Domestic Service Employees Who Provide “Companionship Services” To Elderly And Sick People Now Protected By Federal Wage Laws
Effective on January 1, 2015, a new U.S. Labor Department regulation will extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers, one of the fastest-growing occupations in the country. About two million Americans will benefit from the new policy in that they will now be protected by the minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions…
Obama Administration Adds Transgender Protections Not Enacted By Congress
Acting unilaterally to expand federal civil rights laws to protect transgenders in the workplace – although Congress has failed to do so – the Obama Administration has announced that it will push forward with its own interpretation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Reversing the prior position of the U.S. Justice Department,…
Favoring Unions, NLRB Grants Employees The Right To Organize Using Their Employers’ Email Systems During Nonworking Time
The National Labor Relations Board has decided, 3-2, that employees have a right to use their employers’ e-mail systems for communicating about union organizing during breaks and other nonworking time. The 76-page decision, which favors labor unions, overruled a seven-year-old board ruling which had found the opposite. In doing so, the Board gave preference to…
Florida State Senator Seeks Prohibition On Checking Job Applicants’ Criminal Records
If it is approved in the next Florida legislative session, a proposed new state law would prohibit private employers from inquiring into, or considering, a job applicant’s criminal history on an initial employment application. Such screenings would only be allowed after the employer has determined that a job applicant meets the minimum requirements to qualify…
EEOC Issues New Guidances On Disability Discrimination At The Workplace
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued four revised guidance documents regarding protection against disability discrimination, pursuant to the goal of the agency’s Strategic Plan to provide up-to-date guidance on the requirements of antidiscrimination laws. The documents address how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to job applicants and existing employees with…
EEOC Issues Updated Enforcement Guidance On Pregnancy Discrimination
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a new Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues, along with a question and answer document about the guidance, and a Fact Sheet for Small Businesses. They are all available free online at eeoc.gov. (See URLs below). This is the first comprehensive update of the…
Half A Million U.S. Employers Now Using E-Verify To Check Job Applicants’ Status
More than 500,000 employers now use E-Verify in about 1.5-million workplaces, the federal government’s free online service that allows United States employers to confirm their new employees’ eligibility to work in this country. U.S. law requires companies to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States – either U.S. citizens or foreign…
Supreme Court Decides That End-Of-Shift Anti-Theft Employee Screenings Are Not Compensable Work Time Under The FLSA
The U.S. Supreme Court has held unanimously that hourly-paid employees don’t have to be paid for the time that they spend passing through after-work security screenings, reversing a Ninth Circuit ruling in favor of former employees of an Amazon.com warehouse against a staffing agency. The Court handed a victory to employers over employee pay, ruling…
Federal Appeals Court Protects Rights Of Lactating Employees In The Workplace
In a precedent-setting decision that should be of interest all private sector employers, a federal appeals court has ruled that discharging a female employee because she is lactating or expressing breast milk in the workplace constitutes sex discrimination in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), on behalf of employee Donnicia…
