Articles and Blogs

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

A concern for many workers today is the student loan burden they carry. Many employees, both young and old, are paying off large student loan balances rolled up in pursuing undergraduate and graduate college degrees. As the cost of college education continues to increase at rates that surpass the general inflation rate in the... READ MORE

The hope and promise of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) processes is that they will resolve disputes more efficiently and with less expense than litigation. But, when the parties cannot achieve a negotiated settlement and turn to arbitration, they find that standard arbitration, which allows discovery and motions, is not nearly as simple and inexpensive... READ MORE

In the restaurant industry, it’s pretty common for fast food and sandwich shop operators—think Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, Subway, etc.—to run their companies based on a franchise model. Under this model, which is somewhat analogous to a large corporation that has a main “corporate office” and satellite locations scattered around the country, the franchisor owns the... READ MORE

The adjudicators who review employer submitted immigration petitions such as H-1B’s and I-140’s will soon have more discretion available to deny those petitions. Health care employers will be specifically affected by this change as about 25 percent of all physicians practicing or training in the United States are foreign born. On July 13, 2018,... READ MORE

A recent federal appeals court decision reminds us that employees can bring sexual harassment claims based on the conduct of non-employees, including patients. A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reminds us of that risk. The Facts and Allegations In Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, LLC, a nursing... READ MORE

A multi-facility health care employer, with subsidiary facilities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has been named in a class/collective action lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania federal court for allegedly failing to pay its employees adequate overtime under both federal and state wage and hour laws. Plaintiff’s Allegations The plaintiff, a non-exempt (i.e., hourly) medical lab... READ MORE