Showing 66 posts from 2017.

Supreme Court Confirms Standards for ERISA’s Church Plan Exception

June 6, 2017 by Anthony E. Antognoli

In a clear win for religiously-affiliated employers, including hospital systems and educational institutions, a unanimous Supreme Court found that a statutory exception to ERISA’s requirements for “church plans” applies to plans that are maintained by tax-exempt entities affiliated with churches in Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton. More ›

DOL Challenges Injury and Accident Reporting Policy Under OSHA’s Anti-Retaliation Rule

June 1, 2017 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

OSHA’s new anti-retaliation rule went into effect on December 1, 2016. The purpose of the new rule was to clarify what OSHA considered “the existing implicit requirement” that an employer work-related injury and illness policies be reasonable and not deter or discourage employees from reporting injuries. Since that time, employers and lawyers alike have waited to see what types of policies OSHA would target under the new rule. The Department of Labor’s recent complaint filed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin sheds some light on that question. More ›

OSHA Likely to Postpone Electronic Injury and Illness Reporting

May 22, 2017 by Aimee E. Delaney

OSHA has announced it intends to propose extending the July 1, 2017 deadline by which certain employers were scheduled to begin reporting workplace injuries and illnesses electronically, as required by OSHA's new rule.  This may not come as a surprise, as the electronic portal through which reporting is to be made has not been created.  Updates will be posted to OSHA's webpage, which you can find here, when available.  More ›

New York Crosses the Finish Line to Ban Inquiries into Applicant Wage History

May 9, 2017 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

On May 4, 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law, Intro No. 1253-2016, amending the New York City Human Rights Law to restrict an employer’s ability to ask job applicants about their compensation history during the hiring process. The law will take effect on October 31, 2017. More ›

Who Invited You? OSHA Reverses Itself on Fairfax Memo

May 4, 2017 by Tom H. Luetkemeyer

OSHA recently announced it will no longer bring union representatives to inspections of non-unionized workplaces.  As a result, barring a designation by an employee (which I'll discuss further below), non-unionized employers no longer have reason to fear that an OSHA compliance officer will appear at the door accompanied by a union representative on an inspection or walk-around. More ›

House Passes American Health Care Act: Potential Impact on Employer Plans

May 4, 2017 by Anthony E. Antognoli

Earlier this afternoon the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA).  While the AHCA must still get through the Senate and eventually be signed by the President before becoming law, with the passage of the AHCA employers now have a first look at how the health care landscape may change under the Trump Administration. More ›

Management Rights Clause Does Not Give Management Right to Skip Bargaining Over Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreement D.C. Court of Appeals Says

May 2, 2017 by Tom H. Luetkemeyer

In Minteq v. NLRA, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held an employer committed an unfair labor practice under Section 8 (a)(5) by failing to notify and bargain with a union over its requirement that new employees sign a non-compete and confidentiality agreement as a condition of employment. More ›

May Employers Weed Out Medical Marijuana Patients Through Drug Testing? Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Will Weigh In

April 18, 2017 by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The ever-changing landscape of medical marijuana laws in states across the nation has given rise to several lawsuits regarding an employer’s right to enforce anti-drug policies against employees who hold valid state-issued medical marijuana licenses. As the Employment Law Observer has previously reported, the Colorado Supreme Court and a federal district court in New Mexico previously held that these states’ medical marijuana laws do not impose any duty on employers to accommodate medical marijuana use. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is set to weigh in on the issue next. More ›

Historic Seventh Circuit Decision Gives LGBTQ Employees More Protections

April 5, 2017 by Aimee E. Delaney

In a landmark opinion issued Tuesday, the Seventh Circuit became the first federal appellate court in the country to extend the protections afforded by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to sexual orientation discrimination in its Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College decision. More ›

Federal Contractors and Sub-contractors Win in Rollback of "Blacklisting" Rule

March 28, 2017 by Aimee E. Delaney

President Trump signed a Congressional Review Act resolution that rolled back the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Act, which would have required bidders for federal contracts to disclose their alleged labor and employment law violations for a three year period for consideration in the bidding process. More ›

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