Labor & Employment Law Update

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a $1.1M judgment in favor of employees in the Gruber Systems Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The department filed suit against Gruber Systems Inc., a California corporation, and its CEO in May of 2015 alleging they caused Gruber ESOP participants to lose money when the ESOP bought company stock at considerably more than fair market value. The DOL alleged that money used to fund stock purchases to shore up the company during financial troubles should have been used to fund the retirement accounts of Gruber employees. The ...

A recent decision from a NLRB Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) serves as yet another reminder that most private sector employers must allow employees some leeway to make work-related complaints, especially on social media. The employer in the case, Chipotle Services LLC, operates Chipotle restaurants nationwide. As readers likely are aware, Chipotle has received a great deal of negative press in recent months, but this recent decision was unrelated to food safety or illness issues.

Instead, this case arose after Chipotle management confronted an employee who used the ...

Back in November of last year, I wrote about Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, “one of five cases to watch” during the Supreme Court’s 2015 term according to Washington’s The Hill newspaper.

At the beginning of the term, many observers had anticipated that the Court’s conservative majority would use Friedrichs to overturn its 1977 opinion in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, a case which upheld “fair share” provisions in public sector union contracts as dues properly exacted for “collective bargaining, contract administration ...

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued the Persuader Rule which has been hotly debated and protested by employers and attorneys.

First proposed in 2011, the Persuader Rule amends the federal Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act to require employers and labor relation consultants (including attorneys) to submit detailed reports including the type of consulting or legal services provided and any fees paid.

Historically, under the “Advice Exception,” lawyers have been excluded from this reporting requirement, as long as they did not directly interact with ...

On March 11, 2016, the new rules regarding the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) OPT program were posted in the Federal Registrar and will take effect on May 10, 2016.

The new STEM program allows students to be approved for work authorization for 24 months vs. the previous 17 month program and allows current students to apply for an additional 7 months of work authorization.

While the additional work eligibility is good news for both students and employers, the new rules subject employers to heighten compliance requirements including:

• Employers and students will be ...

On Tuesday March 22, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against one of the world’s largest food processors, affirming a $5.8 million judgment.  This ruling just made it a little bit easier for wage and hour plaintiffs to win class actions.  In a 6-2 decision the Court held that plaintiff employees can use averages and other statistical analyses to establish class liability.

In 2007, workers at one of the meat-processing facilities sued the company for uncompensated wages alleging that they were entitled to overtime pay and damages because they were not paid for time spent donning and ...

A recent Second Circuit case, Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, Case No. 15-888-cv (Mar. 17, 2016), offers a sobering lesson for human resources personnel and supervisors who handle the administration of leave requests under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Court held that an HR Director may be liable as an employer, as a “person who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer” toward an employee. Finding that the FMLA definition of employer is similar to the definition under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Court agreed with other ...

Readers of this blog know there is an intense debate in the courts over the application of Fifield v. Premier Dealer Servs., Inc., 993 N.E.2d 938, 943 (Ill.App 1st Dist. 2013). Fifield announced that restrictive covenants supported solely by an at-will employment relationship were invalid for lack of adequate consideration if the employee did not remain employed for two years after signing the contract. This applies even if the employee voluntarily terminated. The Illinois Supreme Court did not accept review of Fifield, so it is controlling law in Illinois. However, it has ...

Sure, you’ve heard that non-union employees are protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), too. But do you realize just how quickly the protections of the Act can come into play?  If your front line managers are not properly trained, an employee’s attitude could quite literally turn a situation into a federal case.

A federal appeals court recently affirmed the decision of the NLRB against an employer in a case where a non-union employee engaged in conduct that most employers would consider as straight up insubordination, Staffing Network Holdings, LLC v. NLRB, 2016 BL ...

A recent case out of the Northern District of Texas demonstrates just how important it is to listen to the Department of Labor (DOL) when they come knocking on your door.  (Solano v. Ali Baba Mediterranean Grille, Inc., 2016 BL 62687, N.D.Tex. No. 3:15-cv-00555, 3/2/16). Here, the DOL investigated allegations against the restaurant for failing to track time records, failing to properly pay a chef for the time he spent traveling between restaurants and improperly paying overtime on a bi-weekly basis instead of weekly. The DOL informed the restaurant of its improper pay practices, but ...