USCIS Issues new Version of Form I-9 for Immediate Use

On March 8, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new version of Form I-9, the Employment Eligibility Verification Form. As most employers are aware, Form I-9 must be used to verify the identity and employment authorization of all new employees. The new version of the Form I-9 (available for download by clicking here) can be identified by the date located at the bottom left-hand side of the form—the new Form I-9 shows the date "03/08/13." More ›

Court Finds that Employer’s Failure to Return Employee to work Prior to Conclusion of FMLA Leave does not Amount to Interference

In this case, a hotel maintenance employee who had worked for the employer for over 20 years had a history of vision problems. His employer regularly accommodated these problems by ensuring that the employee’s schedule and assignments were copied in large print. Later, the employee suffered an injury, which required him to take leave. The hotel provided him with required information under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and approved 12 weeks of leave. More ›

Court Sanctions EEOC for Obstructionist Delays in Discovery Process

The discovery rules are no joke. The courts expect the parties to work together to comply with their obligations under the various rules and laws, and to avoid causing needless expenses and delay — for both the opposing party and the court. This case demonstrates a court's effort to put such behavior in check. More ›

Employees Cannot give Constructive Notice of need for FMLA Leave in the Eighth Circuit

This suit arose when an employee at a food production company missed a month of work due to depression. She ultimately lost her job for failing to comply with the company’s call-in procedure, which treated three consecutive absences without calling in as a voluntary termination of employment. The termination was executed despite the fact that the employee had intermittently taken leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and that a coworker would notify the employee’s supervisor when she was “sick.” The employee filed FMLA entitlement (interference) and retaliation claims against the employer. More ›

Sixth Circuit: Employee Fails to Establish race Discrimination based on Having Biracial Children

An employee was terminated after her employer conducted an investigation which ultimately revealed that she was stealing hydrocodone pills from the employer’s pharmacy. As a result of the investigation, the employer contacted the local police and provided them with information that ultimately led to the arrest of the employee. The employee then filed suit against her employer, claiming that the employer was deliberately misleading and malicious in providing information to the police which led to her arrest. The employee claimed that her termination was actually because of her race, and more specifically, based on her having biracial children. She also claimed that she was retaliated against for her complaints about unlawful race discrimination. The employee alleged that the employer’s actions violated the state of Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act and common law, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. More ›

Florida Court Declares 104-Week Limit of Temporary Benefits Unconstitutional, Reinstates 260-Week Cap

The Florida First District Court of Appeals was recently presented with a question concerning the constitutionality of the 104-week limitation on temporary indemnity benefits based on an injured worker who was not yet ready to return to work after the 104 weeks of temporary benefits, but who was not able to prove eventual permanent and total disability benefits, and therefore not entitled to indemnity benefits.  More ›

Employers must give Breast-Feeding Mothers time and Privacy Under The Affordable Care Act

Under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), an employer is required to provide the following for breastfeeding mothers who are employees:

• A reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk;
• A place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.

The employer is not  required to compensate the employee receiving break time for expressing milk for any work time spent for this purpose. More ›

Tenth Circuit Finds that Corporations Cannot Suffer From A Hostile Work Environment

A cleaning company owned by two white women had a cleaning contract with a city airport. Throughout the period of the contract, the cleaning company’s owners and employees worked with a contract-compliance technician at the airport to arrange for cleaning services. According to the owners of the cleaning company, the technician, an African American male, made discriminatory comments regarding the owners’ gender and race and made the work environment miserable for their employees. When the owners of the cleaning company complained that the airport staff was not treating them well and that the airport was discriminating against the company, the airport terminated the contract. Thereafter, the cleaning company sued the airport and the technician alleging gender and race-based discrimination and a violation of its constitutional rights. More ›

ObamaCare’s Whistleblower Protections go into Effect

Though President Obama and Congress established broad requirements in the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), they tasked federal agencies with filling in myriad blanks regarding implementation. The agency rules that are emerging, often with little fanfare, can have an enormous effect on how the law operates in the real world.

One important rule regarding the handling of retaliation complaints became effective this week. More ›

Who is an employee and who is an independent contractor under the employer mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)?

As we have written in this space in the past, whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor can have many consequences.  The classification can determine whether the principal is liable for the negligent acts of the worker, whether the worker may sue for wrongful termination or discrimination, is entitled to workers’ compensation insurance, is subject to tax treatment as an employee, and a lot more.

Now, the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) has added still more consequences.  Among other things, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the Affordable Care Act requires firms with 50 or more “full-time equivalent workers” to offer health plans to employees who work the requisite number of hours per week, or else pay a $2,000 penalty for each uncovered worker beyond 30 employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that many businesses have been moving full-time employees to part-time positions in an effort to avoid the mandate. More ›