WIRTW #685: the “good bosses” edition

I write about a lot of horrible, terrible bosses … the worst employers. 

Today, however, I want to use this space to shine a light on five really, really great bosses … specifically late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. This week, they launched a new podcast — Strike Force Five — to raise money for their employees that have been out of work since the WGA went on strike 122 days ago. 

The hosts are donating all proceeds they receive from the podcast to the out-of-work staff from their respective shows.

Do them a favor and show your support and appreciation by finding Strike Force Five in your podcast app of choice and subscribing. 

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DOL announced proposed rule to increase salary threshold for white-collar exempt employees

$1,059 per week. If the Department of Labor gets its wish, that amount will become the new salary threshold for its various white-collar overtime exemptions. Yesterday, the DOL published a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to increase the FLSA's salary test from the current threshold of $684 per week ($35,568 annually) to $1,059 per week ($55,068 annually).

You will read a lot over the next couple of months that the DOL increasing its white-collar salary threshold by nearly 55% is a huge deal. I'm here to tell you that it really isn't.

NLRB opens the tap for a union election at Creature Comforts Brewing Company … but will it matter?

It took more than seven months, but the NLRB has finally directed a union representation election at Creature Comforts Brewing Company. The NLRB will soon hold a secret ballot election over whether employees wish to be represented for purposes of collective bargaining by the Brewing Union of Georgia. 

The bigger issue for Creature Comforts, however, is that even if it wins the election, the union will almost certainly use its four pending unfair labor practice charges against the employer to seek a bargaining order under the Board's recent Cemex decision (which the Board will apply retroactively).

EEOC busts a quartet of hospitality employers for pervasive sexual harassment

In a press release, the EEOC announced the filing of a series of sexual harassment lawsuits against Las Vegas hospitality employers. 

[The l]awsuits … allege sexual harassment towards employees by owners, supervisors and management, co-workers, and/or customers. The four lawsuits included allegations raised by workers throughout the hospitality industry, from housekeepers in hotels to waitstaff in both high-end and casual restaurants and bars. Allegations included the attempted rape of a young housekeeper, sexual assault, sexual solicitations, sexual comments, inappropriate touching, stalking, and other inappropriate behaviors. 

These lawsuits are consistent with agency's enforcement priorities as outlined in its just-released Strategic Plan, which includes targeting education and enforcement effots to protect vulnerable communities.

BREAKING NEWS: NLRB issues in the era of card-check union recognition and bargaining order remedies

In Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, the NLRB significantly altered the process for how a labor union becomes certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a group of employees.
Cemex eliminates (1) secret-ballot representation elections upon the presentation of signed authorization cards; and (2) re-run elections in the face of election-campaign unfair labor practices.

In their place, Cemex: (1) requires an employer to recognize and bargain with a union upon its presentation of a majority of signed authorization cards unless the employer promptly (within two weeks absent unforeseen circumstances) files an RM petition seeking an election; and (2) authorizes the Board to issue a bargaining order instead of directing a second, re-run election if an employer seeking an RM election commits any unfair labor practice prior to election that would require the Board to set the election aside.

WIRTW #684: the “chocolate city” edition

This is Dante, our four-year-old vizsla. Last week, he thought it was a good idea to eat some cocoa powder. As a result, he spent an overnight in the emergency vet hospital; he seems no worse for wear.

Chocolate is toxic to dogs because it contains both theobromine and caffeine, which dogs cannot metabolize and which causes significant and dangerous digestive, neurologic, and cardiac effects. In fact, cocoa powder contains the highest concentration of these chemicals and is the most toxic to dogs. According to vet, the Dante likely ate 2.5 times the lethal limit.

In other words, it's a really good thing we took him in.

He did suffer a cardiac episode while admitted. The vet told us Dante had tachycardia (an abnormally increased heart rate), which they controlled via medicine. He's had no other issues since we brought him home.

We all learned a lesson. Dante (hopefully) learned not to eat cocoa powder. We learned that when you're cleaning out your cabinets as water pours out of your kitchen ceiling from a burst pipe, take the time to make sure the dangerous stuff remains out of reach.

This is me, exhaling a huge sigh of relief. 😮‍💨 😌

Here's what I read and heard this past week that you should read and hear, too.

Determining the exempt status of a dual-purpose employee

Tony works at a local brewery as its assistant general manager. In that capacity, he interviews, hires, trains, coaches, disciplines, and fires lower-level employees; recommends employees for promotions; meets with lower-level managers to ensure they are meeting expectations; and reviews sales, hours, labor, and overtime reports. To meet the operational needs, however, Tony also picks up regular shifts in the taproom performing hourly, nonexempt work such as waiting tables and bartending. Despite his $75,000 annual salary, Tony estimates that he only spends approximately 20% of his working time performing his managerial duties, while he spends the balance of his time on non-exempt tasks.

Is Tony FLSA exempt or FLSA non-exempt?