Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – Drafting Job Descriptions to Minimize Risk

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 …

Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act Is Out…At Least For Now

The wait 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 NOT go into effect on February 20, 2023.   In an opinion issued January 26, 2023, the Michigan Court of Appeals panel in Mothering Justice v. Attorney General overturned …

Stop the World – I Want to Get Off! Onboarding and Off-boarding in an Increasingly Mobile and Remote Workforce

In a world with an increasingly mobile and remote workforce, onboarding and off-boarding employees are more complicated than ever. Many companies now have single “outpost” employees in various states across the country. Similarly, many companies are encountering key employees asking to move (or moving without asking) to a state where the company previously had no …

#MeToo 5 Years Later – How The States Took Over the Narrative

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has occupied a preeminent place in all of our minds for the past two years, it was not that long ago that the #MeToo movement swept the nation, forcing employers and employees to examine new—yet somehow also old—issues of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment in the workplace. From a cultural standpoint, #MeToo …

U.S. Supreme Court Splits the Baby as It Stays the Private Employer Vaccine or Test Mandate but Keeps the Healthcare Vaccine Mandate in Place

On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court (“Court”) issued two critical decisions: one staying the OSHA ETS vaccine or test mandate, the second allowing the OSHA CMS vaccine mandate for healthcare facilities to move forward. THE OSHA ETS IS STAYED By way of background, the OSHA ETS requires all employers with more than …

Private Employer Vaccine Mandate Moves Forward as Sixth Circuit Dissolves Fifth Circuit’s OSHA ETS Stay

On December 17, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which was chosen via lottery as the federal appellate court to decide whether the OSHA ETS, i.e., the private employer vaccine mandate, would go into effect, dissolved the stay that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had issued, allowing …

The Private Employer COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate is Here: What Employers Need to Know

On Thursday, November 4, 2021, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) rolled out temporary emergency standards (“ETS”) implementing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which are expected to become effective November 5, 2021. These emergency rules are intended to address the “grave danger of COVID-19 in the workplace.” …

Keepin’ It Real: Wage and Hour Issues in the Reality TV Industry

In September 2014, four reality TV participants on the show Texas Car Wars sued the network Megalomedia for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) alleging that Megalomedia did not pay them in full for their time on the show.  According to the participants, film shoots regularly exceeded 40 hours per week and participants were …

Mid-Term Election Fever: Coming to a Workplace Near You

Mid-term election fever has swept the nation. Both sides of the aisle, as well as independents and libertarians in between, have campaigned harder than ever before for your vote. Smear ads and dramatic media depictions have become the norm, and many of us have become desensitized to the vitriolic turn politics has taken. Here are …