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In employment discrimination cases, the parties often retain experts to opine about various aspects of the case. An expert may provide, for example, insight as to job performance issues or, in many instances, determine the nature and scope of an employee’s alleged damages. But can an expert determine if the employer’s conduct constituted “discrimination”? The …
Continue reading “Can an Expert Define and Determine What Constitutes Discrimination?”
There’s glitter on the floor after the party Girls carryin’ their shoes down in the lobby Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor You and me from the night before -Taylor Swift, “New Year’s Day” Glitter should be the only mess a company needs to clean up after a holiday party. Holiday party season …
Continue reading “The Ultimate Holiday Party Planning Guide: HR Edition”
With the 2024 election quickly approaching, employers should expect an increase in political conversation and activity in the workplace. It is essential during political seasons for both employers and employees to understand how to navigate political speech and activity to maintain positive working relationships and overall productivity. Generally, public-sector employers have little flexibility to govern …
Continue reading “The Freedom—and Limits—of Political Speech in the Workplace”
Too often, job descriptions remain unchanged for years, merely given a perfunctory review each time an employer needs to hire a new candidate before being quickly rubber-stamped and attached to the job posting. Job descriptions are easy to breeze by when employers conduct compliance reviews – they are not typically legally binding documents and are …
Continue reading “Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – Drafting Job Descriptions to Minimize Risk”
Temporary Employment Agencies (TEAs) should become familiar with a change to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (“WSIA”)[1], which creates a new classification, 001281, added to Class L. Traditionally, for premium setting with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) under the WSIA, TEAs report and pay premiums for labour provided based on their …
Continue reading “Support for Temporary Employment Agencies: WSIA Changes Ahead”
Under Michigan’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (“MiOSHA”), employers may not “discharge an employee or in any manner discriminate against an employee because the employee filed a complaint” regarding the employer’s unsafe working conditions, among other things. MCL 408.1065(1). Any employee who “believes that he or she was discharged or otherwise discriminated against by a …
Not so fast and not so final – for now. On August 20, 2024, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sided with a plaintiff group comprised of a limited liability company, a coalition of various business groups, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and set …
Continue reading “Federal Judge Sets Aside the FTC’s Noncompete Ban”
The game of legal whiplash is over – Michigan employers (and employment lawyers) now know that the Earned Sick Time Act and Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, as originally proposed, will go into effect on February 21, 2025. How did we get here? In an opinion issued on July 31, 2024, the Michigan Supreme Court …
Continue reading “Michigan Employers Must Increase Sick Time and Minimum Wage by February 21, 2025”
Ohio employers will soon see their employees be able to purchase recreational marijuana when dispensaries open in the coming weeks. Ohio’s recreational marijuana program stems from a 2023 citizen-driven campaign to create a program that allows all Ohioans over 21 years of age to purchase marijuana without needing a doctor’s recommendation first. That initiative, known …
Continue reading “What Ohio Employers Need to Know As Legal Marijuana Sales Begin”
On July 1, 2024, the Department of Labor’s rule raising the salary threshold for workers to be exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act becomes effective. Labor lawyers and HR professionals have long expected, consistent with history, that a court would enjoin the DOL’s new rule (the fluidly named “Defining and …
Continue reading “Are You Ready? FLSA Salary Thresholds Increase July 1, 2024”