an employee even though he called his supervisor a “[multiple expletives deleted]“  and even threatened that if he was fired, the boss would “regret it.”  Plaza Auto Center, Inc., 360 NLRB No. 117 (2014).  That decision left many employers exasperated, and still does.  Recently however, the board issued a decision that confirms that even this pro-labor board recognizes that some employee conduct falls outside the protections of the National ...

On October 30, 2014 in the case of Overstreet v. Farm Fresh Co. Target One LLC, No. 2:13-cv-02358, the Arizona Federal District Court ordered attorney’s fees be paid to Farm Fresh Co. Target One LLC (Farm Fresh) by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) due to the NLRB’s demand that Farm Fresh reinstate four employees without following the federal and Arizona state laws governing the use of E-Verify.

In 2013, Farm Fresh was purchased through an asset purchase agreement by a new owner.  The new owner (after receiving advice and guidance from the Dept. of Homeland Security ...

Employers who have been using E-Verify for more than 10 years must be aware that as of January 1, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be deleting any transaction records in the E-Verify system that are more than 10 years old.  As of January 1, 2015, employers will no longer have access in E-Verify to any case they created prior to December 31, 2004.  In order to have a record of the cases that are more than 10 years old, employers must download the new Historic Records Report before the December 31, 2014 deadline.  USCIS is encouraging all employers who were ...

On Tuesday November 4, 2014 all five states that had initiatives on the ballot – Illinois, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota – passed measures to increase the minimum wage. As a reminder, the initiative in Illinois was nonbinding.  Most of the increases will occur in a step manner, but all will need to be evaluated for the impact on our pay and businesses.

The state roundup of Minimum Wage Initiatives is as follows:

Illinois

The Illinois Minimum Wage Increase Question, which was on the November 4, 2014 ballot, passed. This initiative was an advisory question and is ...

Employers often do not question a service member’s request for time off due to being deployed or called up to active duty. However, when an employee comes home from active duty do you know your legal obligations? Better yet, do you know what to do if one of your employees is a service member who regularly requests time off for “training”?

Illinois employers are primarily affected by the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Illinois National Guard Employment Rights Law. The problem is under both laws there is no formal process to check ...