Category: Legal Insights

Posted January 10, 2019 with Tags Katie Connolly, anit-slapp law, Trade secret litigation, Restrictive covenants, anti-slapp statutes

Avoid Getting SLAPPed on Your Next Non-Compete Case

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.

Posted December 18, 2018

What Companies Need to Know About Cybersecurity Threats & How to Mitigate Risk

Watch this three-minute video to learn more about the importance of data security in any business and what companies can do to mitigate cybersecurity threats.

Posted December 7, 2018 with Tags Employment law, Courtney Blanchard, Paid Sick and Safe Leave, Minnesota Paid Sick Leave, Michigan paid leave, Paid leave, Paid leave for employers

Michigan Passes Paid Sick Leave Requirements

On December 5, 2018, Michigan lawmakers presented a bill to the governor's desk to roll back paid sick leave requirements that were set to go into effect next year. Although opponents challenge the move as unconstitutional, Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to sign the scaled-back bill into law. If he does, the new law will take effect 90 days after lawmakers adjourn the 2018 session, sometime in March 2019.

Posted August 29, 2018

New Illinois Law Requires Employers to Reimburse Employee Expenses

Illinois employers should prepare for California-style expense reimbursement class claims when a new law takes effect next year, which potentially includes demands to reimburse personal cell phones and home internet use.

Posted August 21, 2018 with Tags Paid Sick Leave, Courtney Blanchard, Paid Sick and Safe Leave, Courtney Blanchard attorney

San Antonio Becomes Second City in Texas to Require Paid Sick Leave

On August 16, 2018, San Antonio became the second city in Texas to pass a paid sick leave ordinance, which requires that employers provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. While the ordinance takes effect on January 1, 2019, most of the requirements do not become effective until August 2019.

Posted July 27, 2018

California Employers On the Hook for Tracking Employee Time

On Thursday, July 26, the California Supreme Court held that California employers may no longer ignore or fail to compensate for small amounts of time that non-exempt employees work simply because recording that time is administratively difficult. This is an alarming departure from the de minimis defense employers have for federal wage-and-hour claims and warrants immediate attention by California employers.

Posted July 16, 2018 with Tags Paid Sick Leave, Courtney Blanchard, Paid Sick and Safe Leave, sick leave ordinances

Massachusetts Reforms Employment Laws to Include Generous Paid Family Leave Program

On June 28, 2018, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill reforming several employment laws and creates one of the most employee-generous paid family and medical leave programs in the country. The program, which will be funded by a combination of payroll deductions and employer contributions, guarantees up to 26 weeks of paid leave for current and some former employees, and allows self-employed contractors to opt into the program.

Posted June 4, 2018 with Tags Wage and Hour, Wage and hour issues, California Wage and hour

In California, Ignorance of Complex Wage Laws is No Excuse

A California employer that does not pay its employees all required wages upon termination is liable for both the underpayment of wages and, if the failure to pay is “willful,” a “waiting time” penalty of up to 30 days’ wages. This is one of the ways a California wage-and-hour violation can become a very expensive mistake.

Posted June 1, 2018 with Tags Paid Sick Leave, Courtney Blanchard, Paid Sick and Safe Leave, Minnesota Paid Sick Leave, Duluth Paid Sick Leave, sick and safe leave, Minnesota Paid Sick and Safe Leave

Duluth Adopts Paid Sick and Safe Leave Beginning in 2020

On May 30, 2018, the Duluth City Council passed an ordinance requiring private employers to provide paid sick and safe leave to employees, following other Minnesota cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul. The ordinance takes effect on January 1, 2020. Because this is a contentious issue, we expect to see additional amendments before the ordinance takes effect.

Posted May 30, 2018 with Tags sexual harassment audits, Labor and Employment, #MeToo

Taking a Second Look: Best Practices for Auditing Past Sexual Harassment Claims

The #MeToo movement shed a light on the fact that sexual harassment in the workplace is still a major problem, and employers need to reassess their policies and practices. Supporting the personal experiences of women, the Pew Research Center recently …

Posted May 22, 2018

Supreme Court Gifts Employers with Big Arbitration Win

On May 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a huge win to employers in its much-anticipated decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis. Writing for a five-person majority, Justice Gorsuch upheld the validity of agreements that require employees to arbitrate claims against their employer or an individual—as opposed to a class or collective—basis. The court had been called to determine whether such class/collective waivers violate an employee’s right to engage in “concerted activities” as provided in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Federal courts had been at odds on this issue, and the Supreme Court consolidated three cases to resolve the disagreement.

Posted May 21, 2018 with Tags pre-employment, pre-employment selection, Joe Schmitt, ban the box

Banning the Box… with a Blanket

July 15, 2018, marks the 20th birthday for “ban the box” legislation, e.g., the practice of removing the checkbox found on job applications for divulging past criminal records so that candidates’ qualifications can be considered without the stigma of past …

Posted May 17, 2018 with Tags NLRB, david james, NLRA

Employers Are Walking the Tightrope Between Maintaining a Civil Work Environment and NLRA Compliance

Lately, employers have often found themselves performing a difficult balancing act between compliance with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and maintaining a non-hostile work environment. This stems from two recent cases brought before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), …

Posted May 10, 2018 with Tags Minneapolis Paid Sick Leave, Paid Sick and Safe Leave, Courtney Blanchard, veena iyer

Minneapolis Paid Sick Leave Faces Legal Fight on Extraterritorial Application

On May 9, 2018, the Hennepin County District Court issued an order largely upholding Minneapolis’s Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, which provides for sick and safe leave. However, Minneapolis cannot enforce the ordinance against non-resident employers (i.e. employers that do …

Posted May 7, 2018 with Tags Joe Schmitt

Where Society’s Reckoning with Gender Pay Gaps Leaves Today’s Employers

U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that in 1960, a woman made 60 cents to every dollar made by a man. Fifty-six years later, things haven’t changed much. The median male between the ages of 25 and 54 earns $41,000 whereas the …

Posted May 3, 2018 with Tags Paid Sick Leave, Courtney Blanchard

Airlines Cry Foul Over Patchwork Paid Sick Leave Laws

Imagine a situation where a flight attendant wakes up in Las Vegas, flies to Washington, and catches a flight back to his or her home base in the Midwest. In Washington, there is mandatory paid sick leave law for employers …

Posted April 16, 2018 with Tags noncompetes, anti-poaching laws

DOJ Signals There Are Lawful “No-Poaching” Agreements

In January 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) communicated that it would ramp-up criminal enforcement actions against companies that have no-poaching agreements, which in past years have been seen by the DOJ as a hall-pass allowing employers to avoid competing for workers, stifle demand in a market, and keep wages lower. A recent settlement with three employers, however, has reinforced the notion that not all no-poaching agreements are the same and helped define which kinds of no-poaching agreements may or may not lead to civil or criminal liability.

Posted March 8, 2018

DOL Creates Voluntary Program for Employers to Proactively Resolve Wage Issues

On March 6, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new pilot program for federal wage-and-hour compliance. The Paid Audit Independent Determination (PAID) Program offers employers the opportunity to self-audit their pay practices, resolve any violations, and obtain releases from those claims from employees.

Posted February 16, 2018 with Tags Paid Sick Leave, Courtney Blanchard, Paid Sick and Safe Leave

What Employers Need to Know About the Austin, TX Paid Sick & Safe Leave Ordinance

In the early hours of February 16, 2018, Austin, Texas, became the first Southern city to pass a paid sick and safe leave law. The final version is slated to go into effect on October 1, 2018, for most employers, although employers with five or fewer employees have a reprieve with an October 1, 2020, effective date. Opponents are already discussing potential preemption legislation, and so it remains to be seen whether the ordinance will go into effect or for how long.

Posted January 22, 2018

Maryland Embraces Paid Sick Leave, Employers Have Less Than a Month to Comply

Citing a lack of federal movement on labor and employment issues, many states and localities are passing laws that impact issues such as minimum wage, paid sick leave and predictive scheduling.