Articles and Blogs

A company that provides wheelchair accessible van transportation services to clients, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, got into trouble when it required employees to sign a confidentiality agreement that the NLRB found interfered with employees’ protected rights. The company was ordered to rescind the unlawful portions of the agreement and notify all employees that... READ MORE

Employers may run into trouble with employees and the NLRB for interfering with protected activity if social media posts are restricted. On the other hand, employers could be liable to customers if they permit employees to post hostile statements and information. This quandary was highlighted by the holding in a recent federal court case. Was... READ MORE

In November 2014, the ECRI Institute¹ issued a report discussing issues of patient safety and adverse events linked to health information technology (“IT”) products. The report comes in the form of an annual list of top ten health technology safety hazards. According to the ECRI Institute, although many facets of health IT have a... READ MORE

Have you ever heard of trypanophobia? If not, it means a fear of needles, which, in this case, resulted in a jury verdict of $2.6 million to a Rite Aid pharmacist whose fear of needles prevented him from giving flu shot immunizations as a required part of his job. Is “Needle Phobia” an ADA... READ MORE

One day after issuing a controversial decision regarding employees’ rights to use an employer’s email system for union organizing (detailed in this blog), the NLRB has adopted its final rule significantly shortening the timeline for union elections in the private sector. We have blogged extensively on the development of this rule as can be... READ MORE

Rejecting and overruling its 2007 decision in Register Guard that limited employee rights to use employer email systems for union organizing, the NLRB, in a three to two decision, significantly broadened the scope of private employee rights to use an employer’s email system for union organizing purposes and other protected activity.  The decision focused on... READ MORE

Does an employer have to pay its employees when it requires them to stand in line every day for up to 25 minutes waiting to go through security screening at the end of the day?  It seems like that’s a lot of time and that it might be fair to compensate those employees for... READ MORE

With concerns over the spread of Ebola, hospitals and health care providers face a unique situation as employers and care providers. Just as a few years ago employers geared up to deal with Pandemic Flu and a few decades ago employers were dealing with AIDS/HIV in the workplace, many of the same precautions and... READ MORE

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) announced last week that it received approval to change its standard audit Scheduling Letter and accompanying Itemized Listing.  Together, these documents specify in detail what records and information federal contractors must supply to OFCCP when they are selected for a compliance review.  The changes are significant... READ MORE

Protected Rights Expanded in Solidarity We have all become familiar with the protected rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Act. To be protected under Section 7 of the NLRA, employee conduct must be both “concerted” and engaged in for the purpose of “mutual aid or protection.” The question that the NLRB was... READ MORE