Category: HR Management & Compliance

There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.

SCOTUS Order Signals It May Invalidate Some EEOC Harassment Guidelines

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction to the Department of Education’s recently issued rule implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. This order—coupled with its decision overruling Chevron deference—signals the […]

Employers Challenge Constitutionality of DOL Administrative Law Judges

When the Supreme Court decided SEC v. Jarkesy, it only decided one of the issues in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. As we noted in “NLRB’s Administrative Law Judges Face Existential Challenges,” the 5th Circuit in Jarkesy also ruled that the Securities and Exchanges Commission’s (SEC) administrative law judges (ALJs) were unconstitutionally […]

Ask the Expert: Would It Be Noncompliant to Require Employees to Work Both the Day Before and the Day After a Holiday to Receive Holiday Pay?

Question: Would it be noncompliant to require employees to work both the day before and the day after a holiday to receive holiday pay? Also, would it break any pay laws not to provide holiday pay to an employee who calls out sick before a holiday? Answer: Although holiday pay is a common benefit employers provide, […]

Privilege of Dignity: Hospital’s Peer Review Was Protected

Whenever an employer investigates employee misconduct, there’s a chance it will find—and may have to disclose—negative facts. This is true when a hospital investigates the medical conduct of a doctor, or an employer investigates an employee for potential harassment. In both instances, and in the absence of malice, those investigations are protected by the litigation […]

Companies Seek Supreme Court Review of Federal Contractor Minimum Wage

Recreational touring companies are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the U.S. 10th Circuit Appeals Court decision upholding President Joe Biden’s $15 minimum wage requirement for federal contractors. The companies claim the wage hike was beyond the president’s authority under the Procurement Act. According to the companies, the “legal problem the mandate creates is straightforward: […]

NLRB’s Administrative Law Judges Face Existential Challenges

Since the Supreme Court’s rulings in Loper Bright and Jarkesy, employers have wondered to what degree the High Court’s rulings would affect the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has long regarded itself as being apart from the concerns facing other agencies. Recent actions by the courts, however, have begun to challenge the Board’s self-regard. […]

Ask the Expert: Are Absences Related to Fertility Treatment Covered by the FMLA?

Question: We have an employee who is undergoing fertility treatments out of town and misses days sporadically. Do these absences fall under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Answer: Great question; complicated answer. The answer is complicated because a question about FMLA leave is always the start of a longer conversation about whether other […]

The EEOC Has a 3-1 Democratic Majority

With the departure of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner Keith Sonderling (R), the Democrats on the Commission have a 3 to 1 majority. It’s unlikely this change will make any difference for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s term, but things could change after President Donald Trump takes office. EEOC Has Received Nearly 2,000 […]

Supreme Court Refuses to Uphold Title IX Trans Harassment Guidance

On August 16, the Supreme Court refused to lift lower court orders blocking the Department of Education’s (DOE) new regulations protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination based on gender identity. The new rule expanded the definition of sex-based discrimination under Title IX to protect gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination in federally funded schools. The entire […]

In A Win for Public Employers, CA Supreme Court Rules PAGA Penalties, Other California Wage & Hour Laws, Do Not Apply

In August 2024, the California Supreme Court decided Stone v. Alameda Health System, which clarified that the meal and rest break requirements of the California Labor Code at sections 226.7 and 512 and other Labor Code provisions do not apply to public employers. The Court also held that the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) penalty […]