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Archive of: Employer-Employee Relationship

Updated CDC Guidance on Quarantine Duration

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Labor Relations, COVID-19 / Comments

On December 2, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidance on the recommended length of quarantine for individuals who are asymptomatic, but have had “close contact” with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. (Note that the CDC has recently redefined “close contact” to include exposure within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative – not single – total of 15 minutes or ...

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DOL ISSUES NEW OVERTIME RULE

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources, Labor Relations / Comments

On March 7th, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled a long-awaited replacement to an Obama era rule (blocked by a federal court in November, 2016) that would have increased the salary level required for exemption from federal overtime regulations from $455/week ($23,660/year) to $913/week (over $47,000/year), and added over 4 million U.S. workers to the ranks of those eligible for overtime pay. Under the proposed replacement rule, the ...

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Supreme Court Holds that an Employer’s Actual Knowledge of Link Between an Employee’s Disability and Misconduct Resulting in Termination is Required to Prove Disability Discrimination

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources, Labor Relations / Comments

An employer can be held liable under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act if it takes an adverse action (including termination or other disciplinary action) against an employee “because of" the employee's disability. One of the most vexing problems for employers arises when, after terminating an employee for misconduct or rule violations, the employee claims that the conduct leading to the discipline was “caused by" their underlying disability. This has been ...

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The NLRB Returns Some Sanity to the Evaluation of Workplace Policies

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources, Labor Relations / Comments

Under President Obama, the National Labor Relations Board issued a series of decisions finding a range of workplace policies to be unlawful because employees might “reasonably construe" the rules to restrict rights protected under the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act"). Rules found to “violate" the Act included rules requiring “civility" and restricting the use of recording devices in the workplace, prohibitions against defamation and many more.A “newly constituted" NLRB ...

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Supreme Court Upholds Class Action Waivers in Employment Arbitration Agreements

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources, Labor Relations / Comments

The major employment-related news this month was the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, in a case one involving Wisconsin-based Epic Systems, that class action waivers included in arbitration agreements relating to employment disputes are enforceable. The Court has, based on the provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act, consistently upheld the validity of arbitration agreements in a variety of contexts over many decades. However, the National Labor Relations Board and several federal ...

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U.S. Supreme Court Confirms Our 7th Circuit Win in an ADA Accommodation Case

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Reasonable Accommodations, Employer-Employee Relationship, Labor Relations / Comments

Several months ago, we told you about a case alleging that our client, Heartland Woodcraft, violated the ADA by denying an employee's request for an additional 2-3 months of leave to undergo back surgery after he had exhausted three-months of FMLA leave on conservative treatment alternatives. Heartland denied the request because it needed to fill the employee's second shift lead position, and believed it would only be able to find ...

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7th Circuit Reaffirms: Multi-Month Leave is Not a Reasonable ADA Accommodation

Posted by Attorney David McClurg in Employer-Employee Relationship, Labor Relations / Comments

Over a year ago, I reported on a case I was handling in which an employee with a non-work-related back injury requested an additional 2-3 months of leave to undergo back surgery after exhausting his three-months of FMLA leave on more conservative treatment alternatives. Because the employer needed to fill the employee's second shift lead position, and believed it would only be able to find a competent replacement if it ...

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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. ...

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FMLA Update: 7th Circuit Rules in Favor of Employee, By Barbara Halpin

Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources / Comments

On August 9th, the 7th Circuit in Pagel v. TIN, Inc. overturned the district court’s granting of summary judgment for an employer in an FMLA leave case which now enables the employee to take it to trial.  The Plaintiff, Pagel, claimed that his employer violated the FMLA by interfering with his right to take leave under the Act and then retaliated against him for taking the leave.Pagel, a salesman for ...

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Thinking Outside the Box: Can Unusual Pro-Employee Policies Benefit the Workplace? By Roger L. Pettit

Posted by Attorney Roger L. Pettit in Employer-Employee Relationship, Human Resources, Business Management / Comments

I recently received a blog article entitled “Counter Intuitive Company Policies That Actually Work”.   Please click on the following link to read the article:  http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/20-counterintuitive-company-policies-that-actually-work/.   In this and future posts, I intend to address a number of the twenty (20) unusual workplace policies from my perspective.  I welcome your comments, pro and con, with respect to the viability of the policies.The first “Counter Intuitive” policy is the “No Vacation” policy.  The ...

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