Posted May 1, 2019
Larger employers concerned about the deadline for submitting pay data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently learned that they must submit pay data by September 30, 2019.
Posted April 26, 2019
Question: One of my employees recently shared with me that she is expecting a baby. We’re a small, but growing company, with about 25 employees. I know we’re not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, but I want to make sure we handle everything in the right way. What are our obligations for parental leave, if any, and how do other companies handle that process?
Posted April 17, 2019
For employers turning down applicants, frank feedback hasn’t exactly been standard protocol. Historically, employers have used boilerplate rejection letters, or simply silence, to turn down applicants. Yet whether it’s due to shortages in talent, generational changes in the workforce, online …
Posted April 11, 2019 with Tags FELA, FELA Trials, Women attorneys, Women litigators
In 1908, Congress enacted the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) to protect and compensate railroad employees injured on the job. While the railroad industry and overall employee protections (workers compensation, etc.) have evolved over the last century, FELA has remained intact, offering plaintiffs lenient thresholds that have rendered a challenging environment when defending FELA cases. While these cases are often handled by male-dominated teams, over the past few years, women at Nilan Johnson Lewis (NJL) have shaken up the traditional FELA landscape, garnishing an undefeated string of defense wins.
Posted April 10, 2019
More than 10 years ago, the Illinois State Legislature passed the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which requires private sector companies to gain authorization before collecting employees’ biometric data, such as fingerprints, iris scans, voiceprints and facial recognition. While the …
Posted April 3, 2019
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in hiring is growing at a furious pace. While AI can increase efficiencies, some business applications present significant legal risk. For example, using algorithms rather than people to score background checks and other data …
Posted April 1, 2019 with Tags Cort Sylvester, legal ethics
Children of northern climes remember the joys of a snowball fight. We also remember the bully who ruined the fun by packing iceballs. (Those from more temperate zones might consider the line between brushback pitches and beanballs.) What is true in projectile sports is also true in law—there is a boundary between being aggressive and breaking the (express or implied) rules. Recent news of criminal charges against a prominent attorney has focused attention on this boundary in the context of settlement negotiations. Prosecutors allege that Michael Avenatti demanded that Nike not only pay his client, but also hire Avenatti himself to conduct a $15 to $25 million internal investigation. Otherwise, he threatened to take billions of dollars off the company’s market capitalization by going public with his client’s allegations immediately before an earnings call and the NCAA basketball tournament.
Posted March 27, 2019
Nonprofit association attorneys Heidi Christianson and Zach Crain have compiled a list of the top 10 questions their association clients have been asking about in 2019.
Posted March 22, 2019
As Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium gears up to host its second national sporting event in over a year, nearby restaurants are looking to once again capitalize on the added foot traffic from the NCAA Men’s Basketball “Final Four” competition. However, Minnesota bars and restaurants need to think now about compliance with tip-pooling and service charge requirements to avoid litigation after the final buzzer sounds.
Posted March 8, 2019
On March 7, 2019, the Department of Labor announced its latest proposed rulemaking regarding the salary threshold for exemption from overtime. The salary threshold has been $455 per week ($23,660 annually) since 2004. In 2016, the DOL attempted to raise …
Posted March 8, 2019
Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in BNSF Railway Co. v. Loos, holding that a railroad’s payment to an injured worker for lost wages is taxable under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA). In so …
Posted February 28, 2019
Things are heating up in the Minnesota legislature for nonprofit health care entities. Here are breakdowns of local bills that may affect these types of businesses should they become law.
Posted February 22, 2019
Product liability issues are mainly grounded in seldom-changing legal doctrines. However, manufacturers everywhere need to be aware of three relatively recent court rulings should they find themselves facing litigation in Minnesota, says product liability/mass tort attorney Cort Sylvester of Nilan Johnson Lewis in Minneapolis.
Posted February 13, 2019
Nilan Johnson Lewis’ Christy Mennen, along with attorneys Ray Groble and Matt Hammer from Daley Mohan Groble in Chicago, prevailed in Velasco v. Canadian Pacific Railway for client Canadian Pacific after a two-week long district court jury trial in Cook County, …
Posted February 1, 2019 with Tags Cort Sylvester
Although most attorneys realize the law is a noble profession, there have always been those who compromise its integrity – sometimes capitalizing on or misleading others in times of misfortune. Legal ethics rules provide some guidance on how lawyers practice or market their services. However, new forms of communication and social media present evolving ethical challenges.
Posted January 25, 2019 with Tags ADEA, ADEA claims, Mark Girouard, Villareal v. R.J. Tobacco Co., Age Bias Disparate Impact Theory, Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on January 23, 2019, that assertions of age discrimination arising from facially neutral hiring policies can be brought only by a company’s employees, not by job applicants. In Kleber v. CareFusion Corporation, the court agreed with recent rulings by other courts – most recently the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Villareal v. R.J. Tobacco Co. – holding that under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), only employees can state a claim that a company’s actions or policies resulted in an unlawful “disparate impact” due to age.
Posted January 24, 2019
On January 23, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a decision that impacts the assumption of risk for skiers and snowboarders within recreational areas. Since the early 19th century, Minnesota has recognized a doctrine about who is responsible for protecting against harm associated with activities that have well-known risks. The “doctrine of implied primary assumption” of risk states that when a person enters into an activity that has well-known risks that are either expressed or implied, the individual assumes the risks associated with the activity. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court decision in Soderberg v. Anderson held that collisions with other skiers or snowboarders is not a risk of the sport that participants impliedly assume.
Posted January 18, 2019 with Tags noncompete lawyers, trade secret lawyers, Katie Connolly, noncompete agreements, freedom to compete act, trade secrets
In reaction to the recent proliferation of non-compete agreements, courts and legislatures are increasingly trying to find ways to limit their use. The latest attempt is at the federal congressional level. This week, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the “Freedom to Compete Act” aimed at prohibiting non-compete agreements for lower wage workers. The Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ban non-competes for most non-exempt workers.
Posted January 17, 2019 with Tags facebook ad claims, facebook litigation, recruitment ad litigation
A little over a year ago, three major employers—T-Mobile, Amazon, and Cox Communications—were sued for allegedly discriminating on the basis of age in the way they recruited new employees via Facebook. The plaintiffs’ lawyers targeted not only these three employers but also asserted claims against a “defendant class” of every employer that used age restrictions in their recruiting advertisements on Facebook. They also sent demand letters to scores of employers and filed charges of discrimination against yet more. Though the lawsuit and charge investigations are ongoing, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are now sending a new wave of demands to more employers and filing more charges of discrimination with the EEOC and state enforcement agencies. Employers who have not yet been targeted should take steps now to prepare.
Posted January 10, 2019 with Tags Katie Connolly, anit-slapp law, Trade secret litigation, Restrictive covenants, anti-slapp statutes
Your employee quits without notice or explanation. You discover that she moved to a competitor in violation of her non-compete agreement, and what’s worse, days before her resignation, she downloaded your trade secrets onto a thumb drive. You file suit and request an immediate injunction from the court. The last thing you expect is a counter-suit and motion to dismiss claiming you have interfered with the employee’s free speech rights. But that aggressive defense to restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation is becoming far more prevalent. Employers should be prepared for this defense when considering how to enforce their rights against former employees.
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