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Employment Law

Pandemic: Beware backlash after discipline

04/23/2020
Employees at several Amazon facilities have staged walkouts to protest working conditions they fear place them at high risk of contracting the coronavirus. The company’s heavy-handed response to the protests has generated ill-will and bad press.

NLRB: Union elections resume

04/21/2020
National Labor Relations Board regional offices have begun processing and conducting union representation elections following a brief hiatus in late March and early April.

Federal employees get extra age-bias help

04/16/2020
In a surprising 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a federal law, in Justice Samuel Alito’s words, “demands that personnel actions be untainted by any consideration of age.”

Prepare for the coming flood of arbitration

04/16/2020
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about these days! An enterprising corps of lawyers have begun flooding the legal system with arbitration cases, upending a process that was designed to avoid expensive litigation.

Heat still on for employers tolerating racial harassment

04/09/2020
Three cases filed against two employers show that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the EEOC is not slowing down in its efforts to punish employers that don’t take their anti-harassment responsibilities seriously.

EEOC sues over insurance-driven age bias

04/09/2020
For the second time this year, the EEOC has sued an employer for refusing to consider older candidates for specific jobs. In both cases, the employer decided not to hire or retain someone because their auto insurance policies would not cover workers 75 or older.

What you can, can’t ask staff during pandemic

04/09/2020
When workers ask for leave because they can’t or don’t want to come to work, you need to know exactly what you can and cannot ask.

DOL issues temporary paid leave regs

04/03/2020
The Department of Labor has issued temporary regulations covering the paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The temporary regs became effective April 1, 2020, and will expire Dec. 31, 2020. The regs will appear in the Federal Register on April 6.

Court: You must accommodate medical pot

04/02/2020
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision should remind employers everywhere that medical marijuana is a fluid area of the law. If the court’s legal reasoning takes hold nationwide, you may be forced to accommodate your employees’ legal cannabis use.

Ditch existing accommodation at your peril

04/02/2020
If a disabled employee has successfully used a simple, informal accommodation for years, don’t summarily make him stop without discussing the decision. In fact, before removing any accommodation, you must engage in the ADA’s interactive reasonable accommodation process.