Labor & Employment Law Update

Wellness programs are a popular employee benefit. Whether an employer already has a program in place or is considering implementing one, it should be mindful of the requirements of federal law.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) divides workplace wellness programs into two categories: participatory and health-contingent.  The latter are subject to specific nondiscrimination standards while the former are not.

Participatory programs give an employee a reward for engaging in a specific act.  These include gym membership reimbursement; ...

In a follow up to our recent post, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has now issued its final rule regarding the salary thresholds for exempt status. The final rule will go into effect on January 1, 2020 and establishes the following rules:

1. Salary exempt employees must earn at least $684/week (equivalent to $35,568 per year for a full-year worker) (which is slightly more than was proposed in March 2019 due to inflation/updated data but less than was proposed during the Obama Era);
2. Employers can use non-discretionary bonuses and incentive payments that are paid at least ...

As employers scramble to meet the September 30, 2019 deadline to submit pay data for years 2017 and 2018, they can find some relief in knowing that the EEOC recently stated that it does not intend to collect pay data for 2019 or after at this time. According to the EEOC’s Notice of Information Collection, the EEOC will only request approval from the Office of Management  and Budget (OMB) to renew its collection of Component 1 data (demographic data), but will not seek approval to continue collection of Component 2 data (pay data and hours worked data). 

Since previously requesting ...

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is expected to implement its proposal to amend the minimum salary requirements for exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) no later than the end of 2019. As you may recall, a similar proposal was set for 2016 but was not implemented due to a court injunction. Under the FLSA, the current minimum salary threshold for exempt employees is $455/week ($23,660 annually) which is anticipated to increase under the DOL’s proposal to $679/week ($35,308 annually). Note, state law requirements may be more generous than the FLSA ...

In 2014, the Seventh Circuit Federal Appellate Court that covers federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, held that an employee’s trip to Las Vegas qualified for FMLA leave and was protected by the FMLA because he was providing daily care to his terminally ill mother.  Ballard v. Chicago Park District, 741 F.3d 838 (7th Cir. Jan. 28, 2014).

This case highlighted the fact that in looking at whether something like a trip to Las Vegas qualifies for FMLA leave, we have to look past the initial issue and ask whether it is to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child or ...

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), retaliation claims continue to be the most frequently filed charges of discrimination at the federal agency by far. According to the EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2018 Enforcement and Litigation Data, retaliation claims made up 51.6 percent of all charges filed last year. Given their frequency, employers should be as proactive as possible in protecting themselves from these claims.

The Seventh Circuit recently affirmed summary judgment in a Title VII retaliation case, and in doing so sent a reminder to employers ...

The recent decision in Dyer v. Ventra Sandusky, LLC, issued by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (which has jurisdiction over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee), should motivate employers to take another look at whether their attendance policies run afoul of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

There are plenty of gray areas in the law, but it is generally clear that employees are not to be disciplined because they are absent for FMLA-covered reasons. That also means that employees should not accumulate attendance “points,” e.g., under a no-fault attendance ...

In May, we reported on Illinois becoming the eleventh state to permit recreational marijuana beginning January 1, 2020. Noncitizens in these eleven states and the District of Columbia may reasonably conclude that using marijuana in accordance with state law will have no bearing on immigration status. Unfortunately, that is a wrong assumption. Federal law controls immigration, and it remains a federal offense to possess marijuana. For the unsuspecting foreign national, this is a legal distinction that many will not understand. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers ...

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees must be properly classified as either exempt or nonexempt, and nonexempt employees must be paid overtime (1½ times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek). All compensation, including commissions and non-discretionary bonuses, must be included in the regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime, unless the compensation is one of eight specified types of payment (e.g., holiday gift, birthday gift, discretionary bonus, and certain profit sharing payments).

Employees may be ...

On August 13, 2019, Illinois Comptroller, Susana Mendoza, signed an Executive Order (EO) aimed at enforcement of the state’s prevailing wage law (aka mandatory top line union wage/benefits scale) for “construction” projects receiving state money. On the surface, one would say “hey, that’s a pretty good idea.”  But… the EO invites more questions than answers.  More importantly, it encourages organized labor to target contractors that they have disputes with (without any proof or evidence of actual non-compliance with prevailing wage law) and the Comptroller may ...