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. More >
Nilan Johnson Lewis (NJL) is proud to announce that it has again been named to Law 360’s “Best Law Firms for Female Attorneys” list, a ranking published as part of the news organization’s annual Glass Ceiling report. The firm placed No. 18 among all U.S. legal services firms employing at least 20 but fewer than 150 lawyers. More >
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. More >
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 released findings that 62 percent of women in majority-male workplaces say sexual harassment is a […] More >
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. More >
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 convictions or arrest records. Since that time, 10 states and scores of municipalities have adopted […] More >
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), where the NLRB found that employees who used vulgar and derogatory speech while participating in […] More >
The California Supreme Court is considering whether employers in the state must pay their employees for the short amount of time it takes to do tasks not counted by normal clocking technologies. For example, do employers need to pay for an employee to lock the front door? To throw the final bag of trash in […] More >
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 not have a physical presence within Minneapolis city limits). The order makes permanent a preliminary […] More >
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 median female in that same age span makes $25,000 – 39 percent less. But this […] More >
