The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced employers to face public health, customer service, workforce, travel, and business disruptions in constantly evolving circumstances. Many of the decisions that employers must make on-the-fly create unintended consequences with serious labor and employment law liability issues. This blog will address employment discrimination and leave law-related issues raised by the Covid-19 pandemic.
ILLINOIS LAW LEGALIZING CANNABIS FOR ADULTS IN THE NEW YEAR MAKES EMPLOYER DRUG TESTING AND DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR WORKPLACE MARIJUANA USE HAZY
I. Illinois’ New Law Legalizing Cannabis for Adults Authorizes Employers to Maintain Zero Tolerance or Drug Free Workplace Policies and to Conduct Drug Testing. The Illinois General Assembly enacted the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“Cannabis Act”) on May 31, 2019. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed…
EMPLOYERS MUST ACT NOW TO IMPLEMENT THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR’S FINAL RULE UPDATING THE MINIMUM SALARY FOR WHITE COLLAR MINIMUM WAGE AND OVERTIME EXEMPTIONS BY THE NEW YEAR
A. The Department of Labor Issued Its Final Rule on September 24, 2019. The Department of Labor (“Department”) issued a final rule revising the regulations interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA” or “Act”) on September 24, 2019. They set new and higher thresholds for…
Recent Missouri Supreme Court Opinion Upholds Legislative Amendment Process
Have you ever intently followed legislation that you supported—an education bill, for instance—only to find out that another education-related proposal you didn’t like had been added to the bill as an amendment? While this can be frustrating to the observing citizen, it certainly is not…
HOW TO MANAGE THE RISK OF UNFAIR COMPETITION BY FORMER EMPLOYEES
Employers face a known but largely unquantifiable risk when they give their employees access to their confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets, and customers. Some ignore these risks, hope for the best, and trust that they have hired only loyal, honest, and honorable workers. Such…
HOW TO MANAGE THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT’S EXEMPTION FOR OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVES
Most employers that pay their outside sales representatives on a commission basis do so because of long-established practices, rather than a sound understanding as to how the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA” or “Act”) impacts such a compensation practice. Generally, the Act requires employers to…
HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA DURING RECRUITING AND HIRING WITHOUT LIABILITY
Seven in ten Americans use social media, according to the Pew Research Center. They connect with one another, access content, share information, and entertain themselves through social media. When the Pew Research Center first surveyed the use of social media in 2005, only five percent…
Missouri Gives Go-Ahead to Public-Private Partnerships for Universities
On July 10, 2019, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed legislation that permits state universities to use public-private partnerships (also known as “P3s”) to deliver projects on their campuses. Specifically, the law will allow a higher-education institution to enter into “a long-term concession with a private…
HIRING AND RECRUITING IN TIGHT LABOR MARKETS
The unemployment rate hovered at a 49-year low of 3.6 percent in both April and May of 2019. Low unemployment typically creates a jobseeker’s market in which workers find plentiful attractive job openings. On the other side of the equation, however, employers usually have a…
GREEN LIGHT FOR POTTY-MOUTH BRANDING!
SUPREME COURT RULES LAW PROHIBITING REGISTRATION OF IMMORAL OR SCANDALOUS TRADEMARKS IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Only two years ago, in the case of In re Tam, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the federal law (the Lanham Act) that prohibited registration of “disparaging” marks violated the First…