Articles and Blogs

Was Job Restructuring Reasonable?  The Jury Will Decide A hairdresser at a nursing home quit her job following surgery when her boss failed to consider assigning her duties of transporting wheelchair bound residents to the beauty salon to orderlies.  She filed an ADA suit claiming a failure to reasonably accommodate her disability.  The nursing... READ MORE

Michigan, like nearly half of the states in the nation, now embraces the medical use of marijuana in certain situations. Like most state medical marijuana laws, Michigan’s law (enacted by referendum) does not require accommodation of an employee who is under the influence of medical marijuana in the workplace. Yet a decision issued on... READ MORE

With concerns over the spread of Ebola, hospitals and health care providers face a unique situation as employers and care providers. Just as a few years ago employers geared up to deal with Pandemic Flu and a few decades ago employers were dealing with AIDS/HIV in the workplace, many of the same precautions and... READ MORE

The EEOC made headlines earlier this year when it filed suit against CVS Pharmacy, Inc., alleging that the company’s practice of conditioning certain employees’ severance pay on the signing of a separation agreement amounted to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of employees’ rights under Title VII of the Civil... READ MORE

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) announced last week that it received approval to change its standard audit Scheduling Letter and accompanying Itemized Listing.  Together, these documents specify in detail what records and information federal contractors must supply to OFCCP when they are selected for a compliance review.  The changes are significant... READ MORE

Constitutional or Not? On February 1, 2012, Indiana became the 23rd state to adopt a statute that prohibits private employers and unions from entering into agreements that compel union membership and the payment of dues and fees as a condition of employment.  This so-called Right-to-Work Law was the focus of intense partisan debate, which led... READ MORE

As we approach the end of the 2014 calendar year and turn toward 2015, the “pay-or-play” penalties of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) will rise to the forefront of challenges for many employers.  Many employers are looking once again at whether they must provide health care coverage to employees in order... READ MORE

Protected Rights Expanded in Solidarity We have all become familiar with the protected rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act. To be protected under Section 7 of the NLRA, employee conduct must be both “concerted” and engaged in for the purpose of “mutual aid or protection.” The question that the NLRB was... READ MORE

Essentially all of our clients conduct pre-employment background checks on their employees. These background checks generally include a criminal history and license, certification and/or registration records. Sometimes these checks also include driving and/or credit records. All of these reports are considered “consumer reports” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and, accordingly, clients who... READ MORE

President Obama’s latest Executive Order  (“EO”) is entitled “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces,” but its requirements on federal contractors go beyond compensation and safety.  The good news is that implementation of these new requirements is not expected to be begin until 2016.  By then, we hope to have new regulations that better explain the... READ MORE