Limited travel ban upheld by Supreme Court: The Supreme Court agreed last Monday to allow a limited version of President Trump’s ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect and in the fall will consider the president’s broad powers in immigration matters in a case that raises fundamental issues of national security and religious discrimination. The court made an important exception: It said the ban “may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” In the unsigned opinion, the court said that a foreign national who wants to visit or live with a family member would have such a relationship, and so would students from the designated countries — Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — who were admitted to a U.S. university. The justices said they “fully expect” the government to be able to conduct its review within the 90-day span the executive order proposes. That affects the ban on travel from the six countries and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States, with the exceptions noted by the court. The ban will go into effect today. Source: Washington Post 6/26/17
Workers’ attitudes towards benefits in the workplace: The EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS) conducted online June 16–23, 2016 of 1,500 workers found that 32% are only somewhat satisfied with the benefits offered by their current employer, and 20% are not satisfied. 49% are extremely or very confident that their employer will continue to offer a similar benefits package three years from now. Those who are less confident that their benefits will remain the same tend to believe their benefits will weaken. Workers continue to value employment-based health insurance as their most important benefit. 87% of workers report that employment-based health insurance is extremely or very important, followed by a retirement savings plan (77%) and dental or vision (72%). Two-thirds are confident in their ability to make informed benefits choices, yet, nearly as many would welcome benefits advice from a third-party advisor or an online program. Workers identify lower cost, choice, and the convenience of paying pre-tax and through payroll deductions as strong advantages of voluntary employment-based benefits. Source: EBRI 6/26/17
Seattle $15 per hour minimum wage having unexpected impact: When Seattle officials voted three years ago to incrementally boost the city's minimum wage up to $15 an hour, they'd hoped to improve the lives of low-income workers. However, according to a study conducted by a group of economists at the University of Washington who were commissioned by the city and published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, it appears that the hike has had the opposite effect. According to the study, some employers have not been able to afford the increased minimums. They've cut their payrolls, put off new hiring, reduced hours or let workers go, the study found. The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one. On the whole, the study estimates, the average low-wage worker in the city lost $125 a month because of the hike in the minimum. The paper's conclusions contradict years of research on the minimum wage. Many past studies, by contrast, have found that the benefits of increases for low-wage workers exceed the costs in terms of reduced employment -- often by a factor of four or five to one. The paper still needs to be peer reviewed. Source: Washington Post 6/26/17
7th Circuit rules that transgender student can use bathroom corresponding to gender identity: In Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 Board of Education, the Seventh Circuit ruled that Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibit a school from barring a transgender student from using the bathroom that corresponds to his or her gender identity. In Whitaker, the Seventh Circuit did not focus its attention on clarifying the meaning of the term "sex" in Title IX, instead approaching the issue as one of sex stereotyping. Ash is a transgender male high school student. Although he is living his life as a boy, is taking hormone replacement therapy, and has legally changed his name, the school district refused to allow him access to the boys' bathroom, instead requiring him to use the girls' bathroom or gender-neutral bathrooms located at remote and inconvenient locations on the school campus. The school district reasoned that it needed to protect the privacy of its other students, and that absent sex reassignment surgery confirmed by a medical professional – for which he is not medically qualified until his18th birthday – he could not use the boys' bathroom. Source: Ford & Harrison LLP 6/21/17
Chicago/Cook County paid sick leave starts July 1: Employers with locations in Chicago or Cook County must provide workers with paid sick leave starting July 1. The requirements are as follows: Employees accrue paid sick leave (Paid Leave) of at least one hour for every 40 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per 12-month period. Employees can carry over up to half of their accrued Paid Leave, up to a maximum of 20 hours, from one year to the next. For employers that are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employees may carry over up to 40 hours of unused Paid Leave. An employee who uses the carried over 40-hours for FMLA covered purposes is entitled to use an additional 20 hours of accrued Paid Leave in the same 12-month period, increasing the employer’s Paid Leave obligation to 60 hours. Covered family members include individuals related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. Leave can be taken for domestic violence or school closings, and “family member” is broadly interpreted. Source: Dykema 6/20/17
Kaplan nominated to NLRB: President Trump nominated attorney Marvin Kaplan to fill one of two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board on June 19, 2017. Kaplan currently works on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and previously served as republican counsel to the House Education and Workforce Committee which, among other things, provides oversight of the NLRB. The five-seat NLRB currently consists of only three members: Chairman Philip Miscimarra (R) and Members Mark Gaston Pearce (D) and Lauren McFerran (D). With members appointed (subject to Senate approval) to 5-year terms, the NLRB is typically composed of three members of the sitting President’s party and two from the other party. If Kaplan’s appointment is approved, it could clear the way for President Trump to appoint a third Republican, giving the NLRB its first Republican majority since 2008. Source: Hunton & Williams LLP 6/22/17
Does extreme crying at work indicate FMLA leave need? Noemi was a secretary for a school district who claimed her coworkers made derogatory remarks about Hispanic students and their families. The last straw, according to Noemi, was when an associate principal allegedly told Noemi that “those people” (referring to a Hispanic family) never pay their bills. As a result, Noemi became extremely distraught and began crying regularly and uncontrollably at work. Around this time, Noemi also told: 1) her supervisor that she was “overwhelmed, afraid, and unsure if she could continue working” and 2) a school counselor and a Latino outreach family coordinator, while crying uncontrollably, that she did not know whether she could continue working for the district. In response, the school principal demanded that Noemi either continue working or resign. Days later, Noemi met with the principal in tears and explained that she was confused and overwhelmed, had not slept or eaten in weeks, and was losing weight. Noemi resigned, then sued and won. Besides telling her boss what she was experiencing and because the FMLA regulations make clear that an employee need not specifically cite the Family and Medical Leave Act in order to benefit from the Act’s protections, courts often will find that the employee’s behavior itself is enough to put the employer on notice of the need for FMLA leave. In this case, extreme crying was a trigger to put the employer on notice for FMLA leave. Source: Franczek Radelet PC 6/23/17; Valdivia v. Sch. Dist. 214. No. 16 cv 10333 (N.D. Ill. May 15, 2017)