Labor & Employment Law Update

Medical marijuana (MMJ) is now permitted in 23 states and Washington D.C. Out of those 23 states four of them permit recreational use. Though it remains illegal on the Federal level, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced the release of over 6,000 inmates convicted of nonviolent drug charges. This begs the question – are you prepared for medical cannabis in the workplace?

Nondiscrimination Policies

Most states with MMJ prohibit discrimination on the basis of a worker or applicant being a registered patient. However, employers should also carefully consider that a ...

In June 2014, the Supreme Court issued a decision impacting “fair share” provisions in public sector collective bargaining agreements. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled in Harris v. Quinn that home health care workers in Illinois could not be compelled to financially support a union they did not want to join. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito noted that the “primary purpose of permitting unions to collect fees is to ‘prevent nonmembers from free-riding on the unions’ efforts, sharing the employment benefits obtained by the union’s collective ...

A couple of months ago, we discussed the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) startling decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015), in which it determined that a non-union company shared joint employer liability, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), with a labor contractor at one of its recycling plants. The Board held that two or more entities are joint employers if each one possesses sufficient control over employee’s essential terms and conditions of employment. Employers were in an uproar over the decision ...

A recent 7^th Circuit case, Hooper v. Proctor Health Care, Inc., Case No. 14-2344 (7^th Cir. 2015), serves as a reminder that a plaintiff cannot state a failure to accommodate claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) if the plaintiff’s physical or mental limitations do not affect the plaintiff’s ability to perform essential job functions.

In Hooper, an employee diagnosed with bi-polar disorder prior to being hired by Proctor, requested time off after an incident that took place outside of work. He disclosed his diagnosis to the Director of Human ...

Can I regulate and/or discipline an employee for using alcohol outside of work?

While you might think the answer is pretty straightforward – it is NOT.  Attorneys often respond by saying, “it depends.”

If an employee’s use of alcohol (or any other legal product) outside of work is negatively impacting their performance or resulting in them coming to work impaired, then you can issue discipline in line with your policies and procedures for that conduct.

What if it is not impacting their performance and they are not coming to work drunk?

Again the answer is the dreaded – “it ...

The Seventh Circuit recently took another shot at the increasingly rebuked McDonnell Douglas framework for determining employment discrimination claims. Seasoned employment attorneys can recite the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis in their sleep; in fact, it’s likely been the topic of some sleep-talking rants for some. Under the analysis, established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, if a plaintiff lacks “direct” or “smoking gun” evidence of discrimination, which they usually do, their claim may still survive if they show that (1) they are a ...