Legal Solutions At Work

Obama Era Overtime Rule Struck Down by Federal Judge On Thursday, a Texas federal judge granted summary judgment striking down the new overtime rule, proposed by the DOL under the Obama administration, which would have raised the salary threshold for overtime-exempt employees to $47,476 per year – more than double the current threshold of $23,660…. More

A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may not bode well for employers and their representatives. In its decision, the Court interpreted the language of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow retaliation claims against individuals acting on behalf of an employer. If other courts follow suit, this change would signal… More

The U.S. Department of Labor recently released a memorandum to all contracting agencies of the federal government and the District of Columbia, in which it increased the Service Contract Act Health and Welfare Fringe Benefit rate. The new rate of $4.41 per hour applies to government contract bids or other service contracts awarded on or… More

Update: Government Employers Must Provide Pay Transparency As we reported in our November 23, 2016 Employment Alert, a Texas judge issued a preliminary injunction in response to President Obama’s Fair and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673. This Executive Order: (1) directed prospective contractors to disclose labor law violations and provided an explanation on how they… More

Reading The Tea Leaves: Maryland and D.C. Employers Should Prepare for Paid Leave Legislation Recent steps taken in Maryland and D.C. indicate that many local employers may soon be required to provide paid sick or family leave for their employees. On Tuesday, December 6th, the D.C. Council in an 11-2 vote gave preliminary approval to… More

Judge in Texas ordered a nationwide block on the inreased salary requirement and other changes that were set to go into effect December 1. Stay tuned!!

Clarification on Sick and Safe Leave for Parents in Montgomery County As most employers know, the Montgomery County Sick and Safe leave law permits employees to use leave for the following: (1) Treatment of employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or condition or caring for a family member with the same; (2) Obtaining medical care… More

Crowdsourcing Answers to Problem HR Situations Have you ever had an employee who claims she’s been subjected to discrimination? Or maybe one who habitually strolls in late, or frequently calls in sick? Of course you have—and chances are, it’s the same employee in both scenarios. What’s a good employer to do in response to these… More

Sick Leave for Federal Contractors The Department of Labor issued its final rule establishing paid sick leave for most federal contractors. The rule applies to contracts awarded or solicited on or after January 1, 2017. Here is what you should know: o The new sick and safe leave requirement applies only to four categories of… More

Employers Should Consider Independent Investigation To Avoid Getting Burned When an employee alleges he or she has been discriminated against—what do you do? The best practice is to conduct an investigation. But, as is true with much in life, short-cutting the investigation can backfire. Consider, for example, a recent federal case in which an employee… More