Employment Law Matters

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Company’s “point-reduction” program to erase absence points may violate FMLA.

By Maria Danaher on August 26, 2019

An employer instituted a no-fault attendance policy which allowed employees’ absence points to be reduced for each 30-day period of “perfect” attendance. An employee sued the company, based on the claim that his intermittent FMLA leave kept him from fully participating in that program. The lower court agreed with him, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower’s court’s decision, stating that the point reduction for perfect attendance may have…

Employment Law Matters

The World Health Organization is focusing attention on workplace burnout, and so should employers.

By Maria Danaher on June 6, 2019

Workplace burnout has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an “occupational phenomenon.” Employers should begin to formulate and implement mechanisms for dealing with the issue. The World Health Organization: WHO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a part of the United Nations that focuses on global health issues. The WHO has been working since 1948 on such issues as immunizations, health education, and smallpox and polio eradication. The United States is…

Employment Law Matters

What Should Employers Know About Minimum Wages in 2019?

By Maria Danaher on January 3, 2019

The “minimum wage” is the minimum hourly wage that an employer must pay to a covered nonexempt employee for work, and is set by federal, state, and local law. The current federal minimum wage, which was set in 2009 under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), is $7.25/hour. States are able to set their own minimum wages, independent of the federal government’s $7.25/hour, and frequently set that number at a higher rate than the federal…

Employment Law Matters

Think it’s okay not to provide a reason for termination? Think again.

By Maria Danaher on August 27, 2018

Some employers operate under the assumption that “at-will” employment means that an employee does not have to be given any reason for termination of his or her employment. However, that theory may allow an employee to overcome an employer’s motion to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit, since in order to overcome such a motion, a plaintiff simply has to set forth facts sufficient to state a “plausible” claim for relief. That standard means that a plaintiff…

Employment Law Matters

Is full-time presence at work an essential function of a job? One federal circuit says No.

By Maria Danaher on July 23, 2018

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that employers reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities, including allowing modified work schedules when appropriate. One federal appellate court has addressed that issue, overlaid with the question of accommodating an employee’s postpartum depression after FMLA leave, and has held that a lower court wrongly concluded that full-time presence was an essential function of the employee’s position. Hostettler v. College of Wooster, 6th Cit., No. 17-3406, July 17, 2018. Heidi…

Employment Law Matters

If You Don’t Know What GDPR Stands For, It’s Time to Find Out . . . .

By Maria Danaher on May 22, 2018

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became effective on May 25, 2018. Companies have been working to understand the significance of those new rules, and to determine their effect on US companies. The purpose of the GDPR is to harmonize certain data privacy laws within the European Union (including the UK, for now). But it also covers businesses outside of the EU to the extent that those businesses sell goods or services –…

Employment Law Matters

Opinion Letters Are Back, and Employers Should Pay Attention.

By Maria Danaher on April 13, 2018

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issues guidance to employers and individuals through Opinion Letters, Ruling Letters, Administrator Interpretations, and Field Assistance Bulletins. An “Opinion Letter” is an official written opinion by WHD of how a particular law that WHD enforces applies in specific circumstances presented by an employer, employee, or other entity requesting the opinion. In 2010, the DOL abandoned the use of Opinion Letters, and Administrative Interpretations…

Employment Law Matters

Sharing an employee’s EEOC charge with other employees may violate the ADA.

By Maria Danaher on January 22, 2018

The right to communicate with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is protected by federal law. In fact, the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan identifies, as one of its six enforcement priorities, “preserving access to the legal system.” Recently, one employer learned that a letter from its in-house attorney to its workforce may be viewed as violating federal law by “chilling” employees’ willingness to file discrimination claims. In September 2015, the EEOC filed a lawsuit in…

Employment Law Matters

Addressing Requests for Additional Time Off After a Leave of Absence: Walk in the Park, or Maze Without a Map?

By Maria Danaher on January 15, 2018

Is additional time off after a leave of absence a “reasonable” accommodation? The answer is unclear, and usually is “It depends.” Federal courts recently have disagreed with each other on the issue, and the question has received continued and increasing attention after the EEOC’s 2016 Guidance on medical leaves under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the shadow of that question is a more critical – and often overlooked – issue: the way in which an employee’s…

Employment Law Matters

Breastfeeding is a “gender-specific condition” protected by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

By Maria Danaher on September 19, 2017

Does Title VII’s Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) protect nursing mothers against post-pregnancy workplace discrimination? One federal court – the 11th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals – recently gave a resounding “Yes” to that question. Hicks v. City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 11th Cir., No. 16-13003, September 7, 2017. (With that decision, the Eleventh Circuit becomes the second federal appellate court to answer that question in the affirmative, with the Fifth Circuit having done so in…

Employment Law Matters

Blog Authors

Company’s “point-reduction” program to erase absence points may violate FMLA.

The World Health Organization is focusing attention on workplace burnout, and so should employers.

What Should Employers Know About Minimum Wages in 2019?

Think it’s okay not to provide a reason for termination? Think again.

Is full-time presence at work an essential function of a job? One federal circuit says No.

If You Don’t Know What GDPR Stands For, It’s Time to Find Out . . . .

Opinion Letters Are Back, and Employers Should Pay Attention.

Sharing an employee’s EEOC charge with other employees may violate the ADA.

Addressing Requests for Additional Time Off After a Leave of Absence: Walk in the Park, or Maze Without a Map?

Breastfeeding is a “gender-specific condition” protected by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

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