Articles and Blogs

Discrimination Laws Don’t Apply to Religious “Ministers” In the realm of employment law, the “ministerial exception” prohibits the application of federal anti-discrimination laws to claims concerning the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers.  Exactly who qualifies as a minister under the ministerial exception is being determined by the courts on a... READ MORE

Job Assignment Leads to Panic and Anxiety A long-term care employer fired a nurse for “patient abandonment” after the nurse went to the Human Resources Department in a state of panic because she was going to be assigned to a unit for which she had not been trained.  Her supervisor had told her that... READ MORE

The Court Turns the Tide of the Epidemic For several years now there has been a veritable epidemic of class and collective actions filed against employers claiming that employees were not paid for working through their meal periods.  These cases arose frequently where employees were subject to automatic meal period deductions of 30 minutes... READ MORE

Employer’s Social Media Policy and Savings Clause Are Okay For the past two years, private employers have been struggling to understand just what the NLRB expects of them when it comes to Social Media Policies (among other things – confidential investigations; employment-at-will; off-duty access).  The NLRB General Counsel has even issued three separate Memos... READ MORE

One Last Chance or Set Up to Fail? Faced with an underperforming employee, an employer will often give the employee a chance to prove himself one last time before termination.  Sometimes that approach can backfire if not done carefully – especially if the employee can claim some legal protection – like using FMLA. READ MORE

OFCCP Lacks Jurisdiction over TRICARE The health care industry scored a significant litigation victory over OFCCP recently when the Administrative Review Board (ARB) ruled that Florida Hospital of Orlando’s TRICARE network agreement did not cause it to be a covered subcontractor subject to OFCCP’s affirmative action rules.  The ruling overturns an earlier Administrative Law Judge... READ MORE

The NLRB Offers Some Advice The NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon today (October 31, 2012) released an analysis of at-will employment clauses in two employee handbooks, finding that both are lawful under the National Labor Relations Act.  This analysis, contained in two separate Advice Memoranda, will help guide employers in determining whether their... READ MORE

What’s Your Password? Social networking and social media  have certainly been in the HR headlines recently. The NLRB’s aggressive approach to these issues has given private employers headaches in trying to figure out what they can require of their employees when it comes to social media.  Now some states are getting involved.  And this may be the start... READ MORE

NLRB Adopts ALJ Decision Finding Employer “Courtesy” Policy to Be Unlawful Last Fall, an Administrative Law Judge for the NLRB issued one of the first opinions addressing social media in the workplace.  The ALJ’s decision addressed two separate social media issues in what you may recall as the “hot dog cart” case or the... READ MORE

Who Is a Supervisor? – The NLRB Gets It Wrong If a person is a “supervisor” then that person is considered management, and under the NLRA that supervisor cannot be part of a union bargaining unit.  Deciding who is a supervisor can have significant consequences for employers – especially when it comes to union... READ MORE