Ohio introduces paid-sick-leave legislation

There is little argument that the U.S. lags behind the rest of the civilized world on paid sick leave. As the federal government has failed to act on this issue for all but a small minority of federal-contractor employees, the state and local governments have started to pick up the slack.

Now, Ohio is considering getting in the game. H.B. 511—the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Benefits Act [pdf]—would, in essence, create state-administered short-term disability insurance for employees who need time off for an FMLA-covered reason.

8th Circuit rejects obesity as an ADA-protected disability

In a closely watched case, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Morriss v. BNSF Railway Co. [pdf], has rejected a claim that the ADA protects “obesity” as a disability.

What issues are on the NLRB’s radar? Be afraid.

If you want to know the legal issues that are on the NLRB’s radar, you need to look no further than NLRB General Counsel Memo 16-01 [pdf], which lists those categories of cases that “are of particular interest and would benefit from centralized consideration.” In other words, which cases must the NLRB’s regions submit to D.C. for charge-or-don’t-charge decisions?

Several areas defined as “initiatives and/or priorities” caught my attention, and should catch yours too:

Winter is coming … for the FLSA’s salary test

In case you’ve been living in the dark for the past year, the FLSA’s salary test is due for some changes, and the changes are coming soon. The latest intel suggests that the reguations—which will increase salary-level at which employees will qualify for the administrative, executive, professional, and computer employee exemptions from $23,660 per year (or $455 per week) to an expected $50,440 per year (or $970 per week)—will publish in July with an effective date in September.

Last week, the George Mason University’s Mercatus Center published a comperehensive analysis of why these new regulations will be detriemental to employers and employees. The report (pdf here, h/t Overlawyered) is well worth your time if you are interested in a solid analysis of the intended and unintended consequences of adding an estimated five million additional workers to the rolls of the non-exempt.

I’d like to focus on one such unintended consequence—lack of workplace flexibility.

WIRTW #407 (the “cumin” edition)

Name the two greatest characters in the history of television. Mine are Archie Bunker at number 1, and David Brent at number 1(a). While Arhcie Bunker will never again grace the world with his bon mots, thank god for Ricky Gervais, who is giving David Brent and all of his clueless uncomfortableness new life with an entire movie, the trailer for which was just released.

If you’ve never seen the original British verion of The Office, immediately go the Netflix and watch it all. It’s only seven hours (give or take) from start to finish. What are you waiting for? You’re at work, you say. Well, it is work related, right?

Here’s the rest of what I read this week.

Huffington Post runs my bullying story

It started with a personal email from Arianna Huffington herself:

We would love to feature your voice on HuffPost on this important issue as it would resonate with many of our readers.

With that, my post about what employers and employees can learn from my son being bullied at school is now running on the Huffington Post, and I’m an official HuffPost blogger.

You can (re)read the story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-hyman/when-schoolyard-bullies-b_b_9609884.html.

If you don’t mind doing me a solid, click on the link and share my story on your personal pages (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Ohio introduces unnecessary pregnancy legislation

Last week, the Pregnancy Reasonable Accommodation Act (S.B. 301) [pdf] was introduced in the Ohio Senate. The bill seeks to raise pregnancy to the level of a protected disability.

No matter what the producers of #Hamilton tell you, race is never a BFOQ

True confession time. I am not a fan of Hamilton. I don’t get it. Never have, never will. I will probably go to my grave having never seen what people tell me is the greatest thing to come to Broadway in the last few decades. And I’m perfectly okay with that.

I say this as prologue to today’s thought, which discusses this ad (h/t HuffPost), in which the producers of the Broadway seek “NON-WHITE men and women, ages 20s to 30s, for Broadway and upcoming Tours!”

An employer need not read minds about reasonable accomodations

The ADA’s interactive process is a two-way street. For an employee to present a valid ADA claim, the employee must actively participate in the reasonable-accommodation discussion. The employee cannot simply provide the employer a doctor’s excuse and then turn a deaf ear to the employer’s offers to accommodate.

Case in point? Agee v. Mercedes-Benz U.S. Int’l. (11th Cir. 3/30/16).

WIRTW #406 (the “April Fools” edition)

Happy April Fool’s Day.

Here’s what I read this week.

Do you understand your state’s wiretap law?

Here’s one you don’t see everyday. According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers are peeved at one of their teammates, rookie D’Angelo Russell. So far, no big deal. That is, no big deal until you understand the cause of the rift. I’ll let ESPN take it from here.

Sources told ESPN.com that some teammates' trust in Russell is eroding after a video surfaced in the past week that shows Russell recording a private conversation between himself and teammate Nick Young. Young does not appear to realize he is being taped. The video, which is believed to have come to light last week via the Twitter account of a celebrity gossip site, shows Russell filming Young while asking questions about Young being with other women.

7 tips for employers, from your friendly neighborhood plaintiff lawyer

I found a blog post in which a plaintiff-side employment lawyer shared the 7 things employers don’t do, that they should be doing. The three that jumped off the page to me—

• “With every new potential client, I ask if they received a warning before being terminated. As soon as I hear ‘yes,’ it does slow us down in the march toward litigation.”

• “Juries expect some level of progressive discipline—they think it should be required.”

• “People don’t run to attorneys because they think they’ve got a great legal case. They come to see me because they’re angry about they way they were treated, especially on their way out.”

NLRB judge shoots down employee separation agreement as overly broad

Employers prefer finality when they pay an employee severance at the end of employment. One way employers sure up this finality is by obtaining a broad release of claims and covenant not to sue from the employee. But, that is not the only way. Employers use of variety of terms in separation agreements to try to ensure that the agreement is the last they will hear from the employee. That is, unless the employee runs to the NLRB, which seems to believe that there isn’t a policy that doesn’t violate the Board’s rules on protected concerted activity.

When schoolyard bullies become workplace bullies

This is Donovan.

He’s 7 years old. And he has Noonan Syndrome. Noonan Syndrome is genetic disorder caused by one of several genetic mutations. Donovan’s is of the PTPN11 gene. It is a multi-system disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 1,000 – 2,500 births. In Donovan’s case, he has a bleeding (platelet function) disorder, a congenital heart defect (pulmonary valve stenosis), feeding and gastrointestinal issues (Celiac disease), ptosis of his right eye, small stature (for which he takes daily injections of growth hormones), and low-set ears.

DOL's “Persuader Rule” goes live; unions rejoice

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued its long awaited Final Rule reinterpreting the “Advice Exemption” to the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, otherwise known as the “persuader” rule.

What does this mean for you? In summary, it means that if you engage an outside law firm or other consultant to provide advice, or to otherwise represent you concerning employee organizing, concerted activities, or collective bargaining activities, you must report that engagement to the DOL, and, therefore, also to the union.

The class action is dead … long live the class action! #SCOTUS upholds “representative samples” for class certification

It’s been nearly five years since the Supreme Court decided, in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, that the claims of large groups of employees that involve differing calculations of damages must be litigatated as individual claims, and not as a class action.

At the time, and since, may pundits declared the wage-and-hour class action lawsuit dead (or at least with one foot squarely in the grave).

Earlier this week, however, the Supreme Court applied the paddled and shocked the class action back to life.

Employment Law Blog Carnival: The “Candy Cane Children” Edition #ELBC

People seem to like lists, so here’s one to kick off this month’s Employment Law Blog Carnival. Who is the greatest rock band of each decade (according to Jon Hyman)?

• The 1960s — The Beatles (with apologies to the Rolling Stones)
• The 1970s — The Who (with apologies to Led Zeppelin and the Clash)
• The 1980s — U2 (with apologies to Guns N’ Roses and Talking Heads)
• The 1990s — Nirvana (with apologies to Pearl Jam and Green Day)
• The 2000s — White Stripes (with apologies to absolutely no one)

This month’s ELBC will focus on the latter, the White Stripes. They allegedly formed on Bastille Day 1997, and most certainly broke up five years ago. In between, they single-handedly saved rock ‘n’ roll.

Is your employee handbook a contract of employment? Well, does it have a disclaimer?

Employee handbooks come in all shapes and sizes. For example, some employers have policies that create a probationary period for employees during the initial few months of employment. Some employers have progressive discipline policies. Some grant formal appeal rights to employees who are disciplined or terminated. And some set forth terms of compensation, benefits, and time-off.

Is your handbook a contract of employment, or a compilation of discretionary policy statements? The answer depends on whether your handbook has a disclaimer telling employees that they are at-will and cannot rely on the handbook as a contract.

Does HR understand their own personal liability for FMLA violations?

If you’ve ever held supervisor and manager training on any employment-law issue, you know the glazed-over expression of a group of individuals going through the motions. “Oh goody, we have training today. Here’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back,” is what you’ll hear around the coffee machine before they enter the training room.

Want to wake them up and ensure rapt attention? Hit them with the idea of individual liability. Under Ohio law, we have it for discrimination claim. It exists for wage-and-hour claims under the FLSA. And, last week, in Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of Am. [pdf], the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that a manager or supervisor can be individually liable for FMLA violations.

WIRTW #405 (the “Norah live” edition)

This week’s musical highlight comes courtesy of the Cleveland School of Rock Jr. Headliners. What can I say? I’m either a proud dad or a shill for my kid.

Norah live.
Posted by Jon Hyman on Sunday, March 13, 2016

You can catch her live on April 3.

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If you are interest in having your post featured in this month’s Employment Law Blog Carnival, email me your submission by Monday. The carnival goes live March 23.

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Here’s the rest of what I read this week: