In its recently concluded session, the West Virginia Legislature tweaked the somewhat misleadingly titled West Virginia Business Liability Act—the statute commonly known as the “guns in parking lots” law. Passed in 2018...
Employment Law Letter
In a recent decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the denial of a woman’s workers’ compensation claim for a COVID-19 infection. Nurse contracts COVID-19 Christine Thiele contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 while...
Some employers may designate employees for on-call status, requiring them to be available to respond to after-hours service needs or emergencies. A recent decision from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose...
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule that raises the minimum salary threshold of the standard exemption from the minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor...
Q Must we keep an employee if they provide two weeks’ notice, or are we able to end their employment early? Like many payroll questions, this may depend a bit on your state law. In general, with employment at will you...
Most employers understand the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires them to have an effective harassment policy. However, the EEOC hasn’t provided any guidance on the content of these policies...
On May 24, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans (which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) upheld a district court’s decision that two highly compensated IT engineers were not properly...
The U.S. Supreme Court’s April 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis appears to have expanded the universe of “adverse employment actions” that could support an employee’s discrimination claim. The new standard...
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) noncompete rule deals a death blow to traditional noncompete agreements. Assuming challenges are unsuccessful, the rule will go into effect in August and will negate all existing...
When I was in active practice, I would hear this plaintive protest from managers accused of unlawful discrimination: “I don’t hate [the employee] because they are [fill in blank protected classification]. So how can I be...
Collective bargaining issues and unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) continue to dominate headlines and changes in the law. We have previously noted the increased initiatives by National...
On June 14, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide an important Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) question—namely, whether an employer claiming an exemption from overtime needs to prove it by “clear and convincing”...
Like all good legal questions, the answer to whether a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) is enforceable in sexual harassment cases is “it depends.” An NDA or confidentiality agreement is a signed legal document that...
Q If an employee takes Family Medical and Leave Act (FMLA) leave to bond with his new child, would he be able to take additional bonding time later the same year if he still had FMLA time available? The FMLA has some...
Q What’s considered compensable time during the onboarding process under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)—for example, time completing paperwork before the start date, as well as time reviewing policies and procedures...