Author: Kate McGovern Tornone

GOP ‘still has options’ after pulling ACA repeal bill

On March 24, Republican lawmakers pulled their proposal to undo parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) when it became clear they didn’t have the necessary votes to pass the bill in the House. The American Health Care Act would have, among other things, effectively voided the ACA’s employer mandate, which requires large employers to […]

Seasonal employee not bound by noncompetition clause

by Matthew Larsen A British Columbia court recently explored a novel issue – whether a noncompetition clause is enforceable against a seasonal employee. Facts In See Thru Window Cleaners Inc. v. Mahood, 2016 BCSC 2134, the employer was in the seasonal business of window cleaning, gutter cleaning, and pressure cleaning. It employed most workers in […]

Getting medical excuse policies right: Know what kind of note you can require

Determining when an employee’s medical condition requires time off from work can get tricky. No one wants to require a worker too sick to be productive to come to work, but employers also have to be on guard against employees trying to use sick days to squeeze in a little extra vacation time.  Many employers […]

‘Breathtakingly radical’: Acosta questions legality of any overtime threshold

President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of labor has questioned whether the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has the authority to set any salary threshold for overtime pay—not just the pending increase that would raise the threshold to $47,476. Alexander Acosta volunteered that concern twice during his March 22 confirmation hearing, despite no questions from […]

loan

Legal and practical pitfalls of loaning money to employees

by Raanon Gal and Glianny Fagundo Many employers have been faced with a valued employee who is undergoing financial hardship asking for a pay advance or loan to help him get back on his feet. Employers are often tempted to give an employee a loan or pay advance because it seems like the right thing […]

$15 minimum wage clears Baltimore City Council

by Kevin C. McCormick On March 20, the Baltimore City Council voted 11-3 to approve a bill that would raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. If ultimately enacted, the minimum wage would be the highest in Maryland. Under the proposed legislation, the minimum wage for employees working in the city […]

ball

Predicting success is hard

by Dan Oswald How good are you at picking winners? If you’re one of the 70 million Americans who filled out a bracket for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, you probably have a sense of how hard it is to predict success. You think you’ve done your homework. You do your research, looking at win-loss […]

Will & Grace reunited

Ever since the cast of Will & Grace reunited for a mini episode encouraging all of us to vote in 2016, the Internet has been in a frenzy about the possibility of a revival 18 years after the show first aired. In January, the news broke that NBC has ordered a 10-episode limited revival series […]

‘I quit … oh wait, I didn’t mean it!’

by Stefan Kimpton Employers don’t often enough think about the consequences of a heat-of-the-moment resignation. It is generally assumed that when an employee says “I quit” or storms out of the workplace, the employment relationship has come to an end and the employer owes no further obligations to the employee. Think again. As a recent […]

stress

Dealing with the unseen: Tips for traversing legal terrain of hidden disabilities

Work can be stressful for anyone, and employers are wise to ease the burdens when possible in the interest of maintaining productivity and the general well-being of the workforce. But disabilities can complicate the issue, especially when the disability isn’t obvious.  Human resources professionals may be well aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), […]