Employers

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Photo: Gonzalo Malpartida via Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)
Photo: Gonzalo Malpartida via Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)

One of the most problematic areas for employers is the balancing act which occurs between managing employee productivity and attendance while taking care not to tread on entitlement to Family and Medical Leave (“FMLA”) and Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) protections.  Intermittent and unforeseeable absences are at the top of the list of challenges, and one particularly challenging issue is migraine headaches.

Individuals who suffer from migraines know they are usually 1) unpredictable and 2) debilitating.  They often result in employees calling in at the last minute, leaving work midday or being out for days at a time without notice.
Continue Reading Are Employee Absences Giving You A Headache?

Photo: Christopher T. Sununu
Photo: Christopher T. Sununu

Yesterday Governor Sununu enacted his first law allowing gun owners to carry concealed loaded guns, without a license – effective immediately.

Prior to the this law, police chiefs and local officials had discretion to decide if someone was “suitable” to carry a loaded gun concealed.  Now, if a person is not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun, he or she can carry it concealed without a license.  This means that an employee, who lawfully possesses a gun, could carry it concealed in her handbag, backpack, briefcase, or jacket, for example.  Some employees may view this new law as permitting them to carry loaded concealed weapons into the workplace.  That is not true.
Continue Reading Conceal and Carry: License to Be Armed at Work?

Photo: John Hilliard via Flickr (CC by 2.0)
Photo: John Hilliard via Flickr (CC by 2.0)

The winter season presents employers with many weather related issues ranging from obligations to keep outdoor areas safe to deciding whether to close the business for all or part of the day.  Closing the business due to inclement weather raises pay issues – what pay are employees entitled to when the business closes? It depends, in part, whether the employee is considered exempt or non-exempt and whether, the employee is paid on a salary basis.
Continue Reading Winter Weather and Employee Challenges – To Pay or Not to Pay?

On February 3, 2017, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced that it would extend the notice and comment period for its proposed enforcement guidelines on unlawful harassment under EEOC-enforced employment discrimination laws.  The extension, which provides an additional forty (40) days for public input, gives in-house counsel and human resources professionals a good…

Photo: Public Domain
Photo: Public Domain

Typically with an incoming administration there is a waiting period of sorts before changes in pending and certainly existing regulations kick in.  The current administration, however, appears to be working at an accelerated pace toward upending the status quo.  So, it appears time for a quick check-in on where we are and what to expect.

On Inauguration day, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Jan. 20 instructed federal agencies to freeze all pending regulations, a move that seems to include a number of labor and employment initiatives that were in the works under the Obama administration.

This type of freeze is not unusual when a new president takes office.  An action of this nature does not necessarily mean that significant changes are coming, but given candidate Trump’s campaign promise to roll back regulation on business, we can at least predict that the administration will be in no rush to move on the pending matters.
Continue Reading Two Weeks Into the Trump Administration: Where are we with Labor and Employment Regulations?

Photo: William Brawley via Flickr (CC by 2.0)
Photo: William Brawley via Flickr (CC by 2.0)

Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit filed by construction-industry employers and their trade associations seeking to block enforcement of the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law in settings where…

On Wednesday, November 16, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent nationwide injunction striking down the DOL’s efforts to vastly expand the type of “persuader” activities subject to public reporting under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA).  See Nat’l Fed’n of Independent Bus. v. Perez, No.…

Megyn Kelly
Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

Words spoken yesterday morning by Fox News personality Megyn Kelly during an interview by George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.  Kelly was asked about the lawsuit filed by her former Fox News colleague Gretchen Carlson against former CEO Roger Ailes and Kelly’s own experiences with Ailes…