The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division welcomed the new year by issuing six new opinion letters on January 5, 2026 — four regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and two regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). As background, opinion letters explain how the DOL applies federal employment laws
We’ve all been there: An employee takes time off (think FMLA or other protected leave), and then you need to take an adverse employment action. Can you do so and risk the inevitable retaliation claim? Do you have to wait some amount of time so the employee’s potentially protected activity isn’t so fresh on everyone’s
Most employers have gotten the hang of handling FMLA requests: Make sure the employee is eligible; get paperwork from the provider; and monitor the amount of time taken. Whether all supervisors are overjoyed with every employee’s desire to take off due to a qualifying condition is another matter. But if you follow the procedures and
As technology continues to evolve, so do the dynamics of labor and employment. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2024-1 (FAB 2024-1). FAB 2024-1 is a groundbreaking document shedding light on how the DOL thinks artificial intelligence (AI) and automated
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. To help determine effective accommodations, employers should use an “interactive process,” which simply means that employers and employees with disabilities who request accommodations work together to brainstorm accommodations. While it’s not a per se requirement, the law favors
If an individual’s disability causes involuntary racist or profane utterances, what would a reasonable accommodation under the ADA look like? In Cooper v. Dolgencorp, LLC, the Sixth Circuit faced just such an inquiry.
The ADA protects a qualified individual with a disability who can perform the essential functions of his or her
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that announced they are partnering for the purpose of information sharing and joint investigations. As you know, the EEOC investigates and enforces allegations of discrimination and retaliation under Title
Tracking intermittent FMLA time — it’s every HR professional’s favorite thing to do. Do you come up with a total number of hours per employee or just count portions of the workweek? What do you do if an employee takes intermittent leave during a holiday week? If you have been wrestling with this issue, the
Do you have a “no fault” attendance policy or some other way in which employees get points for absences? If so, be careful. A recent Eleventh Circuit matter, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America, Inc. suggests that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) wants to check out those policies to see if there is an ADA
Mass shootings have been increasingly in the headlines in recent years, and many of these incidents have occurred in the workplace. Regardless of anyone’s politics, employers are having to face either the fear of, or the actual experience of, murder in their own offices, factories and schools. What steps should an employer take to keep their employees