On March 15, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) sent the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) its final rule expanding the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) overtime pay requirement. 

A series of new executive orders from President Obama present some new HR law compliance challenges for federal contractors.

No doubt, most employers have a battle with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which establishes the standards for how to pay their employees.  The FLSA governs overtime pay, the minimum wage, and child labor. Many are simply unaware of the maze of requirements.

The Department of Labor has enhanced its Data & Stats portion of its website by adding a new “Earnings” section. This section features a series of charts and graphs showing the most recent annual earnings averages by selected topics and demographic characteristics.

This is the second of a two-part series of blogs regarding dress codes. Today’s post deals with discrimination, which can be a major item of consideration for many organizations. Here are some of the areas you want to think about when drafting your policy.

Think you have a good grasp on the difference between regular employees and independent contractors? The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) seems to be cracking down even more lately when it comes to enforcing misclassifications.

When is social media free speech not free speech? That’s just the question the Supreme Court has been wrangling with this month. Due to a Pennsylvania man’s 2011 conviction from comments he made against his wife, law enforcement and local elementary schools on Facebook, the Court is now debating the question of when a social media comment can be considered a criminal threat.

Employers and HR Professionals face “difficult” employees all the time.   We know who they are, they are those employees who are considered intimidating, demeaning, or even threatening to co-workers.   

An interesting case from Salt Lake County, Utah, recently caught my attention.  The county was facing a sexual harassment claim.  The complainant’s coworker, Michael Barrett, helped her successfully win her case.  Barrett is a hero, right?  Wrong.  Shortly after assisting his coworker, Barrett was demoted.  Now, if that wasn’t enough to scream, “Retaliation!” the county hired a replacement for his previously held position.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit (for the fourth time!) against the nationwide auto parts retailer, AutoZone, for disability discrimination.  This time its attendance policy which uses a “points” system for absences, did not permit any general exception for disability-related absences.  Its policy required termination for employees reaching twelve points.

In 2008, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) became federal law.  Among other things, GINA prohibits discrimination in employment based on genetic information, which includes not just the employees’ genetic information, but also their family medical history.

Many times we think of sexual harassment as ‘quid pro quo’ (this for that) between a supervisor and employee.  However, other forms of sexual harassment can involve coworkers and third-parties and are just as serious for an employer to address.  Here are a couple scenarios to illustrate how third-parties can affect employees and create a hostile work environment: