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As our sister blog, Technology Law Source has reported, on May 11, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Defending Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which creates a federal trade secret misappropriation cause of action. As noted, businesses have a lot to consider in deciding whether to pursue this new cause of action in federal court when the security of their trade secrets are threatened. Because the DTSA does not pre-empt state laws protecting trade secrets, however, if a federal forum is otherwise appealing, there really is no reason not to pursue a DTSA cause of action.

Employers will be particularly interested in knowing that the DTSA includes an immunity from criminal and civil liability for employees who disclose their employers’ trade secrets if:

  • the disclosure is made in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, directly or indirectly, or to an attorney solely for the purpose of reporting a violation of law;
  • it is made in a complaint or other document filed under seal in a lawsuit or other proceeding.

The DTSA also permits an individual who files a lawsuit against his or her employer alleging retaliation for reporting a suspected violation of law to disclose the employer’s trade secret to an attorney and use it in a court proceeding if the document containing the trade secret is filed under seal and in response to a court order.
Continue Reading Employers wanting to take full advantage of the Defending Trade Secrets Act should consider including immunity notice in all new and updated confidentiality agreements

On May 11, 2016, OSHA issued a final rule requiring electronic reporting of illnesses and injuries. The new rules apply to establishments with 250 or more employees. The rules require electronic submission of the 2016 OSHA form 300A summary report by July 1, 2017, and the 2017 300 log, 300A summary and 301 incident report for 2017 by July 1, 2018. In each subsequent year, all reports for every establishment must be submitted by March 2 of the following year. The new rules also require employers in high-risk industries (construction, manufacturing, furniture stores, waste collection and nursing care facilities) with 20-249 employees to electronically submit their 300A summary. OSHA has stated that no exceptions will be granted to employers who file the required reports in paper format. The information electronically submitted by employers will then be posted on OSHA’s website. OSHA has stated that it will post establishment-specific data but not post any data that would identify any employee. However, in major injury incidents (especially those where there is publicity), it would not be difficult to determine the identity of the employee(s).

OSHA has stated that it believes that publishing the data will encourage safer workplaces. In addition, OSHA has said that it intends to use the data to determine the employers and industries on which to focus its enforcement efforts.

This is a major change from the current injury and illness recording requirements. Presently, employers are required to maintain the 300 logs, 301 incident reports and 300A annual summary and to post the 300A summary in the workplace each year. There is no requirement to submit the records to OSHA. Generally, OSHA only reviews them in the event of an onsite inspection. The only current obligation to report to OSHA is the requirement to report fatalities, amputations, hospitalizations or the loss of an eye. …
Continue Reading OSHA issues final rule requiring electronic submission of workplace illness and injury logs

Managing FMLA leaves that fall on holidays

Administering the FMLA is difficult. When an FMLA leave falls on a holiday, it becomes even more complicated. Employers must know how to answer three holiday-related questions. First, if a holiday falls during an employee’s FMLA leave, does that holiday count against the employee’s FMLA entitlement? Second, how is the FMLA administered when there is an extended plant, office or school shutdown? Lastly, must an employer provide holiday pay to an employee on FMLA leave?

Does a holiday count against an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement?

While many employers keep track of their employees’ FMLA entitlements in terms of days or even hours, the FMLA and its implementing regulations provide that employees receive 12 workweeks of leave in a one-year period. As a result, leave is calculated in workweek increments. Under 29 C.F.R. § 825.200(h), if an employee is off work for an entire workweek, even if it is a week in which a holiday falls, the employee uses a week of FMLA. Only when an employee is off work for less than an entire workweek will the employee have used a partial week of FMLA. For example:…
Continue Reading How FMLA works during holidays

Whether the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking advantage of the fact that HIV infection has been in the news lately (thanks to Charlie Sheen’s recent disclosure about his own HIV status) or the timing is pure coincidence, the EEOC earlier this month issued two publications regarding the rights afforded by the Americans with…

As we enter football season, workforces should prepare for the estimated 25 million fantasy sports enthusiasts who spend at least an hour of work time managing their teams each week during the 13- to 17-week football season. (See more here.)  Distracted employees can reduce productivity, cause workplace accidents, and potentially impact the bottom line. As such, employers that are concerned with such productivity issues should put proper procedures in place to address these issues head on.

The first question of course, however, is are fantasy football leagues even legal? On the federal level, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (“UIGEA”) provides that “no person engaged in the business of betting or wagering may knowingly accept” funds “in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.” It does, however, exempt fantasy sports so long as the outcome of any contest reflects the relative knowledge or skill of the participants rather than chance, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, but not solely on a single performance of an individual athlete. In addition, for the exemption to apply, all prizes and awards must be established and made known before the start of the contest.
Continue Reading Fantasy sport issues in the workplace

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Glatt et al. v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. recently rejected the Department of Labor (“DOL”) six factor test for determining whether an individual has been properly classified as an unpaid intern in favor of another test that looks at whether the intern or the employer is the primary beneficiary of the relationship.

The DOL’s six factors are:

  1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
  2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
  3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
  4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
  5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the end conclusion of the internship; and
  6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship. Rejecting the DOL test, the court (as discussed below) elected to adopt a test that it believed aligned more closely with common law and the underlying purpose of an unpaid internship.

In Glatt, the Second Circuit reversed a district court decision that held, in part, that three individuals working for either Fox Searchlight or Fox Entertainment Group were improperly classified as “unpaid interns” in accordance with the FLSA and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). In doing so, the Second Circuit rejected the district court’s analysis that relied on the DOL test. The six factors came directly from a 1947 Supreme Court decision in which the Supreme Court refused to recognize unpaid railroad brake trainees as employees under FLSA. The Glatt court rejected the DOL test because it relied on what it considered to be an outdated Supreme Court decision that failed to reflect the purpose of the modern internship.
Continue Reading Second Circuit rejects DOL test for unpaid internships

Thanks to Summer Associate Christopher Hawthorne for his assistance with this blog entry.

In an era of consumers making choices based on whether companies have ethical labor and sourcing practices, a new app now tracks how female friendly a company is. “Buy Up Index,” reveals whether a company’s workplace policies and practices accommodate and empower…

Thanks to Porter Wright Summer Associate Carolyn Alford for her assistance in preparing this blog post.

The recent tragedy in South Carolina, where a reputed white supremacist opened fire on a crowd of Black churchgoers, has propelled the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism back into the public spotlight, after a picture surfaced of…

The United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges  requiring that all states recognize same-sex marriages is one of the more significant constitutional law decisions from the Court in many years. The impact of the decision extends in some ways to the workplace and to the day-to-day responsibilities of human resource and benefits professionals.…

Summertime brings company picnics, charity walks and softball leagues. Great moments for increasing employee morale, but these activities may lead to employer liability if an employee is injured while participating in such activities.

In Ohio, employees injured while engaged in an employer-sponsored recreational or fitness activity are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits unless the employee…