Labor & Employment Insights

Perspectives in labor and employment law affecting employers and businesses

National Labor Relations Board Reverses Another Obama-Era Labor Board Ruling and Reinstates Historical Deferral Doctrine

February 19, 2020

The National Labor Relations Board in recent weeks has continued to overturn Board decisions from President Obama’s administration. In United Parcel Service, Inc., the current Republican-controlled Board returned to a long-standing legal standard for “deferring” unfair labor practices to private arbitration. The Issue Often when workers are disciplined, whether in a union or nonunion setting, they file “unfair labor practices” with the National Labor Relations Board. These charges usually allege that the company took disciplinary…

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New H-1B Visa Cap Process Still on Track: USCIS Releases More Details on Electronic Registration Process

By Keith Covington & Anne R. Yuengert

February 11, 2020

As we’ve previously explained, some big changes are coming this year to the H-1B visa process. Employers use H-1B visas to temporarily employ workers in “specialty occupations” – generally, jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific specialty or its equivalent. Each year, the government makes available 85,000 new cap-subject H-1B visas, but, in recent years, the demand has far outstripped the supply. As a result, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services…

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It’s What I Said Before: DOL’s Opinion Reversal Does Not Sway Arkansas Federal Court

By Keith S. Anderson & Anne R. Yuengert

February 5, 2020

When the Department of Labor (DOL) withdraws one of its previous opinion letters and issues a new interpretation, should a court change its ruling? No — not according to a federal judge in Arkansas. DOL Opinion Letters As background, the DOL issues opinion letters as a means to provide guidance for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) interpretation. Under the Obama Administration, the DOL dispensed with opinion letters for many years, instead issuing administrative interpretations, but…

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Charges Not as Large: EEOC Releases Stats on 2019 Filings

By J. William Manuel & Anne R. Yuengert

January 30, 2020

The EEOC has released its annual report on the number of discrimination charges filed across the country. As has been seen over the last few years, the total number of charges continued to decline –72,675 in 2019 as opposed to 76,418 in 2018. While sex and race continue to be popular choices for charges, the largest category is retaliation. The reason for this strong showing may be that people are including it as additional grounds in charges focused…

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“OK, Boomer” – What Amounts to Actionable Age Discrimination?

By Anne Knox Averitt & Anne R. Yuengert

January 23, 2020

What does an age discrimination plaintiff have to prove to succeed? Federal employees may have an easier path for proving an age discrimination claim, if we are reading the tea leaves correctly on the Supreme Court’s oral argument in the Babb v. Wilkie case. Currently, because of the Supreme Court’s Gross v. FBL Financial Services decision, age discrimination plaintiffs have to prove that age was the “but-for” causation of the adverse employment action, which is…

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Whistleblower Activity Drives False Claims Act Suits in 2019

By Ty E. Howard & Brad Robertson

January 22, 2020

Companies that work with the federal government (think government contracts, grant funding, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements) need to stay up to date on the federal False Claims Act (FCA). Employee whistleblowers continue to use the FCA as one of their prime tools to bring actions against their employers. In 2019, whistleblowers filed 636 new FCA actions and recovered $2.21 billion for the government in settlements and judgments—of which the whistleblowers kept $271 million as…

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New Year, New Hires: The California Consumer Privacy Act and Your Employees

By Rachel M. LaBruyere & Leah M. Campbell

January 16, 2020

It’s January 2020. Thousands of businesses just completed the mad dash to meet the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (CCPA) requirements. Unfortunately, now is not the time to take a breather if you have employees in California or plan to hire any in the next two years. CCPA and How it Applies As a refresher, the CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020, and requires a business to make various disclosures to California residents about…

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Keeping It Regular: DOL Issues Rule Clarifying Regular Pay Rate

By Anne R. Yuengert & J. William Manuel

January 10, 2020

The Department of Labor recently issued a final rule about how to calculate an employee’s regular rate of pay for overtime purposes under the Fair Labor Standards Act. As everyone knows, under the FLSA you have to pay nonexempt employees overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek. We also know that the overtime rate is one-and-a-half times an employee’s “regular rate of pay.” So, what constitutes an employee’s “regular rate of…

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Auld Lang Overtime: Reminder that New Thresholds on FLSA Exemptions Go into Effect Jan. 1

By J. William Manuel & Anne R. Yuengert

December 30, 2019

Here’s to hoping all our readers have a great New Year’s, but do not forget that the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is changing the threshold amount of salary necessary to meet the numerous overtime exemptions. For those that may want to focus more on fireworks and champagne than read our old blog post, the bottom line is that the new rule raises the minimum salary to $684 per week or $35,568…

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No Hate to Arbitrate? EEOC Changes Stance on Arbitration Agreements

By Clarence Webster III & Anne R. Yuengert

December 23, 2019

Can you require employees to sign arbitration agreements? After more than 20 years of saying no, the EEOC has reversed its policy and says you can. Background In 1997 the EEOC issued the Policy Statement on Mandatory Binding Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Disputes as a Condition of Employment (the Policy Statement), setting forth its position. Specifically, the EEOC stated that “unilaterally imposed agreements mandating binding arbitration of employment discrimination disputes as a condition of employment…

Labor & Employment Insights

Perspectives in labor and employment law affecting employers and businesses

Blog Authors

National Labor Relations Board Reverses Another Obama-Era Labor Board Ruling and Reinstates Historical Deferral Doctrine

New H-1B Visa Cap Process Still on Track: USCIS Releases More Details on Electronic Registration Process

It’s What I Said Before: DOL’s Opinion Reversal Does Not Sway Arkansas Federal Court

Charges Not as Large: EEOC Releases Stats on 2019 Filings

“OK, Boomer” – What Amounts to Actionable Age Discrimination?

Whistleblower Activity Drives False Claims Act Suits in 2019

New Year, New Hires: The California Consumer Privacy Act and Your Employees

Keeping It Regular: DOL Issues Rule Clarifying Regular Pay Rate

Auld Lang Overtime: Reminder that New Thresholds on FLSA Exemptions Go into Effect Jan. 1

No Hate to Arbitrate? EEOC Changes Stance on Arbitration Agreements

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