Labor & Employment Law Update

The National Business Group on Health’s Eighth Annual Survey on Corporate Health recently revealed the growing prevalence of workplace wellness programs. Many such programs are expanding their aim to not only better the physical health of employees, but also to improve employees’ emotional health and financial security.

Employers should be cautious that health and wellness programs, particularly those dealing with the physical and emotional health of employees, do not run afoul of existing laws. Many employers offer employees health promotion and disease prevention ...

Recently, there has been much discussion about the composition of the five-member board in Washington, D.C., including President Trump’s appointment of Philip Miscimarra as National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman, and the expected shift from pro-labor initiatives – especially in light of the expiring term of the NLRB General Counsel who was appointed by President Obama. The NLRB recently issued an order that may be a sign of things to come.

On May 5, a divided NLRB denied the NLRB General Counsel’s motion for summary judgment (a request for judgment as a matter of law ...

As the Trump administration looks to unburden employers through the rollback of employment-related regulations and Executive Orders, one of the likely results will be an increase in state and local employment legislation and regulation—especially in so-called “blue states.”

Employers have long been forced to consider state and local laws—in addition to federal—regulating their workforces. Many state and local laws already serve to increase employee protections over and above those contained in federal law counterparts—i.e., adding additional protected ...

The July 1^st effective date of the Cook County and Chicago Sick Leave Ordinances is quickly approaching and employers must review their paid time off, sick and vacation policies now to ensure compliance with the new ordinances. Some of the key similarities and differences of the ordinances’ provisions are highlighted below:

Similarities:

• Covered Employee – An employee who: (1) works for an  employer at least 80 hours within any 120-day period; and (2) performs at least 2 hours of work in Cook County (or the City of Chicago depending on the ordinance being applied) during any 2 ...

The Supreme Court’s recent McLane Company v. EEOC decision addresses the constraints placed on appellate review of actions to enforce or quash broadly written Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) subpoenas. The case arose from a supply chain company’s requirement that employees in certain physically demanding positions pass a physical examination prior to returning to work from medical leave. The company terminated an employee who failed the exam three times while attempting to return to work after taking maternity leave.

The employee filed a ...

It’s that time of the year when college students will come knocking looking for a job or an internship. Depending on the nature of an organization’s business, an unpaid intern might be a great idea. But before organizations start engaging summer intern help, they need to make sure that they are complying with the Department of Labor (DOL) requirements, which include the following six factor test:

• The internship is similar to training that would be offered in an education environment;
• The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
• The internship is not ...

When a change of ownership occurs for a business that employs individuals who are represented by an incumbent union, the new owner must be aware of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) successor bar doctrine.  It used to be that following a sale or a merger of a business, there was a window of time during which employees, the new employer, or a rival union, could challenge a union’s majority status as representative of those employees. However, in 2011, the NLRB modified the doctrine in UGL-UNICCO Service Co., 357 NLRB No. 76 (Aug. 26, 2011), holding that for stability, the new ...

On April 13, 2017 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set aside a vote defeating a union organizing campaign and ordered a new election because the workforce could have perceived management’s statements as impermissible promises to provide benefits if they voted down the union.

During a unionizing campaign, management held a meeting in which it advised employees that another facility’s employees received a 12% pay raise the pay period after they rejected union representation. Management explained that the raises were the result of a survey of wages in that ...

While the H-1B petitions submitted for the lottery this cap season were still in transit to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), both the USCIS and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced several measures aimed at detecting H-1B visa fraud and abuses.

1. Beginning April 3, 2017, USCIS is taking a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. The focus will be on the following: (1) cases where USCIS cannot validate an employer’s basic business information through commercially available ...

An OSHA investigation concluded on April 11, 2017 found that Atlantic Drain Service Company, Inc. failed to train its employees to recognize and avoid cave-in and collapse hazards, and failed to provide basic safeguards against trench collapse.  Two Atlantic Drain Company employees died on October 21, 2016 in Boston when a trench collapsed which ruptured an adjacent fire hydrant supply line filling the 12 foot deep trench with water in a matter of seconds.

In announcing $1,475,813 in proposed penalties for 18 willful, repeat, serious and other violations, OSHA determined that both ...