Posts from June 2015.

The City of Chicago just issued new rules clarifying the Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance with respect to the minimum wage for tipped employees, overtime calculations for tipped and non-tipped employees, and complaints against employers.

The Minimum Wage and Tip Credit for Tipped Employees
The Rules clarify that the minimum wage for tipped employees is $10.00 and that Section 1-24-030(a)(1) sets forth the minimum wage minus tip credit that tipped employees may be paid.

As of July 1, 2015, the minimum wage minus tip credit is $5.45, or the state minimum wage of $8.25, minus the state ...

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has announced that they are issuing a proposed rule to increase the minimum salary requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act for exempt employees. The final proposed rule will be issued in the Federal Register and will provide a comment period for the public.

The proposed rule sets forth guidance and requests comment on the following proposed changes:

  1. Set the minimum salary level to qualify for the white collar exemptions at 40% of the national weekly earnings for full-time salaried employees ($921 per week or $47,892 ...

This Wednesday, July 1, 2015, Chicago’s Minimum Wage Ordinance (Chicago Municipal Code §1-24) goes into effect, increasing the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour for non-tipped employees and $5.45 for tipped employees.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REQUIREMENTS: All employers that maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of  Chicago AND/OR are subject to one or more of the license requirements in Title 4 of the Municipal Code of Chicago are covered by Chicago’s Minimum Wage Ordinance and MUST do the following starting July 1st:

  1. Post Chicago’s Minimum Wage Poster by ...

California

Gov. Jerry Brown 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.  Read more here!

Massachusetts

On November 4, 2014, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot referendum requiring Massachusetts employers to provide paid sick leave. The new law will take effect on July 1, 2015. Massachusetts joins California and Connecticut as states ...

In a major decision announced earlier today, the Supreme Court upheld the tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in states that have a federal health care exchange, affirming the 4th Circuit’s ruling in King v. Burwell.  The Court’s ruling confirms the legality of tax credits for the purchase of individual health coverage in the 37 states that have a health care exchange run by, or in partnership with, the federal government – including Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri.

At issue was the interpretation of language in Section 36B of the ACA ...

OSHA continues to focus enforcement efforts on whistleblower/retaliation claims.  Whistleblower claims have been on the rise and this trend is expected to continue for the coming years.  OSHA recently updated its Whistleblower Investigations Manual to offer clarity to remedies and settlements when handling a whistleblower claim under the Act.

The revised manual states that in some cases OSHA may issue a preliminary reinstatement and employers must make a bona fide job offer upon receipt of such findings.  This would be a bold order, but it might be used with greater frequency as OSHA ...

Erratic behavior, caused by an underlying medical condition, does not necessarily mean a free pass under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In March, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Walz v. Ameriprise Financial, Inc., upheld the termination of a bipolar employee, finding that the termination did not violate the ADA. Identifying and accommodating employees with overt physical disabilities is substantially easier than accommodating behavior that is disruptive and/or erratic and caused by mental illness. Because of the difficulty in addressing these types of ...

On June 15, 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s ruling that employers can lawfully terminate employees for use of medical marijuana outside of work in compliance with a drug free workplace policy in Coats v. Dish Network, 2015 CO 44 (June 15, 2015).

This is an important decision for employers as many of the state laws “legalizing” marijuana for medical and/or recreational use have been recognized as providing protections from criminal laws, but are unclear as to how much, if any, civil or employment protections are provided to employees under ...

On June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court decided EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., ruling that it was unlawful for an Abercrombie clothing store to reject an otherwise qualified applicant because, as a practicing Muslim, she wore a headscarf.

That rejection arose from Abercrombie’s unfortunate application of the company’s “Look Policy,” which prohibited employees from wearing “caps”—a term that the Look Policy did not specifically define.  Abercrombie believed—but was not certain, as there was no discussion of the issue with the applicant—that the ...

The articles claiming the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tibble v. Edison International are plentiful.  Each one seems to claim with a great sense of urgency that a new increased liability is now imposed on employers.  If you read enough of them, the sky seems to be falling on all those who operate and administer 401(k) plans.  In reality, most of these articles appear to be quoting language from the decision completely out of context.  Where an employer has been advised properly, Tibble should not require any change in the administration of an employer’s 401(k) plan.

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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