Last week the Court reviewed, and largely reversed, a National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or Board) order finding that four policies contained in a Company’s employee handbook violated the National Labor Relations Act (the Act). The case is important because the challenged policies are similar to policies contained in many employee handbooks. Moreover, an employee
Texas law favors the resolution of disputes using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration. To compel an employee’s claim to arbitration, the employer need only show that a valid agreement to arbitrate exists and the claims asserted by the employee fall within the scope of the agreement. Many companies utilize technology such as online
Yesterday, the EEOC published its four-year Strategic Enforcement Plan for fiscal years 2017 through 2021. The Plan is the Commission’s list of areas of priority where it intends to focus its resources in the next four years. The purpose of the Plan is to identify those areas the Commission believes are likely to have a
This week the DOL published its final rule requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to employees working on or in connection with federal contracts. The sick leave required by the final rule would allow an employee to use accrued paid sick leave for their own illness, the need to care for a sick
This week the DOL announced changes to the white collar overtime exemptions that take effect December 1, 2016. Every employment lawyer with a newsletter, blog or soapbox has written some summary of the new regulations. And while the regulations only effect the executive, administrative, professional and high compensated exemptions, Daniel Schwartz, a Connecticut employment
Last night the U.S. Department of Labor announced details of its long-awaited Final Rule on changes to the regulations interpreting the overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA is the federal law requiring most employers to pay minimum wages and overtime to nonexempt employees. The Final Rule raises the minimum salary
Last week the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division published The Employer’s Guide to the FMLA. The Department intended the Guide to be an informational resource to “provide essential information about the FMLA” and increase employer’s knowledge of the law, obligations and options available to employers administering FMLA leave.
The Guide is
Congress passed, and the President indicates he will sign, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) creating a federal cause of action for the misappropriation of trade secrets. Until now, misappropriation of trade secret claims have been litigated under state or common law theories of recover and usually in state courts unless the parties
The City of Austin, Texas has joined the long list of municipalities nationally that have adopted ordinances restricting employers ability to make inquiries into an applicant’s criminal background and to act on that information. Under Austin’s new Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance, an employer with fifteen or more employees in the City of Austin may not:
A recent case from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals should remind HR Directors (and supervisors) to be particularly vigilant in handling employee FMLA leaves of absence. In Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, the appellate court reversed a trial court victory for the employer and the two individual supervisors (one of whom was