Labor & Employment Law Update

Numerous employers can verify first hand that OSHA is actively fulfilling the promise it made a few years ago, “to get back in the enforcement business.”  In recent years, we have seen increased enforcement activity, including a significant increase in OSHA site inspections.  There is no indication OSHA’s ramped up inspection activity will slow down any time soon.  In fact, last month, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced its current rulemaking activity and OSHA topped the list with the most rulemaking activity within the DOL.  This, coupled with OSHA’s new reporting ...

Back in July, we told you that President Obama signed Executive Order 13672, which directed the Department of Labor to expand the Equal Employment Opportunity requirements for certain federal contracts so as to prohibit discrimination by contractors based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Taking the cue from that Executive Order, on December 3, 2014, the Department of Labor issued its Final Rule implementing the Executive Order.  The Final Rule will take effect on April 8, 2015.

A central component of the Final Rule is its directive that covered contracts and ...

On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a victory for employers in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, No. 13-433, 2014 WL 6885951 (U.S. Dec. 9, 2014) when the Court held that time spent by employees waiting for and undergoing security screenings before leaving the employer’s workplace was not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Plaintiffs sued Integrity Staffing Solutions alleging that it required hourly workers to undergo anti-theft screening, taking about 25 minutes per day, before leaving the warehouse and the end of each shift ...

On December 2, 2014, the Chicago City Council approved The Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance (Chicago Municipal Code §1-24), increasing the minimum wage to $13.00 per hour.  Here are nine points you need to know now:

1. Covered employees are those who work for at least two hours in any two-week period within Chicago’s geographic boundaries, including driving through the city (e.g., that delivery driver that takes Route 94 from Evanston to Gary and gets stuck in rush hour traffic is covered!).  Time commuting between home and work does not count.
2. Employers with at least one ...

Every year at this time, employers ask us the same set of questions: Do we have to pay employees for holiday time off, or overtime if they work on a holiday? What about inclement weather closings?

Non-Exempt Employees

Non-exempt employees are those that are covered by the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its state counterparts.  These are the bulk of the workforce, and typically hourly workers.  Non-exempt employees generally (exceptions follow) only need to be paid for hours they actually work – and not for holidays or ...