Labor & Employment Law Update

As states and cities have created new paid family and medical leave requirements for employers, the layers of overlapping regulation have left even the most seasoned employee benefits professionals and leave administrators with legitimate questions about how those schemes interact with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Recently released guidance from the United States Department of Labor (DOL), in the form of an opinion letter, attempts to resolve many of those questions.

On Nov. 15, 2024, a federal judge in Texas invalidated the United States Department of Labor’s rule that raised the minimum salary levels under the Fair Labor Standards Act “white collar” exemptions. As a result, the minimum salary levels that were in place prior to July 1, 2024, now apply again effective immediately.

Following a split between federal district courts (federal judges in Texas and Florida ruled to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission’s ban while a Pennsylvania court upheld it), a federal district judge in Texas has issued a nationwide injunction setting aside the ban. This means that the FTC’s rule banning most non-compete agreements will not take effect on September 4^th as widely reported.

There is much uncertainty about the future of FTC's new rule (the “FTC Rule”) making most non-compete agreements unlawful and barring employers from enforcing past non-compete clauses against nearly all employees and independent contractors.  

There is much uncertainty about the future of FTC's new rule (the “FTC Rule”) making most non-compete agreements unlawful and barring employers from enforcing past non-compete clauses against nearly all employees and independent contractors.  

On July 3, 2024, a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction that stays the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) near-total ban on non-compete agreements for the named plaintiffs seeking to invalidate the ban which is set to take effect on September 4, 2024. 

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees based on disability and requires that employers reasonably accommodate an individual with a known disability. Of course, not all disabilities are “known” – they may not be obvious or observable to an employer and they may not be clearly disclosed by the employee. So when does the duty to accommodate on the part of the employer trigger? What of the employee who complains of physical ailments and requests an accommodation but does not submit documentation from his or her physician?

As part of his two-year spending plan, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has proposed mandating 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for many private and public sector workers by January 1, 2025. This proposal, if passed, would represent a marked change from existing state and federal laws which provide for job-protected leave on an unpaid basis to certain eligible employees of larger employers.

Join Amundsen Davis attorneys Peter Hansen and Laurie Meyer for a webcast on May 31 at 12:00 PM CT to discuss recent changes to, and a comparison of, Illinois and Wisconsin employment laws, along with recent developments in Federal employment laws.

Most employers with 50+ employees are aware that under the federal FMLA, eligible employees may, for qualifying reasons, take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period. Employers are also aware that employees can, under certain circumstances, take this leave on an “intermittent” or “reduced schedule” basis. For instance, an eligible employee might work four rather than eight hours per day for many weeks or months for FMLA-qualifying reasons. In those cases, an employer might believe that since 12 weeks multiplied by 40 hours per week equals 480 hours, the maximum amount of FMLA leave any employee can take in a 12-month period is 480 hours.