Employment & The Law - Summer 2010
During his campaign for the presidency, then-Senator Barack Obama made known his dissatisfaction with the reduced role the EEOC had taken in enforcing antidiscrimination laws. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the EEOC has launched efforts to revamp its role as the leading civil rights agency for employees. [Read more →]
Caution: Kids at Work – The DOL Amends Its Child Labor Regulations
On May 20, 2010, the DOL amended its regulations concerning the hours that minors can work and the tasks that they can perform. Many of the DOL’s changes are not really changes at all though – rather, the DOL has simply formalized its previously unofficial enforcement positions on various topics. [Read more →]
The Not So Obvious Truth about Managing Employees with Obvious Disabilities
Generally, it is the responsibility of the employee with a disability to inform the employer that he or she needs an accommodation. However, when indeed a disability and need for accommodation are obvious, the employer’s obligation to provide an employee with a reasonable accommodation is triggered. [Read more →]
Immigration Audits Now Focused On I-9s — Are You Ready?
The United States Department of Homeland Security has changed its focus from conducting raids to auditing employer records, specifically focusing on I-9 records. These audits have been highly publicized in the media, including the issuance of 652 notices in July 2009 and another 1,000 in November 2009. [Read more →]
Speaking of Disabled: The ADA’s Limitations on Disability-Related Inquiries of Current Employees
The ADA imposes different obligations on employers at three different stages of the hiring and employment process: (1) pre-offer, (2) post-offer, but pre-employment, and (3) during employment. But the rules are different at each stage, and employers are often perplexed as to what questions can be asked of applicants and employees. This article focuses specifically on medical inquires made during the course of an employee’s employment. [Read more →]
The DOL Clarifies that Non-Traditional Parents Have FMLA Rights, Too
Employers have wrestled for years with the issue of how the FMLA applies to employees who request leave for the birth or care of a child on the grounds that they stand “in loco parentis” to the child when there is no legal or biological parent-child relationship present. So what does “in loco parentis” mean? [Read more →]
Title VII Class Actions: Has the Ninth Circuit Opened the Floodgates?
In a sharply divided 6-5 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld, in large part, a federal district court’s decision to certify a broad and diverse nationwide class of female employees who alleged that Wal-Mart discriminated against them and similarly-situated employees because of their sex in its pay and promotional practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. [Read more →]
Following President Obama’s election, many pundits predicted that Congress would transform employment law by granting employees unprecedented rights. Now that the economy appears to be on the mend, it seems Congress is poised to launch this predicted push toward reforming employment law. [Read more →]
Are You Taking Advantage of the HIRE Act?
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act) creates two different tax incentives for private-sector employers who hire certain previously unemployed workers. [Read more →]