Frantz Ward Labor and Employment Group

Connect: Read more about Frantz Ward Labor and Employment Group
Firm/Organization: Frantz Ward LLP
Blogs: Labor & Employment Law Navigator

Latest Articles

BN-KB504_edp082_GR_20150828194637
Feel like the government shutdown has reduced news coming out of the federal administrative agencies? If so, January 17, 2019 likely provided a spark to your week. Last Thursday, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Chairman John Ring issued a letter which served as the most-recent move in the NLRB’s joint employer dance. In his letter, Chairman Ring responded to the request of two U.S. House of Representatives Democrats that the NLRB withdraw its proposed joint…
Administering payroll for employees with variable work schedules and hourly rates can cause major headaches for employers. In an effort to simplify and reduce administrative costs, employers are oftentimes tempted to set a standard overtime rate to be paid at a set dollar amount to all employees regardless of variations in compensation rates and actual weekly compensation earned. However, as a recent Department of Labor Opinion Letter explains, employers must adhere to the FLSA’s overtime…
An Ohio court of appeals last week confirmed that a primary benefit of using staffing companies – the staffing company’s payment of workers’ compensation premiums covering the loaned employees – shields both the staffing company and its customer from workplace negligence claims. Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals, in Thomas v. PSC Metals, 2018-Ohio-1630 (8th Dist. Ct. App., Apr. 26, 2018), found that an employee who was on loan to PSC Metals from a staffing company…
On Monday, the NLRB unanimously vacated its December 2017 Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors decision, marking yet another abrupt reversal in the method for determining whether two employers can be held jointly liable for violations of labor and employment laws committed by either employer. In doing so, the Board effectively reinstated its 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries (“BFI”) decision, meaning that two businesses are joint employers when one has “indirect” or “reserved’ control over the other’s workers. Click here to…
Employers should take note that on April 1, 2018 more rigorous Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulations take effect governing the administration of benefit claims and ensuing appeals under ERISA plans providing disability benefits. (“ERISA” refers to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the federal law governing private sector employee benefit plans). These regulatory changes will have their most significant impact on private sector long-term disability plans. However, they will also affect those retirement…
Last week the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) continued to correct its course to a more even balance between union and employer interests. It overturned four controversial decisions that had created a great deal of consternation and uncertainty in the employer community. Click here to read the full client alert.  …
In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) expanded the joint employer doctrine through its controversial decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California. The House of Representatives will vote today on the “Save Local Business Act” (SLBA), a recent effort advanced in Congress to re-define the concept of “joint employers” for collective bargaining purposes as well as wage-and-hour, safety, and other employment liability.  If passed, the bill would effectively undo Browning-Ferris. The Browning-Ferris decision broadened the standard used in evaluating…
Embattled House Republicans were able to muster enough votes on May 4, 2017 to push their health care reform bill, known as the American Health Care Act (H.R. 1628), to the Senate. The passage marks a recovery for party leaders after they jettisoned a previous bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act for lack of support. Click here to read the full client alert…
Employers in union settings know that they generally cannot make changes to their employees’ wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment without first negotiating to impasse with the union. The exception to this rule has historically been that the employers could make changes, as long as they could show that their labor contract had a management rights clause that allowed certain changes to be made without bargaining. A recent decision from the National…