Next week on November 8, voters will head to the polls around the country for our midterm elections for the U.S. House, certain Senate seats, governorships, and other elected offices. And while voters are headed to the polls, employers should remember that they may have a requirement to provide time off to employees to vote.
Employee Rights
Don’t Fire Me! I’m Drug Free! It Was CBD! Indiana Court Examines Termination for Use of Hemp Oil
In our modern world of a booming CBD industry and an increasing number of states that have legalized marijuana, can you terminate an employee for a positive drug test for marijuana? What if the test shows marijuana metabolites but you find out later it was a positive for CBD oil (a legal substance)? Does federal…
Employees Miffed by Your Monitoring of Company Devices? Give Notice Now to Hopefully Avoid Annoyance Later
We’ve talked about social media policies several times over the years, but it’s been a while since we’ve discussed monitoring your employees’ work phones, emails, and internet usage. As you most likely know, you can and probably should monitor employees’ work phones, emails, and internet usage. You never know when someone outside the business will…
New Way to Pay Day Rate: 5th Circuit Rules on FLSA Day Rate Overtime Exemption
Are you paying employees using a day rate under the FLSA? If so, you may want to read the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in the latest string of Helix Energy cases. According to the Fifth Circuit, companies who do business in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that pay employees based on a day rate must now…
Don’t Run Prints: Illinois’s Biometric Privacy Law Used Against Employers
Does your company use fingerprinting or some facial recognition scanner as part of its clock-in, clock-out process? If your company has facilities or even some contacts with Illinois (and maybe other states in the future) you should pay heed to Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that is the subject of a new class action…
Absolute Freedom to Tweet? Employers (and the NLRA) May Have Something to Say About It
Do you need a social media policy or are the legal obstacles just too much? Now more than ever, people are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech, which, not surprisingly, can cause heartburn at the workplace. In times of contention, stress, and uncertainty, speech often multiplies, and, in an era where someone’s speech…
The Doctor Will See You Now via Telemedicine and It May Qualify as Treatment under the FMLA
As you already know, COVID-19 changed almost everything, and some of those things are likely here to stay (or at least for a while longer). One widespread change is the use of videoconferencing, including in the medical field. An increase in the use of videoconferences to treat patients (aka telemedicine or telehealth) and efforts to…
Let Your (Employee’s) Voice Be Heard? Giving Employees Time Off to Vote
Everyone is talking about voting options — absentee ballots, early voting, and, of course, the traditional going to the polls on election day. With the presidential election on November 3, you may be thinking about giving your employees time off to be a part of the democratic process and vote.
So, must you give employees…
Don’t Dawdle in USERRA’s World: Fourth Circuit Affirms USERRA Violation for Delayed Reemployment
How long do you have to reinstate an employee following military leave? In Harwood v. American Airlines, the Fourth Circuit found that a delay of six or eight weeks was too long. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA) says employers must reinstate an employee returning from military leave and if, as in…
Political Speech, Conduct & Activity in the Workplace Amid A Social Justice Movement
Traditionally, it has been taboo to discuss religion, politics, or divisive matters of public concern in the workplace. Most employers want the worksite to be about work and want to avoid controversial and potentially offensive discourse. However, in the current political climate, amid a global health pandemic, and the movement for social justice gaining unprecedented…