Employment

This past weekend, while college basketball teams across America finished up their conference tournaments, 64 employment law issues played in the first round of our tournament, and boy did it live up to the hype. Filled with upsets galore and exciting finishes, employment law fans everywhere were not disappointed.

Folks, this is the postest with the mostest; the entry of the century. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, employers of all industries, it’s time for a little fun; it’s time for the 2015 Employment Law Issues Tournament, brought to you by your friends over at Mintz Levin’s Employment, Labor and Benefits practice.

Recently, Mintz Levin held a seminar in New York City that addressed some of the major challenges employers are facing in the New Year. Our program contained segments on New York City’s paid sick leave law, effective management of HR Issues, the Affordable Care Act, employment practices liability insurance coverage, and workplace privacy.

In June, we wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to address whether a federal agency (in this case, the Department of Labor) must engage in formal notice-and-comment rulemaking in order to significantly alter its interpretation of the agency’s regulations (in this case, a rule interpreting a particular FLSA overtime exemption).

On March 3, 2015, the D.C. Protecting Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2014 became effective. The Act provides increased protections for pregnant workers and requires employers to provide reasonable workplace accommodations for workers whose ability to perform job functions are limited by pregnancy, childbirth, a related medical condition, or breastfeeding.

Though snow still blankets the ground in many states and winter continues to drag on, there is a telltale sign that spring is nigh: daylight savings time begins on Sunday March 8, 2015 at 2:00 a.m.  At that time, the clocks “spring” forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. – a change that carries several implications for employers.

“And you're wondering . . . am I appreciated . . . I'm not really appreciated, should I play like I'm appreciated, but I'm not that appreciated . . .but I think my employer might appreciate me . . . but do I want to be appreciated . .. but now my employer doesn’t really appreciate me . . . and then all of the sudden I'm getting, I'm starting to be appreciated.

My colleague Robert Sheridan was quoted in a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article entitled New Parental Leave Act Offers More Than Gender Neutrality, in which he explains the implications of a new parental leave law in Massachusetts for small businesses and employers generally.

My colleagues Jennifer Rubin and Gauri Punjabi presented on privacy issues in the workplace in a recent webinar. They discussed the latest statutory and common law developments concerning employer monitoring of employee email, access to employee social media accounts, social media policies, and bring your own device (“BYOD”) policies.

In Aguas v. State of New Jersey, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently adopted an affirmative defense—available under federal law since 1998—allowing employers to use their anti-harassment policies to limit vicarious liability under the New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) to the employer for a supervisor’s harassment.

My colleague Angel Feng wrote a Law360 article entitled A Blurry Line on Employment Discrimination Protection, in which she comments about the implications of the case Juarez v. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company on DACA recipients and potentially for future beneficiaries of the President’s November 20 executive order on immigration.

Following a number of other localities, the City of Philadelphia has enacted the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces law requiring certain employers located in the city to provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid sick time in a calendar year. Here are the 15 things you should know about this law.

Recently, Mintz held a seminar in New York City that addressed some of the major challenges employers are facing in the New Year.  Our program contained segments on New York City’s paid sick leave law, effective management of HR Issues, the Affordable Care Act, employment practices liability insurance coverage, and workplace privacy.

In this volume, we have collected the 52 weekly blog posts that comprise the series entitled, The Affordable Care Act—Countdown to Compliance for Employers. The series appeared in the Mintz Levin Employment Matters Blog during 2014.

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion holding that an employer cannot assert equitable defenses based on an employee’s misconduct in under-reporting hours as a total bar to the employee’s FLSA claim where the employer was aware of the employee’s conduct.

These days most employers manage a vast amount of electronic information about their employees, including the employees’ personal identifying information. But what obligations do employers have to unionized employees with respect to managing that information and bargaining with them in the event of a breach of their private information?

My colleague David Barmak was quoted in a Business Insurance article entitled Supreme Court May Dilute EEOC’s Aggressive Legal Strategy, in which he explains the Supreme Court’s heightened scrutiny of the EEOC’s claims against employers.

Recently, Mintz Levin held a seminar in New York City that we designed to address some of the major challenges employers are facing in the New Year.  Our program contained segments on New York City’s paid sick leave law, effective management of HR Issues, the Affordable Care Act, employment practices liability insurance coverage, and workplace privacy.

Disruptive “technology” companies Uber and Lyft were back in court recently doing their best to ensure their business models are not upended by a ruling that their drivers should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors.

Recently, Mintz held a seminar in New York City that we designed to address some of the major challenges employers are facing in the New Year.  Our program contained segments on New York City’s paid sick leave law, effective management of HR Issues, the Affordable Care Act, employment practices liability insurance coverage, and workplace privacy.