Employment Law Letter

University’s good-faith interactive process scores win in ADA battle

We receive many questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it requires a case-by-case determination and sometimes requires that disabled employees receive special assistance. The ADA is a law of...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Misdiagnosis delays running of statute of limitations

The time for an employee to file a claim for a workplace injury begins when he becomes aware of his injury. However, a recent case from the Arkansas Court of Appeals shows us that a misdiagnosis can make the timeline for...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Expiration dates—Evaluating your current COVID policies

Many things have an expiration date—cheese, meat, medicine, and certain fashion choices. But some things linger well past their “use by” date, like three-week old takeout in the very back corner of your refrigerator...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Prepare for colds, flu, and facing winter in Iowa

We are fast approaching winter. Soon, the Iowa Department of Public Health will start regularly announcing flu rates, and weather alerts will be blaring at us weekly. And like your car, you may need to winterize your...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

NLRB General Counsel encourages increased scrutiny of electronic employee monitoring

On October 31, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum instructing regional offices to closely scrutinize employer use of certain electronic monitoring, data collection...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Noncompete contracts protect your business in a high-turnover job market

In a job market with high turnover rates, noncompete contracts are useful ways to protect your business in industries that are susceptible to damage when an employee brings knowledge of internal operations to other...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Get ready for DOJ to come asking about COVID-19 relief programs

The federal government has prioritized prosecuting COVID-19-related fraud since the pandemic began, and recently, Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland made clear the Justice Department’s (DOJ) commitment “to hold...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Utah cookie wars highlight need to protect trade secrets

There is a war happening in Utah, but rather than bullets, the combatants are using lawyers and freshly baked cookies. The first shots were fired at the beginning of summer 2022 by Utah’s staple gourmet cookie shop...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

New year, updated handbook

A new year is right around the corner, and it's a good time to review, revise, and update your employee handbooks to ensure legal compliance. Why? Handbooks that are out of date, have inaccurate information about current...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Federal court in Texas rolls back EEOC guidance on LGBTQ+ rights

On June 15, 2020, in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that sex discrimination also included discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. Notably, the Court didn’t address...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Break the chain to defeat a retaliation claim

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to employers in Kansas and Oklahoma) recently ruled that United Airlines’ independent review processes defeated an employee’s claim of Family and Medical Leave...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Oklahoma City Apple store votes to unionize

When Apple’s Penn Square Mall retail store in Oklahoma City voted on Friday to unionize, it became the tech giant’s second location in the United States to do so. Is this a trend for other Oklahoma employers? Count on it...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Dogs and horses and reptiles oh my! Service animals as workplace accommodations

It’s common to encounter people with service dogs when you’re out and about town, such as at the grocery store, a sports arena, or a doctor’s office. These types of businesses are considered “places of public...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Avoid discrimination with your FSAs

Employers often provide an array of benefits to employees. One such benefit is a health flexible spending account (FSA), which allows employees to contribute pretax dollars to be used for unreimbursed medical expenses...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington

Do employee tracking technologies violate labor laws?

There are countless workplace technologies available to companies that enable them to track employees for various purposes. For example, many employers have GPS devices on company vehicles so they can track how...

Nov 30, 2022 · Employment Law Letter · Great Lakes · Illinois · Indiana · Michigan · Ohio · Wisconsin · Mid-Atlantic · Delaware · Maryland · New Jersey · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Midsouth · Kentucky · North Carolina · South Carolina · Tennessee · West Virginia · Midwest · Arkansas · Kansas · Missouri · Oklahoma · Mountain West · Colorado · Idaho · Montana · New Mexico · Utah · Wyoming · New England · Connecticut · Maine · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Rhode Island · Vermont · Southeast · Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Louisiana · Mississippi · Upper Midwest · Iowa · Minnesota · Nebraska · North Dakota · South Dakota · West · Alaska · Arizona · Hawaii · Nevada · Oregon · Washington