Labor & Employment Law Update

Sure, you’ve heard that non-union employees are protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), too. But do you realize just how quickly the protections of the Act can come into play?  If your front line managers are not properly trained, an employee’s attitude could quite literally turn a situation into a federal case.

A federal appeals court recently affirmed the decision of the NLRB against an employer in a case where a non-union employee engaged in conduct that most employers would consider as straight up insubordination, Staffing Network Holdings, LLC v. NLRB, 2016 BL ...

A recent case out of the Northern District of Texas demonstrates just how important it is to listen to the Department of Labor (DOL) when they come knocking on your door.  (Solano v. Ali Baba Mediterranean Grille, Inc., 2016 BL 62687, N.D.Tex. No. 3:15-cv-00555, 3/2/16). Here, the DOL investigated allegations against the restaurant for failing to track time records, failing to properly pay a chef for the time he spent traveling between restaurants and improperly paying overtime on a bi-weekly basis instead of weekly. The DOL informed the restaurant of its improper pay practices, but ...

On March 1, 2016, the EEOC announced that it had filed its first two sex discrimination lawsuits based on sexual orientation. One of these cases, filed in the federal district court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is based on allegations that a gay male employee was subject to anti-gay epithets and other offensive comments about his sexuality and sex life that eventually drove the employee to resign. The other case, filed in the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, is based on allegations that a lesbian employee’s supervisor made comments regarding the employee’s ...

Effective January 1, 2016 all 53 EEOC field offices across the country have implemented the Commission’s new “Digital Charge System,” an online portal through which employers will receive and transmit information to the EEOC. From now on, all major communications between the EEOC and employers, including the Commission’s service of newly filed EEOC charges, will be transmitted through the online portal. In most cases, the EEOC will no longer mail paper copies of EEOC charges and related documentation to employers. Instead, the EEOC will send an email to the employer ...

Readers of this blog know that we counsel our employer clients to immediately investigate the facts as soon as an employee who is subject to a restrictive covenant engages in conduct that might violate it. This is because the right to obtain an emergency injunction blocking any prohibited conduct can depend on the promptness of the employer’s efforts at enforcement.

This point was underscored by a recent unpublished decision of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District (Cook County). Although this is an Illinois case, the lesson applies to employers in any state.

A bit of strategic planning could have saved an employer from a federal jury’s $5.5 million verdict for a mechanic who claimed his accommodations were discontinued after eight (8) years. A heavy equipment mechanical repairman  was subject to medical restrictions for lifting, climbing, and postural limitations. Despite these restrictions, he performed the essential functions of the job with accommodations. This all changed on December 28, 2011 when he returned to work from an unrelated gallbladder surgery; his new supervisor noted his arthritis-related work restrictions ...

 Unless you’ve been avoiding the national news the last several months, you already know the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has been in the cross hairs of the Department of Justice for alleged civil rights violations. Just this past Friday, February 5, 2016, the Department made a new civil rights claim against the CPD based on employment discrimination. The court complaint filed on Friday in the Northern District of Illinois, entitled alleges discrimination based on national origin. It claims the CPD discriminated against applicants not born in the United States through its ...

Employers, including federal contractors, who are required to file annual Employer Information Reports (also known as EEO-1 reports) with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), may soon have additional reporting requirements. Currently, employers with more than 100 employees and certain federal contractors with 50-99 employees, have to report the number of full-time and part-time employees by sex, race, ethnicity and job category on their EEO-1 reports.

The EEOC ...

As many prepare this week for Super Bowl parties to cheer on their favorite team, NFL teams’ treatment of cheerleaders serves as a reminder to employers that no one can escape wage and hour laws. Moreover, it serves as reminder that if businesses/franchises worth billions of dollars have made the mistake of misclassifying an individual as an independent contractor instead of an employee, then so can you.

Over the past few years, more than five NFL teams including the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders have faced class action ...

On January 20, 2016, the Supreme Court made it clear, in Montanile v. Board of Trustees of National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, that ERISA plans wanting to enforce subrogation rights against a participant need to act quickly. If the participant spends all of his/her settlement funds on nontraceable items before the plan files suit for reimbursement, the plan is out of luck.

In December of 2008, plan participant, Robert Montanile, was severely injured when a drunk driver ran through a stop sign and crashed into his vehicle. The health plan, in which Montanile was a ...