An employee may sue an employer under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (“MMA”) for discrimination because of the employee’s status as an individual who is certified to use medical marijuana. This was the recent holding of the Superior Court in the case of Moses Taylor Hospital v. Palmiter.  As you may recall, we discussed Palmiter in 2019, when the case was filed, and again in 2020 when the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas…

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a decision that has broad implications for Pennsylvania employers.  The Court’s decision in In Re: Amazon.com, Inc., which can be read here, established two important differences between Pennsylvania’s overtime law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  These differences are likely to create significant potential compliance and liability risks for Pennsylvania employers. The case arose after Amazon employees claimed they were required to undergo anti-theft security…

The U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a California regulation that required agriculture employers to give union organizers access to their premises.  The Court held that by requiring employers to provide such access, the regulation amounted to an unconstitutional taking of private property in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Below, we examine the facts and holding of the Cedar Point Nursery case.  Although the case examined a California regulation for…

This week, Governor Wolf signed House Bill 1024, allowing certain revisions to the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (the “Act”).  While the revisions do not specifically implicate the workplace, and do not provide guidance to employers on navigating medical marijuana use by employees, employers should, nonetheless, pay attention. What changed? House Bill 1024 makes permanent three revisions to the Act put in place during the pandemic: Curbside pick-up from dispensaries; Telemedicine visits for certification exams; and…

As legitimate unemployment compensation claims have spiked in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so too have fraudulent ones.  Just yesterday, Maryland’s Department of Labor announced that the state has detected over 508,000 new, potentially fraudulent unemployment claims since May 1, 2021.  Last year, a $650million unemployment fraud scheme rocked Washington state.  In April 2021, the Pennsylvania Treasury and Department of Labor & Industry announced that they had recaptured nearly $800million in unemployment benefits targeted…

We do not often have good news to report for Pennsylvania employers in this blog.  The complexities associated with the employment laws, and the costs of non-compliance, continue to increase for employers seemingly with each passing year.  Today is one of those rare days when we bring good news. Late last week, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature and Governor Wolf reached a final deal on the state budget for 2021-2022.  While annual state budgets typically do…