Employment & Labor

January 20, 2020

Many individuals with disabilities use service animals to help them fully engage in everyday life. Animals, particularly dogs, can be trained to perform a wide range of tasks to help people with disabilities, and the number of tasks these specially trained animals can perform continues to grow. As a result, more applicants and employees are requesting the use of service animals as a reasonable workplace accommodation for a variety of different disabilities. In addition, the…

Lancaster Law Blog

The Year of Teamwork

By Matthew Landis

January 20, 2020

At the beginning of last year, I wrote one of my favorite posts about why getting a mentor should be your New Year’s resolution. In a nutshell, that article posited that we live in a world full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, and one of the best ways to help you through it was to find a trusted advisor. In my view, an essential quality of a great mentor is knowing the limits…

Connecticut Employment Law Blog

Do We Have to Allow Dogs in Our Workplace? Maybe. Maybe Not.

By Daniel Schwartz

January 20, 2020

Recently, I saw a skiing dog. Oh, and it was wearing sunglasses too. To be fair (to the dog), it was actually tucked neatly in a backpack while the owner was in line for the chairlift. I didn’t actually see the dog skiing, but you get the picture. (Which I did capture!) I thought I had seen everything but this was something new. And yet, it perfectly captured for me, a growing trend I’ve been…

The Business of Benefits

403(b) and the SECURE Act: The New 500 Hour, Long Service Rule Does Not Apply to 403(b) Plans

By Robert Toth

January 20, 2020

There is an encouraging sign that Congressional staff and other legislative writers may finally be taking seriously the notion that that 403(b) plans really are fundamentally different than 401(k) plans. This “sign” takes the form of Section 112 of the SECURE Act, under which sponsors of “cash or deferred arrangements” arrangements must allow long-term employees working more than 500 but less than 1,000 hours per year to make elective deferrals to their plans. At first glance,…

Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg

Alabama Employee Gets a Second Opinion Doctor Despite Previously Exhausting her Panel of Four

By Michael Fish

January 19, 2020

On January 17, 2020, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals released its opinion in the matter styled Ex parte Kohler Company, Inc. In Kohler, the Court considered a Petition for Writ of Mandamus filed by the employer as the result of a trial court order requiring it to authorize a referral to a doctor for a second opinion after the employee had previously exercised her right to select a doctor from a panel of four. …

Employment Law Matters

Numbers are fun . . . unless you’re calculating overtime compensation for a period that includes a discretionary bonus.

By Maria Danaher

January 19, 2020

numbers are fun — Photo of Elmo from Sesame Street enjoying numbers.

Calculating the “regular rate” of pay: Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires an employer to pay one and one-half times an employee’s “regular rate” of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. That “regular rate” includes all “remuneration for employment” and specifically includes nondiscretionary bonuses. Nondiscretionary bonuses are bonuses announced by an employer, in advance, to induce a non-exempt (typically hourly) employee to take a specific action. When such…

OSHA Law Blog

Review Commission Gains Quorum After Senate Confirmations

By Trever L. Neuroth

January 19, 2020

Since April of 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (“Commission”) has been a panel of one. After Chairwoman Heather MacDougall resigned from the Commission on March 31, 2019 and Commission Cynthia Attwood’s term ended in April of 2019, the Commission was left with one member, Commissioner James Sullivan, Jr. In July 2019, Mr. Sullivan was elevated to Chairman of the Commission and has sat in that position without a quorum since then. But…

San Francisco Employment Law Firm Blog

Increase in Salary For Computer Professional Exemption in California

By Arkady Itkin

January 19, 2020

Under California Labor Code section 515.5, certain software industry employees are exempt from overtime pay requirements, if they perform specific, exempt duties and receive a rate of pay not less than the statutorily-specified rate. Effective January 1, 2020, the computer software employee’s minimum hourly rate of pay, in order to be subject to this exemption, increases from $45.41 / hour to $46.55 / hour, the minimum monthly salary exemption will increase from $7,883.62 to $8,080.71,…

New York Civil Service Attorney Law Blog

NYPD Psych 2nd interview

By Kevin Sheerin

January 18, 2020

Recently the number of candidates getting their disqualification reversed at a 2nd psych interview has increased. You must file an NOPD Appeal to have a chance at a second interview. If you receive a 2nd interview you are best served to know the issues that were raised in your disqualification and the arguments made by your appeal Mental Health Professional (MHP). If you receive an NOPD nothing will change unless you take action and appeal…

California Workplace Law Blog

U.S. District Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Enforcement of AB 5: Truckers Can Keep Trucking as Independent Contractors in California

By Pamela Palpallatoc

January 17, 2020

Earlier this week, the Southern District heard arguments regarding the grant of a preliminary injunction to prevent the enforcement of Assembly Bill 5 (“AB 5”) against motor carriers operating within California. Judge Benitez granted the preliminary injunction and concluded in his order that “there is little question that the State of California has encroached on Congress’ territory by eliminating motor carriers’ choice to use independent contractor drivers, a choice at the very heart of…