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Archive of: Labor Relations
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The Obama Overtime Rule is Dead
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Labor Relations / Comments
Last November, a federal judge in Texas blocked implementation of the Department of Labor (“DOL") Rule that raised the salary an employee must earn to be exempt from federal overtime regulations from $455/week ($23,660/year) to $913 per week ($47,476/year). He held that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of their argument that the DOL exceeded its authority by imposing such a large increase in the salary test. ...
Read MoreEmployer-Friendly 7th Circuit Case Highlights Risk of Wage Claim for After Hours Email Communications
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision that will be welcomed by employers, but also acts to remind us of potential trouble that employers face in connection with “after-hours" work performed on mobile devices. The case involved claims by Chicago police officers that they had not been paid for time they spent, after the end of their normal shifts, monitoring and responding to email messages on their ...
Read MoreFederal Court Rules that a Company's Website Must be Accessible to Its Blind Patrons
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
In the first lawsuit of its kind to go to trial, a Florida federal judge recently ruled that Winn-Dixie's website is a “place of public accommodation" subject to the ADA because it is “heavily integrated" with the company's physical store locations. (For example, prescriptions can be refiled on the website and then picked up at the pharmacy located in the store.) As a result, the Court ordered the Company to ...
Read MoreThe NLRB Invalidates More Employee Handbook Policies
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act grants employees the right to engage in “concerted activity" for the purpose of “mutual aid and protection." Section 8 of the Act makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of those rights. Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board has relied on these provisions to invalidate a number of common ...
Read MoreOBAMA INCREASES EXECUTIVE ACTION ON LABOR & EMPLOYMENT ISSUES
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Labor Relations / Comments
After years of gridlock, President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that he would move forward on employment issues “with or without Congress.” His first Executive Order tied to this threat increased the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour, in part to “help build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans.” This Order applies to new contracts and renewals ...
Read MoreNLRB Increases Pressure On Non-Union Employers, by David A. McClurg
Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Labor Relations / Comments
Obama appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continue to support a pro-employee agenda designed to encourage action by non-union employees. The Board recently launched a website specifically designed to “educate” employees about their right to engage in “protected concerted activities” under Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (the "Act"), including the right to “form, join or assist labor organizations, bargain collectively through representatives ...
Read MoreNLRB’S QUICKIE ELECTION RULE FOUND INVALID
Posted by in Employer-Employee Relationship, Business Management, Labor Relations / Comments
In a previous post, we discussed the NLRB pushing ahead on the “Quickie Election” rule, despite protests and opposition of Board member Brian Hayes. At the November 30, 2012 public meeting and voting for the final rule Hayes did not participate in the vote. The other two members voted to approve the rule and as such on December 22, 2011, the NLRB ...
Read MoreNow Employers Have to Worry About the Federal Trade Commission
Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Business Management, Technology, Labor Relations / Comments
A few years back I prepared a handout for a seminar on effective employment practices. In the handout I listed what I hoped would be a complete litany of laws that affect employers and employees in the work place. The list of at least 27 different laws is reproduced below.Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000(e), et. seq.;Civil Rights Act of 1991;AmericansWith Disabilities ...
Read MoreNLRB POSTING RULE AGAIN DELAYED
Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Business Management, Labor Relations / Comments
We have yet another turn in the saga of the controversial NLRB Rule requiring employers to post a notice of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act. After two previous delays in the implementation date motivated by requests from one of the federal courts considering challenges to the NLRB’s authority to require employers to post such notices, the Rule was set to become effective on April 30, 2012.A ...
Read MoreNLRB POSTING UPDATE - YOU MAY HAVE TO POST BUT THE CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT DOING SO ARE MINIMAL
Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Business Management, Labor Relations / Comments
In previous blog posts we have discussed the National Labor Relations Board’s new posting rule (the Final Rule) which has been delayed several times. The delays were, in part, because of lawsuits filed by various employer groups who challenged The Final Rule on several grounds. The primary challenges included arguments that being required to post the NLRB’s notice violated the employer’s First Amendment Rights; that the Final Rule was ...
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