By Bill Wright The former general counsel of the EEOC under President Obama leads a team that is giving many, many employers an early holiday nightmare. A union and a class of plaintiffs are seeking damages from a class of employers; if your company uses Facebook for recruiting, your company might be a defendant in […]
Month: December 2017
The Changed NLRB Reasonably Defines “Change”
By Patrick Scully The new National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) reversed another Obama Board decision on Friday. In Raytheon Company, 365 NLRB No. 161 (December 15, 2017), the Board returned to long standing precedent that the question of whether an employer has made a “change” should take into consideration the employer’s standing practices. […]
Trump Board Trashes “Biggest Idiot” Test
By Bernie Siebert The Trump Board quickly jumped on the Obama Board’s seeming obsession with otherwise innocuous employee policies and handbook provisions. The Boeing Company. We have repeatedly blogged about the Obama Board’s “biggest idiot” theory as applied to handbook provisions. Rather than reviewing handbook policies to see whether a reasonable person might interpret them to unlawfully prohibit […]
New Board Restores Proper Joint Employer Test
By Bernie Siebert Yesterday the newly constituted Trump Board overruled the Obama-era joint employer test that has caused confusion and legal uncertainty for many employers. Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. The Board’s test in the much criticized Browning-Ferris Industries case was that “direct and immediate” control was not necessary to establish that two employers were “joint employers.” Rather, […]
Supreme Court Avoids Sex Orientation Case
By Bernie Siebert In an move that surprised many Supreme Court watchers, the Court declined to hear the case of Evans v. Regional Hospital et al. The case raised the issue of whether the prohibition in Title VII against employment discrimination because of sex encompasses sexual orientation. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that Title VII did not […]
New NLRB General Counsel Fires Shot Across The Bow
By Patrick Scully NLRB General Counsel Peter B. Robb has made a first and lasting impression with his initial Memorandum describing Mandatory Submissions to Advice. General Counsel Robb announced his intent to review, through the Division of Advice, new cases involving issues that the Obama-appointed NLRB regularly prosecuted as unfair labor practices. Among other matters, […]
DOL Proposing New Tip Credit Regulations
By Bernie Siebert On December 4, 2017, the U. S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the tip credit regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20171204 The proposed new regulation will be published today, and will be available for public comment. The purpose of the new regulation is to […]
Road to Lawsuit Paved with Good Intentions
By Chance Hill A federal district court in Alabama recently denied summary judgment to an employer in a Title VII pregnancy discrimination claim. The employee, a pregnant nurse working at a home for intellectually disabled individuals, was removed from a work schedule after revealing her “high-risk” pregnancy to her supervisor. The employee and her supervisor […]