The Employment Brief | Employment Law | Kollman & Saucier, P.A.

Wellness Plans - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?

Kollman & Saucier

09/05/2014

Wellness plans have been around for quite some time, and in varying forms. Employers are, more often and with regularity, implementing some category of wellness plan for multiple reasons: healthier workforce, better attendance and productivity, higher morale, lower health insurance costs, and the like. Indeed, the Affordable Care Act permits employers to offer financial incentives to employees to encourage participation in these programs. The...

Darrell VanDeusen

08/27/2014

FMLA

The DOL’s FMLA Regulations are pretty clear on when you can take action against an employee for failing to provide medical certification. Section 825.305(d) provides that: “At the time the employer requests certification, the employer must also advise an employee of the anticipated consequences of an employee’s failure to provide adequate certification.” 29 C.F.R. § 825.305(d). FedEx recently learned the hard – and expensive – way from...

Kollman & Saucier

08/25/2014

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

On August 19, 2014, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued guidance concerning enforcement actions for gender or transgender discrimination. This guidance follows up on President Obama’s Executive Order 13672, which added gender identity and sexual orientation as protected categories in federal employment and contracting. The DOL guidance makes clear that the OFCCP – the agency charged with...

Kollman & Saucier

08/20/2014

Labor Law

On August 14th, the National Labor Relations Board reversed an Administrative Law Judge’s decision dismissing an unfair labor practice against Philips Electronics. The NLRB’s three member panel ruled that Philips’ unwritten rule prohibiting employees from discussing discipline was an impermissible restraint on employee speech. Philips Electronics North America Corporation and Lee Craft, Case 26-CA-085613 (August 14, 2014). The Philips matter...

Clifford Geiger

08/18/2014

Disability & Leave

In a strange case from the district of Oregon, a Catholic preschool teacher with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (“OCD”) claimed that her employer, Sisters of St. Mary Oregon Ministries Corporation, refused to accommodate her disability. Doby v. Sisters of St. Mary of Or. Ministries Corp., D. Or., No. 13-00977, 8/11/14 According to the court, Doby’s OCD made her believe that Mormon’s are “contaminated.” Apparently, her OCD-induced...

Kollman & Saucier

08/18/2014

State Law, Wage & Hour

Last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Peters v. Early Healthcare Giver, Inc. a case that dramatically shifts the terrain of Maryland wage and hour law in employees’ favor. September Term 2013, No. 86 (Md. Aug. 13, 2014). Most significantly, Peters holds that employees suing for unpaid overtime may now be able to recover three times the amount of overtime at issue for a period of three years prior to filing suit. It is...

Clifford Geiger

08/15/2014

Employee Benefits, ERISA

A federal court in Maryland has partially dismissed a complaint filed on behalf of nearly 40 Spanish-speaking current and former employees of Hatfield’s Equipment & Dedication Services Inc. (“Hatfield’s”). The plaintiffs, who worked as part of a concrete crew, alleged that Hatfield’s did not comply with the reporting and disclosure requirements for the company’s profit sharing plan, because plan documents and benefit statements...

Kollman & Saucier

08/07/2014

Labor Law, State Law

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld, in its entirety, the 2011 Wisconsin statute that curtailed collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker, No. 2012AP2067 (July 31, 2014). In 2011, in a move that attracted significant fanfare and the chagrin of union advocates, the Wisconsin legislature passed Act 10, which prohibited public sector employees from collectively bargaining on issues other than wages,...

Kollman & Saucier

08/05/2014

Wage & Hour

It wasn’t that long ago when, in October 2013, Congress failed to pass a budget and the federal government shut down. As evidenced by a recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the impact of the shutdown is not quite over. Martin v. United States, No. 13-834C (Fed. Cl. July 31, 2014). A week after the shutdown ended, a group of federal government employees filed suit alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29...

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Email Updates

Wellness Plans - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?

Failure to Follow FMLA Rule Costs FedEx Big Time

DOL Issues Guidance Concerning Gender Identity and Transgender Status

Informal Rule Prohibiting Discipline Discussions Held To Be Unfair Labor Practice

Teacher Who Refused Fitness-For-Duty Exam Has No Disability Accommodation Claim

Maryland’s Highest Court Holds That Employees May Recover Treble Damages for Unpaid Overtime

English Only Notices May Not Be Enough To Comply With ERISA

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Law Limiting Public Sector Bargaining

Court Rules Feds' Delayed Paychecks During Shutdown Violates FLSA

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