How to Tell Your Customer “Hands Off My Workforce!”: Understanding Your Rights as a Government Contractor
I need this project completed by next week! We decided to move your offices down two floors. Can you work through the weekend? Most contractors are used to their government customers’ idiosyncratic preferences. Satisfying the customer’s needs is par for the course. But at what point does a government official’s overbearing nature change from inconvenient to impermissible? This is a question we’ve been hearing more and more often from our clients. As a rule, the government is not supposed to . . . Read More
FLSA Overtime Rule Struck Down Leaving DOL and Employers in Limbo
In a decision issued on August 31, 2017, federal district Judge Amos Mazzant struck down as invalid the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime exemption rule which planned to significantly increase the salary threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As explained further below, a welcome decision for employers is also leaving DOL’s path toward a new overtime threshold in question. As most know, the FLSA requires that employers pay non-exempt employees overtime for any hours worked beyond . . . Read More
D.C. Circuit Weighs in on Employee’s Right to Union Representation at Disciplinary Meetings
In a recent ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has shed light on the scope of an employee’s right to union representation at an investigatory interview conducted by the employer. The prior case of NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251, 256 (1975) confirmed that an employee must be allowed to bring a union representative to any investigatory interview that he or she is required to attend, if the employee reasonably believes that the interview could . . . Read More
Restaurant Industry Headed To U.S. Supreme Court Over Tipping Practices
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division launched an aggressive enforcement initiative aimed at ensuring companies in the restaurant and food service industry comply with the federal minimum wage, overtime, and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Plaintiff-side employment lawyers took note immediately and began advertising to their target audience. It is not surprising, therefore, that servers, bartenders, and seasonal or event staff have advanced employee complaints based on alleged improper wage- . . . Read More
H&W is Increasing and Includes Offsets for Mandated Sick Leave. What Now?
Effective August 1, 2017, the Service Contract Act (“SCA”) health and welfare (“H&W”) benefit amount increased from $4.27 per hour to $4.41 per hour. See, Department of Labor (“DOL”) All Agency Memorandum Number 225, issued on July 25, 2017. A different H&W rate of $4.13 per hour is now applicable to employees performing work on contracts covered by Executive Order 13706 (“EO”). This EO mandated that certain federal contractors provide up to 56 hours of sick leave to employees. The . . . Read More
DOL Withdraws Interpretation of “Joint Employment” and “Independent Contractors” Rules: What Does this Mean for Me?
On Wednesday, June 7, 2017, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) would be withdrawing two Administrative Interpretations issued during the previous administration regarding joint employers and independent contractors. While the DOL’s withdrawal signals its departure from the Obama administration’s liberal interpretation of these two issues, employers need to recognize that this action does not change their actual legal responsibilities to employees. The two prior interpretations provided guidance to employers on how the . . . Read More
Managing the Competing Obligations of the FMLA and ADA
An employee asks for over 12 weeks of leave for an illness under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)—does this also constitute a request for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? The interplay between the ADA and the FMLA presents significant challenges for employers as the company grows. Employers with more than 15 employees must comply with the ADA, while employers with more than 50 employees must comply with both the ADA and the FMLA. Both require . . . Read More
Contractor Execs Not Subject to Individual Whistleblower FCA Claims, Says Federal Judge
In a recent Memorandum Opinion, T.S. Ellis, III, U. S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, has ruled that the retaliation provision of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) does not permit a whistleblower plaintiff to sue individual employees of a corporate employer. In Irving v. PAE Government Services, Inc., et al., No. 1:16cv1617 (E.D. Va. Apr. 11, 2017), plaintiff was a former Deputy Program Manager and Chief of Security for defendant PAE Government Services, Inc. (“PAE”) in Kabul, Afghanistan. . . . Read More
Get a Handle on Changing Leave Laws
Picking up work across states can be challenging for any employer, particularly with respect to employment law, and it’s not getting any easier. Recently, a number of states and localities are proposing and passing sick and family leave laws, each with differences, making it challenging for employers to comply with and pay for the additional benefit. States are motivated by the federal government’s failure to address paid sick and family leave broadly at the federal level. As a result, states . . . Read More
Seventh Circuit Rules That Sexual Orientation is a Protected Class Under Title VII
On April 4, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that a part-time math instructor at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana could sue her former employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for failing to promote, then terminating, her because she is a lesbian. Title VII protects an individual from discrimination in employment based on that individual’s “race, color, sex, or national origin,” but it does not specifically delineate that . . . Read More