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What Louisiana Election Results Mean for Employers

by Mark Adams At first glance, nothing significant came out of Louisiana’s midterm elections. There were no Tea Party candidates to create excitement. Republicans and Democrats each lost a U.S. House seat and won a seat they hadn’t controlled, so we didn’t contribute to the change of control in the House. However, the Republican takeover […]

Technology Brings Tricky Twist on Old Issue—Hours Worked

What effect does your employees’ use of PDA’s have on wage and hour issues? Are you “suffering and permitting” when they respond to calls after hours? Is any time ever “de minimis?” Attorney Laura Innes tackles these questions and makes some recommendations for 2011. Compensable “hours worked” is all the time during which an employee […]

What Should We Do About Informal Business Emails?

Our employees are too informal in their work emails to clients, vendors, etc. They are saying things they shouldn’t—such as speaking negatively about company policies—and their tone is too informal for outside business contacts. What can we do?

Court ruling puts NLRB future in jeopardy

A court ruling has put the brakes on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and possibly invalidated decisions the Board has made for the last year. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on January 25 that President Barack Obama acted unconstitutionally when he made three […]

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Appeals Court Case Discusses Role of Job Description in ADA Claims

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990 to prevent discrimination against employees based on disabilities. This does not mean that employers violate the ADA if they terminate or refuse to hire employees with disabilities. Rather, the law provides an exception if the employee is unable to perform the essential functions of the job without […]

DOMA is unconstitutional, but many questions left unanswered

Over the summer, the Supreme Court decided in the landmark case of United States vs. Windsor that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, which now paves the way for same-sex couples to potentially enjoy many federal benefits that they weren't entitled to before. Let's take a closer look at DOMA, what the ruling did, and what questions remain.

Biting the Fiduciary Bullet: A Case for Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants

By Kyla Stott-Jess and Devin Crisanti Post-employment restrictions can be tricky to enforce. But if drafted properly, they can be valuable. As one Alberta employer recently discovered in ADM Measurements Ltd. v. Bullet Electric LTD, relying on implied fiduciary duties to do the job of contractual restrictions can be a pricey gamble. Background The employer, […]

Reboot Your Workplace Harassment Prevention Tactics

Make a point of revisiting your company’s antiharassment policy as 2017 begins. The reason: Now that a special, national task force on the subject concluded in 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is advising employers to redouble their prevention efforts—with a new twist on training strategy.