Labor & Employment Law Update

Did you watch the President address the nation live last week? On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive actions, including cracking down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritizing deportation of felons (details of which are still unclear), and requiring certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

The initiatives include:

– Deferred Action for Parents (DAP). Parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (LPR’s of any ...

On November 6, Indiana’s right-to-work law cleared its most recent major hurdle. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the law overturning a Lake County decision declaring the law unconstitutional. The Seventh Circuit upheld the law in September. Meanwhile the Michigan Supreme Court announced it will hear argument in January on whether its state’s right-to-work laws properly apply to state employees.

So, Indiana and Michigan and twenty-two other states (the entire south plus several states in the west) now have right-to-work laws on the books and several others have considered ...

I know, I know.  You may have seen the headlines indicating that the Supreme Court is going to be reviewing another case challenging the Affordable Care Act and not even bothered to read the articles this time.  After all, who hasn’t become a little tired of hearing about challenges and changes to the Affordable Care Act with constant updates occurring over the now almost five years since the act was signed into law by President Obama? Or perhaps it isn’t that you are tired of hearing about the ACA; you were just distracted when Kim Kardashian broke the internet.  In any event, the ...

As most employers are aware, the EEOC has been on a multi-year campaign aimed at ferreting out alleged systemic discrimination by using an individual charge of discrimination as a springboard to investigating company-wide practices.  The EEOC has been doing this by issuing broad requests for information, and then subpoenas, that seek company-wide information even though there is only an individual charge.  Employers often balk at producing this information articulating a lack of relevance to the individual charge.

By and large, the federal courts have enforced the EEOC ...

Six months ago, the NLRB held (on remand from the Ninth Circuit) that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by firing an employee even though he called his supervisor a “[multiple expletives deleted]“  and even threatened that if he was fired, the boss would “regret it.”  Plaza Auto Center, Inc., 360 NLRB No. 117 (2014).  That decision left many employers exasperated, and still does.  Recently however, the board issued a decision that confirms that even this pro-labor board recognizes that some employee conduct falls outside the protections of the National ...

On October 30, 2014 in the case of Overstreet v. Farm Fresh Co. Target One LLC, No. 2:13-cv-02358, the Arizona Federal District Court ordered attorney’s fees be paid to Farm Fresh Co. Target One LLC (Farm Fresh) by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) due to the NLRB’s demand that Farm Fresh reinstate four employees without following the federal and Arizona state laws governing the use of E-Verify.

In 2013, Farm Fresh was purchased through an asset purchase agreement by a new owner.  The new owner (after receiving advice and guidance from the Dept. of Homeland Security ...

Employers who have been using E-Verify for more than 10 years must be aware that as of January 1, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be deleting any transaction records in the E-Verify system that are more than 10 years old.  As of January 1, 2015, employers will no longer have access in E-Verify to any case they created prior to December 31, 2004.  In order to have a record of the cases that are more than 10 years old, employers must download the new Historic Records Report before the December 31, 2014 deadline.  USCIS is encouraging all employers who were ...

On Tuesday November 4, 2014 all five states that had initiatives on the ballot – Illinois, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota – passed measures to increase the minimum wage. As a reminder, the initiative in Illinois was nonbinding.  Most of the increases will occur in a step manner, but all will need to be evaluated for the impact on our pay and businesses.

The state roundup of Minimum Wage Initiatives is as follows:

Illinois

The Illinois Minimum Wage Increase Question, which was on the November 4, 2014 ballot, passed. This initiative was an advisory question and is ...

Employers often do not question a service member’s request for time off due to being deployed or called up to active duty. However, when an employee comes home from active duty do you know your legal obligations? Better yet, do you know what to do if one of your employees is a service member who regularly requests time off for “training”?

Illinois employers are primarily affected by the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Illinois National Guard Employment Rights Law. The problem is under both laws there is no formal process to check ...