On January 13, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Recommended Practices for Anti-Retaliation Programs, which are intended to allow employees to raise safety issues arising in the workplace without fear of retaliation. The 12-page document sets forth recommendations that apply to private and public employees protected by the more than twenty (20)
Keith Ashmus
Congress Creates New Benefit Plan Opportunity For Small Business

Within the many pages of the 21st Century Cures Act, just passed by Congress and awaiting signature by President Obama, is the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act. This creates a new health benefit plan for small employers called Qualified Small Employer Health…
Fast, Mandatory FLSA Mediation—Has Its Time Come?
In a development that may be of interest both to those who follow Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) developments and to those interested in mediation, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York has mandated early mediation for all FLSA cases. The pilot program responds to the surge in FLSA case filings…
No Funding For Medical Pot Prosecutions
Since 2014, Congress has maintained an appropriations rider prohibiting the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) from using funds in relation to 33 named states and territories “to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub. L.…