Readers may have noticed news reports that on August 30, a federal judge declared Rudy Giuliani was on the losing end of a defamation lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers. He had claimed they were involved in...
Employment Law Letter
The full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appeals court covering Texas)—all 15 judges—just decided a major case, coming down squarely on the side of employees. Some are pooh-poohing its import, saying it’s...
A few months ago, I wrote about a new initiative from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that promised a crackdown on noncompetes for interfering with employees’ rights to move from one employer to another and to...
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial preferences in college admissions is promoting all sorts of employment litigation in the business world. Latest stop: The Dallas office of a national law firm was...
Here’s an employer right that’s not really understood: You can manufacture evidence. How so? When you’re managing an employee issue, you can make conscious, strategic decisions that will, if a lawsuit is filed, rebound...
Documentary evidence is a critical part of any legal proceeding. Relaxed standards in creating and maintaining documentary evidence that demonstrates an employee’s deficient performance increases an employer’s risk in...
A Georgia employee affected by a reduction-in-force lost her opportunity to arbitrate her age discrimination claim simply because she missed the demand filing deadline by a single day. Here’s how. Facts Tanya Smith was...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) recently issued a landmark decision overturning its precedent of nearly 30 years that required an employee claiming...
On August 30, 2023, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding 29 CFR part 541, which governs compensation for exempt employees under the Fair Labor...
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)—passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in late December 2022—requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for medical conditions related to pregnancy and...
On September 6, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that amended the New York Penal Law (NYPL) to make wage theft criminal larceny. Changes to the penal code Section 155 of the NYPL provides that...
On September 6, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that prohibits employers from forcing employees to attend meetings or listen to communications where the “primary purpose” of such gatherings or...
If you run a business, you’ve probably encountered arbitration clauses. These contractual provisions require parties to resolve disputes in private proceedings instead of court and are celebrated as a cost-effective...
In August 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new regulation making permanent the I-9 flexibility regulations but only for employers that enrolled in E-Verify. Moving forward, if employers want to...
Employers using time clocks frequently round time to the nearest quarter or tenth of an hour. This is permissible as long as it averages out that the time rounded down is offset by the time rounded up. However, the U.S...