In its 2014 decision Purple Communications Inc. and Communication Workers of America, the NLRB ruled that employees could generally use employers’ email systems to organize or engage in other concerted activities protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, overturning board precedent and causing employers everywhere to scramble to update employee handbooks and […]
San Antonio followed Austin as the second city in Texas to mandate private employers offer paid sick leave to employees employed within the city limits. The San Antonio City Council passed an ordinance on August 16, 2018 requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave to employees who work at least 80 hours in San […]
Titled the Economic Security for New Parents Act, Senator Marco Rubio’s bill is the latest in a string of federal paid leave proposals. According to Senator Rubio’s release, Senate Bill 3345 “[c]reates an option for new parents to pull forward a portion of their Social Security to use for paid parental leave after the birth […]
In light of the ever-growing number of states and local governments mandating paid sick leave requirements for private employers, some federal paid sick leave bills have been proposed. Some proponents have called for federal intervention to alleviate multijurisdictional employers from having to comply with a myriad of State and local laws – which are often different […]
Employee handbooks, policy and procedure manuals, and other guidelines given to employees can be a very effective way for employers to communicate their expectations to their employees and show that an employee’s bad behavior was in violation of company policies. Yet, employee handbooks can also be a liability to the company by implicitly carving out […]
Last week, a bizarre story broke regarding Bryan Colangelo, the general manager of the Phildelphia 76ers (a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association, for all of you non-sports types). According to published reports, Colangelo allegedly created and operated five anonymous Twitter accounts, and used them to criticize his own team’s players and coaches, […]
On May 2, 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed bill making New Jersey the 10th state to require employers to provide paid sick leave for employees. The law, which takes effect on October 29, 2018, requires employers to give workers one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with an annual cap of 40 […]
Recently, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut denied in part an employer’s motion to compel the plaintiff to provide access to her social media accounts. The case, Marsteller v. Butterfield 8 Stamford LLC, involved sexual harassment under Title VII where the plaintiff alleged that her coworkers “repeatedly sexually harassed her, watched her […]
With the confirmation of William Emanuel by the Senate on September 25, 2017, the NLRB has a Republican majority. Democrat/union lawyer members had been in the majority for many years. Republican Marvin Kaplan had been confirmed by the Senate on August 2, 2017, and the Republican member Phillip Miscimarra was appointed Chairman by the President […]
Even if last year’s Christmas tree survived longer than your New Year’s Resolutions, there is still time to make workplace resolutions that you can actually keep. Here are just a few valuable projects to consider tackling in 2017. Handbook Revisions – Even handbooks and forms that were updated in 2016 may not reflect critical new […]
