Workforce Bulletin

By:  Paul Rosenberg

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) seems intent upon helping unions organize employees.  It continues to pass rules, issue decisions, or announce new policies which will almost certainly facilitate union organizing.  The latest example occurred on March 22 when the NLRB announced that in the next two weeks it is launching an “educational” website aimed at informing non-union employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).   In conjunction with this unprecedented website the NLRB is preparing brochures which will ...

By:   Jordan Schwartz

Like many attorneys, I spend a significant amount of time traveling, whether it is to meet with clients, take depositions, or conduct training sessions. Business-related travel certainly is not unique to the legal industry. In fact, more and more employees in other industries, including the hospitality industry, are spending a greater amount of time traveling for work than ever before. Such travel typically includes attending out-of-state trade shows, recruiting visits, job fairs, and sales calls. As an exempt employee, compensation for travel ...

by Michael A. Kalish and Adam Tomiak

Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. recently introduced the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, a bill intended to lessen the burden on age discrimination plaintiffs under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”).  The bill seeks to return age discrimination plaintiffs to the standard the Senators believe they were subject to prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., 557 U.S. __, 129 S. Ct. 2343 (2009).

In Gross, the Supreme Court held ...

Remember that all new H-1B petitions must be filed on March 30, 2012, to ensure that they are counted toward the 2013 H-1B cap.

The annual H-1B season has arrived! The federal government is authorized by statute to approve only 65,000 new H-1B visas each fiscal year, plus an additional 20,000 H-1B visas set aside for applicants who have master's degrees from accredited American universities. The federal government's fiscal year begins on October 1, but the governing regulations permit employers to apply for new H-1B non-immigrant visas up to six months in advance. Hence, the filing ...

By Lauri F. Rasnick and Margaret C. Thering

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has once again turned its focus to caregiver discrimination.  On February 15, 2012, for the first time in nearly 30 years, the EEOC held a meeting about caregiver and pregnancy discrimination.  As “caregivers” are not specifically included as a “protected category” under any federal law, the EEOC discussed the various laws which would possibly prohibit certain caregiver discrimination, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and ...

By:  Kara M. Maciel

Today, March 15, marks the effective date of the 2010 ADA Standards for hotels, restaurants, retailers, spas, golf clubs and other places of public accomodation.  As we have written about previously, there are several new requirements and obligations that the hospitality industry must implement in order to ensure their properties are compliant with the new regulations.  Below are five steps every hospitality owner and operator should consider to avoid costly fines and lawsuits:

1.  Implement new reservation policies for blocking off rooms and ensuring ...

By:  Paul Rosenberg

As described in our blog on January 5, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) new rules governing union elections introduce a host of changes which will place employers at a disadvantage.  The new rules will go into effect on April 30, 2012, subject to a legal challenge pending in federal court.  However, they are seemingly just the beginning of the NLRB’s concerted effort to drastically change a process which has been in place for several decades.  A recent decision ignoring 75 years of precedence is illustrative.

In 2 Sisters Food Group ...

By Forrest G. Read, IV and Eric J. Conn

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) announced earlier this month a new policy disguised as a nod to enhancing employee participation in CSB investigations, but which may actually represent a dramatic limitation in the investigation rights of both employees and employers.  The new policy expands the role of non-management employees in the CSB’s investigations into the causes of chemical accidents that occur at industrial facilities, but does so at the expense of employers’ involvement and employees’ rights.

By ...

by Steven M. Swirsky and Michael F. McGahan

On January 25, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board's ("NLRB") Acting General Counsel ("AGC") Lafe Solomon issued a second report on unfair labor practice cases involving social media issues. We discussed his earlier report in our Act Now Advisory of October 4, 2011.

The new report covers an additional 14 cases, all of which fall into the same two categories as the cases discussed in the earlier report, namely: (1) termination of employees resulting from statements made in social media forums about their working conditions or their ...

By:      Mark M. Trapp

In these challenging economic times, many private clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new members, or to retain existing members.  Over the last few years many clubs have lost members, and many more are facing substantial drops in revenues due to a decline in money spent by members on activities such as golfing or dining out.  Many golf, country and social clubs are finding it difficult to sustain their amenities and level of service. 

Because the economic situation is decreasing the potential membership pool, many clubs are offering incentives to ...