Articles and Blogs

The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) recently announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require employers seeking to file cap-subject H-1B petitions to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). The proposed rule would also reverse the order that USCIS selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced... READ MORE

A recent decision from a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin held that the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) claim brought by the former employee of an assisted living center could not be dismissed. The outcome and the facts are instructive for other health care employers. The former employee of the assisted living facility,... READ MORE

Have you ever asked or been asked, “What can I put away for my retirement next year?” The answer could be different for almost every year. Most of the limitations in the Internal Revenue Code are indexed with inflation. They increase in many years but not all. The IRS and Social Security Administration have... READ MORE

The November 6, 2018 midterm elections will be remembered for a lot of things, including the wave of marijuana legalization that followed after polls closed. A majority of voters in Utah and Missouri endorsed ballot initiatives that legalized the medicinal use of marijuana in both states. Michigan, for its part, became the first Midwest... READ MORE

NATIONAL Azar Issues 2nd HIPAA Privacy Rule Waiver in As Many Months Aetna Reaches Settlements with State AGs Over HIPAA Violations CMS signs up 1,547 providers for new bundled payment model Amazon, Walmart patents highlight potential of biometric monitoring Grassley calls for Federal Trade Commission to examine hospital, insurer contracting 39 new ASCs were... READ MORE

Recently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmatively ruled that an employee’s violation of his or her employer’s written absenteeism policy constituted “misconduct” under Wis. Stat. § 108.04(5), even where the employer’s absenteeism policy was more stringent than the definition of absenteeism outlined under the statute. In doing so, the Court reversed a decision by the... READ MORE

They’re at it again! On August 28, 2018, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued six opinion letters. This was the second batch of opinion letters from the Wage and Hour Division in a matter of months. The Wage and Hour Division, which hadn’t published new opinion letters since 2010, previously issued... READ MORE

A recent denial of summary judgment by a U.S. District Court in New York reminds us that bias-based comments can have serious consequences for hospitals and other employers, including that their employment decisions may be undermined. The ruling also suggests that, in certain situations, requiring a waiver of claims may be considered retaliatory. Facts... READ MORE

On September 5, 2018, the Michigan Legislature voted to approve the Earned Sick Time Act (the “Act”), the Midwest’s first statewide paid sick and safe time law.[1] The Act requires employers to provide employees with earned sick time, up to 72 hours per year, for certain covered reasons, such as mental or physical illness... READ MORE

As we noted in the prior article that we recently posted, there were two different franchisor/franchisee rulings issued this summer in the context of joint employment relationships. Recall that joint employment is an employment law theory that involves an employee who works for two separate companies—the joint employers—where both companies have the ability to control... READ MORE