Frantz Ward Labor and Employment Group

Feel like the government shutdown has reduced news coming out of the federal administrative agencies? If so, January 17, 2019 likely provided a spark to your week. Last Thursday, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Chairman John Ring issued a letter which served as the most-recent move in the NLRB’s joint employer dance.

In his letter,

Administering payroll for employees with variable work schedules and hourly rates can cause major headaches for employers. In an effort to simplify and reduce administrative costs, employers are oftentimes tempted to set a standard overtime rate to be paid at a set dollar amount to all employees regardless of variations in compensation rates and actual

An Ohio court of appeals last week confirmed that a primary benefit of using staffing companies – the staffing company’s payment of workers’ compensation premiums covering the loaned employees – shields both the staffing company and its customer from workplace negligence claims.

Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals, in Thomas v. PSC Metals, 2018-Ohio-1630

On Monday, the NLRB unanimously vacated its December 2017 Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors decision, marking yet another abrupt reversal in the method for determining whether two employers can be held jointly liable for violations of labor and employment laws committed by either employer. In doing so, the Board effectively reinstated its 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries (“BFI”) decision,

Employers should take note that on April 1, 2018 more rigorous Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulations take effect governing the administration of benefit claims and ensuing appeals under ERISA plans providing disability benefits. (“ERISA” refers to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the federal law governing private sector employee benefit plans). These regulatory

Last week the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) continued to correct its course to a more even balance between union and employer interests. It overturned four controversial decisions that had created a great deal of consternation and uncertainty in the employer community. Click here to read the full client alert.

 

In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) expanded the joint employer doctrine through its controversial decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California. The House of Representatives will vote today on the “Save Local Business Act” (SLBA), a recent effort advanced in Congress to re-define the concept of “joint employers” for collective bargaining purposes as

Employers in union settings know that they generally cannot make changes to their employees’ wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment without first negotiating to impasse with the union. The exception to this rule has historically been that the employers could make changes, as long as they could show that their labor contract