Come Jan. 1, 2014, the federal minimum wage rate will remain at $7.25 per hour for non-tipped employees, and $2.13 per hour for tipped employees. As of Jan. 1, 2013, 19 states and the District of Columbia had minimum wage rates higher than the federal minimum wage rate. In 2014, not only will that number grow to 20 states, but a number will see their minimum wage rates increase further.
Continue Reading State Minimum Wage Increases for 2014
Happy Birthday to the FACTA! The Often Forgotten Law that Imposes Obligations and Provides Helpful Exceptions for Employer Background Checks and Workplace Investigations
It should be old hat by now: Employers who use a third party to conduct a background check on an applicant or employee for employment purposes must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). But what many employers do not know, or may have forgotten, is that the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) also imposes upon them some obligations when conducting a background investigation.
Continue Reading Happy Birthday to the FACTA! The Often Forgotten Law that Imposes Obligations and Provides Helpful Exceptions for Employer Background Checks and Workplace Investigations
Major Changes to Affirmative Action Requirements Effective March 24, 2014
Companies covered by federal affirmative action obligations have some major changes for which to prepare. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has issued two new rules which take effect March 24, 2014. The new rules expand the affirmative action requirements for covered veterans and disabled persons.
For over 30 years, regulations under the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) and under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 have required covered employers to engage in good faith efforts to recruit and employ covered veterans and disabled persons. The requirements include the obligation to invite applicants and employees to “self-identify” as a veteran or disabled person and to take additional affirmative action measures. Contractors with over 50 employees and covered contracts which exceeded certain trigger limits also must prepare annual written affirmative action plans (AAPs) for veterans and disabled persons. However, until now, there was no obligation for employers to develop and retain hiring and other employment data or to set numeric goals for employment of veterans or disabled persons, as is required in the affirmative action rules for minorities and females.
The new rules require employers to gather and retain data showing the results of their recruiting and hiring efforts and to set numeric targets for hiring veterans and disabled persons. The new rules also include significant additional obligations for reviewing, analyzing, and documenting good faith efforts and results.
Continue Reading Major Changes to Affirmative Action Requirements Effective March 24, 2014
When Employee Taunts Employer via Facebook to “FIRE ME. …Make my day. . .” NLRB Memo Concludes the Employer Can Go For It
The National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel released an Advice Memorandum in Tasker Healthcare Group, d/b/a Skinsmart Dermatology ("Tasker") Case 04-CA-094222 on May 16, 2013 and concluded that an employee was not engaged in protected concerted activity when she posted comments to a Facebook group message that taunted her employer to "
Federal Contractor Update: Contractors Must Begin Using New Census Data Next Year
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently released a notice that the 2006-2010 census data must be used for all affirmative action plans for plan years beginning on January 1, 2014, and OFCCP will begin using 2006-2010 census data to evaluate affirmative action plans and efforts as of that same date. Keep in
Don’t Expect Any New Right-to-Work Legislation in Ohio…Until Perhaps After 2014
First it was Wisconsin. Then Indiana. Then Michigan of all places. Right-to-work legislation is being considered, and in some cases passed, by legislatures throughout the Rust Belt. Given that trend, and the economic benefits to businesses and the state that follow with right-to-work, it was only a matter of time before regional pressures led the Ohio legislature to consider the idea notwithstanding the previously failed attempts on Senate Bill 5.
Continue Reading Don’t Expect Any New Right-to-Work Legislation in Ohio…Until Perhaps After 2014
OFCCP Enforcement and Regulatory Agenda Heightened for Fiscal Year 2013
Federal contractors and subcontractors should take notice that, in the last couple of years, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has been pursuing a much more aggressive enforcement and regulatory agenda.
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Facebook Account Deactivation Leads To “Spoliation Instruction”
Our colleagues over at Technology Law Source advise today of an interesting case in which a New Jersey federal court held that a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit failed to preserve relevant evidence when he deactivated his Facebook account and failed to reactivate it within fourteen (14) days – which according to Facebook’s terms and conditions renders the account’s contents irretrievable.
Continue Reading Facebook Account Deactivation Leads To “Spoliation Instruction”
Employers, Protect Yourself From Class or Collective Actions: New and Developing Case Law is Giving Employers a Number of Proactive Defensive Measures
All too often it seems employers are entirely unaware of the steps they can take to proactively protect themselves from employment litigation. Instead, employers and their attorneys do not address potential issues until litigation has actually been threatened or filed, by which time preventative measures have likely become a moot point.
Continue Reading Employers, Protect Yourself From Class or Collective Actions: New and Developing Case Law is Giving Employers a Number of Proactive Defensive Measures
OFCCP Signals Formal Change of Course on Pay Discrimination
On February 28, 2013, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) rescinded two Bush-era enforcement guidance documents on pay discrimination from 2006—the “Compensation Standards” and “Voluntary Guidelines.” This is consistent with OFCCP’s stated focus on pay discrimination since the beginning of the Obama administration.
OFCCP’s Director, Patricia Shiu, issued a press release and authored