• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Employers beware: Supreme Court could make it easier to sue for discrimination

01/02/2024
The U.S. Supreme Court recently held oral arguments in an employment law case that may make it much easier for employees to sue their employers. If a majority of the justices agree with an employee who claims her transfer was motivated by her employer’s discriminatory policies, the decision may also open the way for more lawsuits contesting employers’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

States considering tax incentives for employers that adopt four-day workweek

01/02/2024
Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of talk about the benefits and desirability of a four-day workweek. If that came to pass, it would fundamentally change a standard set in 1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act established a 40-hour workweek as the norm for American workers.

Think creatively about how to comply with PUMP Act milk-expression requirements

12/20/2023
Many employers still struggle with how to provide the required breast-milk expression breaks required by the year-old Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act. PUMP Act compliance is especially challenging in unusual work environments. However, a recent lawsuit settlement involving an airline addresses best practices employers can adopt even in difficult circumstances.

Use blind résumé screening process to reduce liability for discrimination in hiring

12/20/2023
Every applicant you ever rejected could decide to sue for some form of discrimination. Make that less likely by using a blind screening process to sort through applications and résumés.

Post-Groff, a perfect illustration of religious accommodation

12/19/2023
If you’re going to claim an undue hardship to deny an employees’ religious accommodation request, you best have your Groff v. DeJoy ducks in a row … and by ducks, I mean empirical evidence of actual costs that substantially and negatively affect your entire business.

Help employees who are experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss

12/19/2023
There’s a good chance at least some of your employees may need accommodations as well as leave as they attempt to conceive, remain pregnant or deliver a child.

Holiday party triggers sexual hijinks? Beware harassment afterward

12/15/2023
Workplace romances or plain old carnal excess can have an adverse effect on the morale of other employees. For example, what happens when co-workers report out-of-control holiday hijinks to management? And what if the co-workers caught in flagrante delicto exact revenge on the tattletales? It just might amount to illegal retaliation.

House Republicans condemn overtime rule

12/11/2023
The title was a tip-off. When the U.S. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections met to address the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rule, the Nov. 29 hearing was titled “Bad for Business: DOL’s Proposed Overtime Rule.”

New OT rule to be finalized in April

12/11/2023
If enacted, the rule would raise the white-collar overtime salary threshold to $55,068 per year, up from the current level of $35,568. An April 1 date for publishing the final rule would push back implementation until June at the earliest.

Wage & hour: Heed DOL’s $12 million warning to the hospitality industry

12/11/2023
The Department of Labor has been targeting restaurants and other hospitality-industry employers for aggressive enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It has issued fines and penalties and ordered restaurants to shut down until they pay up. That’s a powerful incentive for employers to settle lawsuits.