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Category: Legal Insights

Posted October 1, 2019

Has the Dust Settled? Interpreting Minnesota’s New Wage Theft Law in the Face of Constantly-Changing DOLI Guidance

The Wage Theft Statute requires Minnesota employers to provide employees with a written notice outlining specific terms of employment, including things like the employee’s rate of pay, paid time off and vacation policies, and whether the employee is exempt from Minnesota’s minimum wage, overtime, and other provisions. The statute also adds requirements to recordkeeping, the frequency of pay, and earnings statements. Here are the basics of the new law.

Newsroom image for the post Five Tasks a Nonprofit Board Chair Should Own

Posted September 30, 2019

Five Tasks a Nonprofit Board Chair Should Own

Nonprofit Board Chair job descriptions usually include phrases like “facilitate consensus” and “ensure all voices are heard.” I agree with those job descriptions. In my experience, Board Chairs generally understand that part of the job. However, there is sometimes a disconnect between the Board Chair’s job description and the expectations of the nonprofit’s CEO/ED.

Newsroom image for the post DOL Announces Pay Thresholds for Overtime Exemption

Posted September 24, 2019

DOL Announces Pay Thresholds for Overtime Exemption

On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final rule regarding the salary threshold for exemption from overtime, raising the salary threshold to $684 per week ($35,568 annually) versus the previous $455 per week ($23,660 annually) amount that has existed since 2004. The effective date is January 1, 2020, meaning that employers must ensure that exempt employees’ salaries meet this threshold by the new year or transition them to non-exempt status with eligibility for overtime.

Posted August 14, 2019

Minneapolis Employers: Here Are Your New Obligations Under the City’s Wage Theft Ordinance

On August 8, 2019, the Minneapolis City Council joined the state of Minnesota in requiring wage notices. The ordinance—which goes into effect on January 1, 2020, and applies to any employers who have an employee who works at least 80 hours per year in the city—parallels the state wage theft statute in several respects, but also creates several new obligations.

Posted July 31, 2019

Minnesota DOLI Once Again Updates Wage Theft Q&A

Employers are now required to comply with the civil provisions of Minnesota’s Wage Theft Statute, which went into effect on July 1. The Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry (DOLI) updated its Wage Theft Q&A again this week. We’ve summarized the highlights of this update.

Posted July 11, 2019

Minnesota DOLI Updates FAQs and Wage Theft Notice Example

Employers are now required to comply with the civil provisions of Minnesota’s new Wage Theft Statute, which went into effect last week on July 1. This week, the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry (DOLI) updated its Wage Theft Q&A, which has now grown to 45 questions, and its Employee Wage Notice example.

Posted June 27, 2019

What Employers Should Note about OSHA’s Phase 4

OSHA’s Standard Improvements Project Rule (Phase IV) was published in the May 14 Federal Register and is intended to remove or revise “outdated, duplicative, unnecessary and inconsistent requirements” in the agency’s safety and health standards.  This is the fourth review of this ongoing effort.  The goal is to “reduce regulatory burden while maintaining or enhancing worker safety and health and improving privacy protections."

Posted June 25, 2019

Minnesota DOLI Releases FAQ and Wage Notice Example for New Wage Theft Law

Employers face a tight deadline of July 1 to comply with the civil provisions of Minnesota’s new Wage Theft Statute. Late last week, the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry (DOLI) issued a Wage Theft Q&A and an Employee Wage Notice example. We’ve summarized the highlights of the Q&A and the Employee Wage Notice example.

Newsroom image for the post AI & “Algorithmic Bias” in Hiring

Posted June 11, 2019 with Tags , ,

AI & “Algorithmic Bias” in Hiring

As this Harvard Business Review article thoughtfully explores, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to decrease gender bias in hiring if it is properly trained and used...or to replicate existing workplace biases if it is not. With more employers using AI and other big data solutions in hiring, lawmakers and enforcement agencies, as well as plaintiffs' law firms, are increasingly focused on issues of “algorithmic bias.”

Posted June 6, 2019

Diversity Jurisdiction Involving an LLC: Everything You Need to Know [VIDEO]

Watch this two-minute video tip from Nilan Johnson Lewis litigator, Brandie Morgenroth, who discusses pointers when removing a case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction when an LLC is involved. The citizenship of each LLC member is material for diversity jurisdiction and that information is often not publicly available. Morgenroth discusses steps you can take to find the information as well as demonstrating your due diligence to the court in your removal papers.

Newsroom image for the post NLRB Decision Adds to Patchwork of Employee Classification Standards

Posted June 5, 2019

NLRB Decision Adds to Patchwork of Employee Classification Standards

On Jan. 25, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an employer-friendly decision in SuperShuttle DFW, 367 N.L.R.B., No. 75 that added a wrinkle to the already complex patchwork of laws determining whether a worker is an employee or …

Posted May 28, 2019

Home Health Care Misclassification Lawsuits Rising

Plaintiffs’ wage-and-hour class action lawyers are constantly looking for new groups of employees whom they can claim are inappropriately classified as exempt. In previous decades, plaintiffs’ lawyers focused on mortgage adjusters, truck drivers, and assistant store managers. In 2019, plaintiffs’ lawyers are directing their attention to another group of employees: home health clinicians.

Posted May 21, 2019

Tech Support Independent Contractor Class Claims Climbing

Wage-and-hour class litigation tends to come in waves. In 2019, we are seeing another wave gather on the horizon: misclassification collective actions alleging that companies have improperly classified at-the-elbow (“ATE”) support workers as contractors and thus denied them the overtime required under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and parallel state laws.

Posted May 16, 2019

Liability for Allegedly Unnecessary Product Recall?

The conventional advice to manufacturers and retailers of consumer products when assessing a potential product safety issue is typically as follows: “When in doubt, report.” And while it is still generally good advice to err on the side of reporting potential product safety issues to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), companies must be cognizant of the full magnitude of a decision to initiate a voluntary product recall. A new lawsuit filed last week in New York federal court illustrates why.

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