No Advance Notice is Required to Terminate At-Will Employment in Virginia
By Ambi Biggs On June 2, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court resolved a split among the lower courts and the federal district courts in Virginia regarding the notice employers are required to provide at-will employees prior to terminating them. In Johnston v. William E. Wood & Associates, the plaintiff worked at a real estate services firm for 17 years as an at-will employee. When her employer terminated her without any advance notice, she brought suit, alleging that she was wrongfully discharged . . . Read More
How Many of Your Employees Will Now Be Entitled to Overtime? DOL Doubles Salary Requirements for Exempt Employees
We’ve been waiting for months for the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to release its final regulations making changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) overtime exemptions, Part 541, and today, the wait came to an end. As expected, the final rule includes a significant increase in salary threshold and a method to automatically increase the threshold every three years. Following are the highlights you need to know to be the master of the watercooler (or staff meeting) this week . . . Read More
Missing a Wage Determination in a SCA-Covered RFP? Ask for It.
By Megan Connor I recently participated in a webinar regarding Service Contract Act (“SCA”) compliance and during the webinar, a number of participants noted instances where a request for proposal (“RFP”) or solicitation did not include the relevant wage determination (“WD”), even though the agency otherwise incorporated the SCA clauses into the RFP. If you face a similar circumstance, you should be aware of your rights. First, the applicable regulations make clear that contracting officers—not contractors—are required to determine if the . . . Read More
Employer Policy Critical to Defense Against FMLA Liability
A well-crafted employer policy, and whether it was followed, is often just as important to the outcome of a dispute with an employee as the law itself. This is why attorneys constantly trumpet the need to update policies regularly and abide by them. There is no better example of this than a case recently decided by United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, et al., No. 13-cv-1082 (NSR) (S.D.N.Y . . . Read More
Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors is One Step Closer to Reality
By Corey Argust For employers, it seems like every time you turn around there is a change in the law or regulations to add to the list of compliance challenges. Federal contractors can now add paid sick leave to that list. On February 25, 2016, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released its proposed rule for providing employees working on federal contracts with sick leave. The proposed rule would implement Executive Order 13706, which President Obama signed on September 7, 2015. . . . Read More
The Nuts and Bolts of a Labor and Employment Compliance Audit
This article is the final installment in a three-part series from PilieroMazza on the major labor law issues confronting employers in 2016 and how employers can effectively surmount those challenges. Over the last few weeks, we have written about significant changes in labor compliance in 2016. In addition to being prepared for those challenges, employers should consistently evaluate their employment policies and practices to ensure compliance with the complicated web of labor and employment laws at the federal, state, and . . . Read More
Labor Compliance to Affect Contractor Eligibility For Awards of Federal Contracts in 2016
This article is the second installment in a three-part series from PilieroMazza on the major labor law issues confronting employers in 2016 and how employers can effectively surmount those challenges. Contractors pursuing federal work have a host of legal compliance responsibilities and that list keeps getting longer. Recently, the White House has focused on labor regulation initiatives including executive orders addressing sexual orientation and gender identity, minimum wages, equal pay, pay transparency, sick leave, and general labor compliance. This is . . . Read More
When Snow Days Impact Employers: Balancing Inclement Weather and the FLSA
By Julia Di Vito Winter weather can be frustrating for employers as facilities close or employees are unable to travel in to the worksite even when the worksite is open. Employers often wonder what their obligations are to pay employees during inclement weather events. The answer depends on the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to the contractor’s employees. Employees who are not exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA and who are paid on an hourly . . . Read More
Employer Beware: Be Prepared for New Labor Regulations Coming in 2016
By Corey Argust This article is the first installment in a three-part series from PilieroMazza on the major labor law issues confronting employers in 2016 and how employers can effectively surmount those challenges. The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is quite possibly the labor law that employers grapple with more than any other. The regulations can be murky at best when actually applied and the price tag for running afoul of the regulations is staggering. Aside from the ever-vigilant and . . . Read More
Mastering Price Adjustments for Increases in the Contractor Minimum Wage
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced that the applicable minimum wage rate to be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with Federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658 (the “Order”) will increase from $10.10 to $10.15 per hour beginning January 1, 2016. The intent of the Order was not that contractors would have to bear the increase but that they would be eligible for an adjustment to their contract price based on the resulting increase in . . . Read More