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Employment Law

Prepare for the coming wave of union activism and strikes

10/14/2021
The pandemic-induced labor shortage has emboldened labor unions and individual workers to demand more money and better benefits. Increasingly, they are backing up their requests with action by going out on strike.

Steer clear of questions about past drug use

10/14/2021
Warn supervisors not to pry into employees’ medical histories, including past abuse of drugs or alcohol. Simply asking workers about a perceived previous drug problem could trigger a lawsuit.

Long covid could trigger FMLA, ADA liability

10/14/2021
Employers need to be ready to respond to more requests for both FMLA intermittent leave and ADA accommodations.

Tesla zapped with record race bias verdict

10/14/2021
A jury has ordered Tesla, the electric car maker, to pay a contract worker $137 million for the race discrimination and harassment he suffered at the hands of Tesla employees. It is believed to be the largest verdict in U.S. history for an individual claiming race discrimination.

Beware retaliation against activist employees

10/07/2021
Amazon has agreed to settle allegations it retaliated against two former employees who organized demonstrations decrying the retail giant’s environmental impact and helped employees protest working conditions.

Lessons learned from the Facebook whistleblower case

10/07/2021
Frances Haugen, a former-Facebook-employee-turned-whistleblower, stole a trove of confidential documents on her way out the door. She turned them over to the Securities and Exchange Commission, appeared on “60 Minutes” to air allegations that Facebook hid damning user research and then testified about it before a Senate committee. Is any of that legal?

Court: DOL can override arbitration agreement

10/07/2021
You may require workers to sign arbitration agreements to keep disputes over their independent contractor status out of the court system. Management-side employment lawyers have recommended that strategy for decades. However, that approach just ran into a major roadblock.

NLRB: Student-athletes may be employees

10/05/2021
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a guidance memo on Sept. 29 advising the board’s field staff that “certain” NCAA athletes “are employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and, as such, are afforded all statutory protections.”

More DEI initiatives in 2021

10/05/2021
Eighty-three percent of employers surveyed say they have been taking action on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in 2021, a 13 percentage-point increase from 2020.

Harassment settlement shows what EEOC expects

09/30/2021
The terms the EEOC decides to accept when it settles discrimination cases can help employers determine how to stay in the agency’s good graces. In addition to requiring employers to pay damages to aggrieved employees, EEOC settlements usually call for assurances the employer fixed the causes of the original complaint.