EEOC Sues Illinois Employer for Refusing to Provide Disabled Employee Additional Leave

You have complied with the Family Medical Leave Act by allowing an employee with a serious medical condition 12 weeks of leave. You even provided a few additional weeks even though he has exhausted all available leave. When the employee asks for three more weeks, and you think to yourself “the company has met its legal obligations and can terminate, right?” Wrong—according to the EEOC. More ›

Obama Administration’s Overtime Rule Invalidated

A federal judge from Texas struck down the Obama administration’s overtime rule, finding the salary-level test set forth by the Department of Labor did not account for an analysis of an employee’s job duties for purposes of determining whether an employee is exempt from overtime pay.  A copy of the court's opinion is available here. More ›

Employee's Emotional Distress Claim Not Pre-empted but Not Actionable Emotional Distress Either

The United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit recently addressed whether common law tort claims arising during the employment relationship are pre-empted by the Illinois Human Rights Act simply because they share similar fact patterns to claims of discrimination or harassment in Richards v. U.S. Steel. The answer is no. More ›

Employer Alert: EEO-1 Pay Data Collection on Hold

On Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a stay of the EEOC's collection of information on pay data on EEO-1 reports.  More ›

EEOC Ordered to Reconsider What “Voluntary” Means for its Wellness Program Guidance

The long-running efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to provide guidance on what constitutes a “voluntary” wellness program were called into question by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in the case A.A.R.P. vs. U.S. E.E.O.C. More ›

San Francisco Ordinance Prohibits Employer Salary History Inquiries

Beginning July 1, 2018, it will be illegal for San Francisco employers to ask job applicants to disclose their salary history. A number of similar laws have been enacted in cities and states across the country to address the gender and minority pay gaps. More ›

Department of Labor Seeks Delay of Fiduciary Rule Implementation Until July 2019

The U.S. Department of Labor has moved to delay implementation of three exemptions of the “fiduciary rule” until July 2019. The regulation, which partially went into effect earlier this year, requires financial advisers to put retirees’ interests ahead of their own when providing investment advice regarding the customers’ retirement accounts. The provisions impacted by the delay include what is known as the “best interest contract” exemption, a requirement mandating advisers and financial institutions sign contracts agreeing to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own before servicing such clients. The best interest contract exemption would also allow investors to bring class-action lawsuits against advisers and financial firms.  The Department of Labor has sought to postpone implementation of the principal transactions exemption and amendments to the prohibited transaction exemption 84-24 as well. The exemptions were originally set to take effect January 1, 2018. More ›

Uncle Sam Wants You . . . To Tell Him a Little About Overtime

A Department of Labor (DOL) 2016 Final Rule pushed federal regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that would have more than doubled the “threshold” below which nearly every salaried employee would be entitled to overtime. In November 2016, a federal district court prevented the new threshold from coming into effect, and the subsequent election of President Trump called into doubt whether revised rules would ever be implemented. More ›

Dear Employers, Familiarize Yourself with OSHA's Electronic Injury Tracking Application Before December 1, 2017

As reported by the Employment Law Observer in June, OSHA has formally proposed to delay the July 1, 2017 deadline for electronic injury and illness reporting to December 1, 2017. Since announcing the delay, OSHA formally launched the Injury Tracking Application (ITA), which will serve as the secure website covered employers will use to electronically report mandatory injury and illness information. This was the missing piece preventing the July 1, 2017 deadline from taking effect, as OSHA had not set up the portal in advance of the original deadline.  More ›

California Adds New Notice Requirement for Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Victims

Employers, another notice provision has taken effect in California. Beginning on July 1, 2017, employers with at least 25 employees must now provide written notice to new employees that explain the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. More specifically, the required notice mandates employers notify new employees of their rights under Labor Code Sections 230 and 230.1. These sections detail the following points: More ›