Author: Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

On January 4, 2012, President Obama announced that he would make three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"). The three new appointees, who will be eligible to serve until December 2014, will bring the Board to its five member capacity. The new appointees are Sharon Block, who is presently Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (and former labor counsel to the late Senator...

A case current pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois demonstrates the continuously evolving nature of social media in the workplace, and presents a warning to keep your employee’s social media accounts separate from the company’s.  In Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, LTD., 1:10-cv-07811, the Director of Marketing, Public Relations and E-Commerce for an interior design company created a blog...

In an interesting decision this week from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the court held that an Indiana manufacturer was not required to pay an employee for pre-shift overtime work done before the start of her shift, even though she was clocking in early on her timecards.  The appellate court held that the employer “neither knew nor should have known” that the employee was performing overtime work for the company despite recording her...

The Sonic drive-in restaurant in Winter Haven, Florida, was robbed four times during the course of a year.  On at least two occasions, a robber showed up at closing time, with a handgun, and ordered employees to open the safe or suffer the consequences.  Despite the threats, no employee was hurt. The Sonic employees working the late shift, naturally, were rattled by these events.  Several employees submitted a letter to Sonic management...

The Poindexter brothers – Edward and Bobby – work as journeymen linemen for the Electric Department of the City of Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  In March 2010, the brothers both requested paid leave to care for their mother who was scheduled for hip surgery.  Pursuant to City policy, the brothers each were entitled to up to 10 days of paid sick leave for the care of an immediate family member.  The paid leave runs concurrently with unpaid FMLA leave,...

On October 17, 2011, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the Civil Service Reform Act (“CSRA”) is the exclusive remedy for a former federal employee contending that his constitutionally rights were violated.  (Elgin v. Dep't of the Treasury, U.S., No. 11-45, cert. granted 10/17/11).  Four former federal employees, who were employed by the Treasury Department, FDIC and Department of Interior, filed a suit for...

In two cases recently instituted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), two restaurants in Jacksonville, Florida agreed on August 5, 2011, to pay more than $930,000 in back pay and liquidated damages to 30 employees for violations of the FLSA.  The DOL’s investigation revealed that the restaurants failed to pay overtime wages as a result of improperly classifying kitchen employees as exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA.  The DOL...

Courts are reluctant to enforce non-competition agreements because they are restraints on trade and one’s ability to earn a living.  To be enforceable, a non-competition or non-solicitation agreement must be reasonable in geographic scope, time, and reasonably tailored to protect the employer’s legitimate business interests.  A federal court in Nevada recently ruled that Accelerated Care Plus Corp. (ACP), a medical equipment leasing business,...

In Mezonos Maven Bakery Inc., 357 N.L.R.B. No 47 (Aug. 9, 2011), a unanimous three-member panel held that the National Labor Relations Act and Supreme Court precedent in Hoffman Plastic Compounds Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137 (2002) “forecloses us from awarding back pay to undocumented workers” even where the employer was violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act by knowingly employing undocumented workers.  The workers in this case were...

This week, a construction industry employer learned that it was illegal for it to fire two union-represented employees who had told a supervisor “it’s going to get ugly” and that the supervisor “better bring [his] boxing gloves” after the supervisor disciplined a group of employees for exceeding a 15-minute break limit.  The employer terminated the employees for violating its zero tolerance policy against workplace violence.  The National...