Articles and Blogs

Windows and Sinks and Employee Complaints  Employees have a right to complain about a lot of things, including windows and sinks.  When they join together to complain, an employer needs to make sure that those complaints are not factors in the decision to fire the complaining employees.  In this NLRB case, a hospital fired a... READ MORE

Fast Food Workers Strike for Higher Pay Earlier this month, in 100 cities around the country, fast food workers went on strike for higher pay – much higher pay – seeking $15 an hour or a “living wage” as some describe it.  Although the job action got much media attention, there is no real... READ MORE

The OFCCP is hosting a series of webinars designed to help federal contractors understand and implement its newly published regulations regarding affirmative action for individuals with disabilities and certain protected veterans.  These new regulations, which become effective on March 24, 2014, significantly change the affirmative action obligations related to individuals with disabilities and certain... READ MORE

IRS rules governing health flexible spending arrangements (“FSAs”) require cafeteria plans to forfeit unused amounts left in a participant’s health FSA at the end of a plan year. This so-called  “use-it-or-lose-it” rule was perceived as a significant barrier to health FSA participation by many employees, especially lower and moderate income employees.  They are more... READ MORE

Previous blog posts have highlighted the importance of analyzing, for purposes of both day-to-day operations and litigation strategy considerations, whether, as an initial matter, an individual can even invoke the anti-discrimination protections available under certain federal employment laws (e.g., Title VII, ADA, ADEA, ERISA). For example, our May 11, 2012 post analyzed whether a... READ MORE

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Says Ban Is Lawful An Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) has put at least a temporary stop to what many have seen as a trend to expand employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.  The NLRB General Counsel’s complaint filed against an employer, who maintained a policy prohibiting the recording... READ MORE

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) is warning consumers about a telephone scam that targets taxpayers, and specifically immigrants, throughout the country.  During the scam phone call, victims are threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license if they do not promptly pay money allegedly owed to the IRS through a... READ MORE

“I want to be evaluated by a different hiring manager.” An African American submitted his résumé for a project manager position through a third-party recruiting firm.  He was subsequently contacted by the recruiting firm to discuss his candidacy and to complete a required assessment for the application process. However, by his own admission, he... READ MORE

E-Verify Is Down, but I-9s Are Up Employers who attempted to access E-Verify during the week of October 2 were stopped by the following error message: “E-Verify is currently unavailable due to a government shutdown.”  This error message raised several questions for employers, specifically whether Form I-9 requirements were suspended as well.  This concern... READ MORE

DOL Extends Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections to Home Care Workers Last week, the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division released a new rule extending minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to home care workers employed by third-party employers.  The new rule, which is not scheduled to... READ MORE