When an employee leaves an organization, one issue the employer often confronts is whether to pay the employee for unused vacation time or other paid time off (PTO). The employer may seek to withhold PTO for myriad reasons: from encouraging employees to use their PTO during employment, to offsetting an employee debt, to encouraging compliance
Ryan Smith
Handbooks Are Back: NLRB General Counsel Issues Important Guidance Regarding New Employer-Friendly Work Rules Standard
In a memorandum issued last week, NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb offered important guidance on how his office plans to prosecute claims of unlawful workplace rules in the wake of the Board’s restorative Boeing decision (365 NLRB No. 154 (Dec. 14, 2017)). As we discussed here last December, the Boeing decision created a sensible standard…
Obama-Era Workplace Laws on the Decline: Overtime Rule, Form EEO-1 Revisions Invalidated
It’s no secret that President Obama’s use of executive orders to transform workplace laws was unprecedented. But perhaps even more unprecedented is how quickly those efforts have been derailed by the Trump administration. From NLRB appointments, to safety standards, to persuader-disclosure and joint-employment rules—to name a few—the White House has been systematically reversing workplace…
Asking Job Applicants for Salary Histories? Use Caution.
As my colleague Keith Ashmus recently noted, most employers currently ask job applicants for their salary histories. This is a reasonable question, and one that employers find useful to help attract and retain talented employees. Given recent legislative initiatives and judicial decisions on this topic, however, employers should tread carefully.
In the past few…
Raising the I-9 Compliance Stakes in the Trump Era
It’s no secret that Donald Trump is fulfilling his signature campaign promise to address immigration reform. So far, most of the media attention has been on the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the travel/refugee ban. For employers, however, other issues require attention.
One major issue requiring employers’ attention is I-9 compliance. In an Executive Order issued…
Halt! Federal Court Blocks New Overtime Rule, Prevents Changes From Taking Effect on December 1
In a much-welcomed eleventh-hour ruling yesterday, the United States District Court in the Eastern Division of Texas issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) from implementing changes to overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule, which nearly doubles the salary threshold for…
Department of Labor Issues Final Rule Requiring Federal Contractors to Provide Employees Paid Sick Leave
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released its final rule requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide their employees with paid sick leave each year. This rule implements Executive Order 13706, which President Obama signed in September 2015. The rule takes effect on November 29, 2016, though generally it applies only to new contracts that…