Posts from September 2014.

Arizona:  In July, the Attorney General confirmed that the AZ smoking restrictions do not apply to e-cigs.

California: Employers, get ready to start having to offer paid sick leave beginning July 1, 2015 if you aren’t already!  See our September 16, 2014 post for more details.  Also, beginning January 1, 2015, unpaid interns and volunteers are getting the same nondiscrimination and harassment treatment as paid workers, including non-harassment training.

Connecticut:  Starting October 1, 2014, workers may obtain certificates of rehabilitation related to their ...

We often hear the above statement when providing advice on workers’ compensation and employment law to clients and prospective clients.   The focus then always involves exposure for workers’ compensation retaliatory discharge lawsuits.  The litigation costs and risks of paying the former employee for wrongful discharge warrant obtaining legal advice. Plaintiff attorneys confirm to me that the burden of proving such a case is still a challenge to them.

Notably, an Illinois appellate court has just reduced the incentive to such litigation for plaintiffs in Dale v South ...

One week before an election to decertify Teamsters Local 734 as the bargaining representative of drivers at LaBriola Baking Co., the company held a mandatory meeting for its drivers to make a final push against continued union representation.  At the meeting, the company’s Chief Operating Officer spoke about the upcoming election.  The COO said in English, “If you choose union representation, we believe the union will push you toward a strike.  Should this occur, we will exercise our legal right to hire replacement workers for the drivers who strike.”  Roughly 80 percent of the ...

The ADA does not protect employees who are under the influence of illegal drugs. However, the ADA provides conflicting messages when drug tests include the testing for prescription drugs and how to respond if an employee in a safety sensitive position tests positive. This is further complicated by the blurring of what is an illegal drug in many states, including Illinois, which have legalized medical marijuana.

The ADA prohibits employers from inquiring whether an individual has a disability or requiring an individual to take a medical exam that would disclose a disability ...

Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed into law Assembly Bill 1522, the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.”  Under this new law, effective July 1, 2015, California employers, with few exceptions, must provide at least 24 hours (3 working days) of paid sick leave per year to their employees.

Who Is Covered?

Essentially all employers and employees (including part-time and temporary employees) are covered by the law.  Unlike other California leave laws (as well as other states and the FMLA), there is no minimum employee threshold; nor is there a minimum-hours-worked ...

On March 13, 2014, we reported that President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing his Secretary of Labor to update the regulations to expand the number of employees eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  In May 2014, the Obama Administration released its Regulatory Agenda indicating that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) was scheduled to release its “white collar” overtime exemption regulations proposed rules in November 2014.  We anticipate that the new proposed regulations will be significantly narrower than the ...

In a world where cyber space rules, employers need to ensure that their customer, business and client information is protected. While our cyber tech attorneys and IT professionals handle the tech-y details of the network configuration, on the labor & employment front, we also need to ensure that we have policies and procedures in place to govern our employees’ behavior, reduce liability, and increase accountability.

In today’s universe, work is rarely conducted 100% of the time in the office behind a desk. Our employees and our information are on the go: cell phones ...

In July, we told you about “Ban the Box” coming to Illinois. Effective January 1, 2015, this legislation forbids employers and employment agencies from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal record or criminal history prior to the applicant being selected for an interview or, if there is no interview, prior to a conditional offer of employment. Yesterday, WTTW Chicago Tonight covered this issue and interviewed our group chair and blog contributor Jeffrey Risch on the issue. Check out the video here. The story runs around six and a half minutes long, you can see Jeff ...

Last week a federal appeals court ruled FedEx drivers are not independent contractors, but rather employees. The decision prompted many to ask, FedEx drivers are classified as independent contractors? In fact they are. According to the decision, Alexander v. FedEx, drivers provide their own vehicles (which must meet detailed specifications), pay their own operating expenses, determine their own routes, (provided they deliver the assigned packages on time) and sign an operating agreement accepting the independent contractor arrangement.

The FedEx case arose because a ...

Welcome to the Labor and Employment Law Update where attorneys from Amundsen Davis blog about management side labor and employment issues. 

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