Workforce Bulletin

Epstein Becker Green is proud to announce that it has received the 2012 Chambers USA Award for Excellence in the Healthcare category. The results were announced at an awards dinner held on Thursday, June 7, 2012, in New York. Other firms nominated in the Healthcare category included Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Hogan Lovells US LLP; King & Spalding LLP; McDermott Will & Emery LLP; Ober Kaler Grimes & Shriver PC; and Proskauer Rose LLP.

The Chambers USA Awards for Excellence are based on research for the 2012 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and reflect ...

Read the Full Announcement

Epstein Becker Green is proud to announce that it has received the 2012 Chambers USA Award for Excellence in the Healthcare category. The results were announced at an awards dinner held on Thursday, June 7, 2012, in New York. Other firms nominated in the Healthcare category included Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Hogan Lovells US LLP; King & Spalding LLP; McDermott Will & Emery LLP; Ober Kaler Grimes & Shriver PC; and Proskauer Rose LLP.

 The Chambers USA Awards for Excellence are based on research for the 2012 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading ...

By Alexis M. Downs and Eric J. Conn

Although OSHA currently has no regulations specifically addressing Safety Incentive Programs, they have recently come under fire by OSHA because the Agency believes that such programs have a chilling effect on workplace injury reporting.  Incentive programs have been a serious focus of OSHA’s Director, David Michaels, since he assumed his position early in the Obama Administration.

Dr. Michaels explained that OSHA “strongly disapprove[s] of programs offering workers parties and prizes for not reporting injuries, or bonuses for managers ...

ByMichael S. Kun and Aaron F. Olsen

Earlier this week, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC that illustrates how the legal landscape in California has shifted in favor of enforcing arbitration agreements with class action waivers.  This, of course, is a welcome development for employers with operations in California, which have been besieged by class action lawsuits alleging wage-and-hour violations for the past 10+ years.

In 2006, the plaintiff in Iskanian filed a putative class action complaint against his ...

The Legal 500 United States, now in its 26th year, collects feedback from more than 180,000 in-house counsel and lawyers to select the leading law firms and lawyers in specific legal practice areas and industries.  The Legal 500 is an independent guide, and firms and individuals are recommended purely on merit. 

In 2012, both of Epstein Becker Green’s founding practices - Health Care and Life Sciences and Labor and Employment - as well as several individual attorneys, were recognized as leaders in their fields of practice.

For more information about the ranking and to read excerpts ...

Cafeteria plans which provide a health flexible spending arrangement (FSA) allow participants to make pre-tax salary contributions to an account in order to receive reimbursements to pay for medical expenses that are not reimbursed through insurance or another arrangement (e.g., co pays, deductibles, eyeglasses).  Prior to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, sponsors of these plans could set an annual limit for contributions to health FSAs per plan terms.  Sponsors typically established such limits by taking into consideration the uniform coverage rule ...

We are pleased to announce that “Preparing for Non-Compete Litigation,” a guide published by The Practical Law Company and authored by EpsteinBeckerGreen’s Peter A. Steinmeyer and Zachary C. Jackson, is now available in PDF format. The guide is a valuable discussion of the primary considerations for employers seeking to initiate legal action to enforce a non-compete agreement.

By Kara Maciel and Aaron Olsen

After five years of litigation, a Los Angeles Superior Court has denied class certification of a class action against Joe’s Crab Shack Restaurants on claims that its managers were misclassified as exempt and denied meal and rest periods in violation of California law.  The court found that the plaintiffs had not established adequacy of class representatives, typicality, commonality or superiority, and emphasized a defendant’s due process right to provide individualized defenses to class members’ claims.

Because the case was handled by our ...