With the passage of and impending enactment date (March 29, 2019) of Michigan’s new Paid Medical Leave Act, employers that are covered are hastily reviewing their existing vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as formal Paid Time Off benefits and policies to see how far off they may be from compliance with the new law.
The long running audit of Oracle by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP) has turned in favor of the OFCCP. The two areas of contention include first, that an analysis of Oracle pay data shows it shorted thousands of females, black, and Asian workers by as much as five figures relative to their white colleagues each year from 2013 through 2016. Second, Oracle favored Asian applicants over non-Asian job applicants, particularly Hispanic...
Of the many Obama era labor and employment overreaches, the re-defining of joint employer and independent contractor was (and continues to be) arguably the most controversial. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) previously focused on union-employer relations. But during the Obama Administration it imposed itself on the world of corporate law by reconstruing the law and using its case decision making authority to find most independent contractor relationships void. This in...
Does an Employer Have to Pay an Applicant for Interviewing for a Job?
Of course not, one might say. But not so fast. Does your company use a “working interview” to select qualified employees? Some companies use this form of applicant screening. As the name suggests, a “working interview” has the applicant performing work or they have the potential employee attend training during the selection process.
Over the holidays the District of Columbia (DC) Appeals Court held that although the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may determine joint employer status, its test in the Browning-Ferris decision handed down in 2015 did not do the job properly. The original Browning-Ferris decision handed down by the NLRB held that even “when two entities never have exercised joint control over essential employment terms, and given when any such joint control is not ‘direct and...
Employer law suits have increased over the years. And whether legitimate or not, they cost employers time and money. Many of these lawsuits are not triggered by blatant abuse of employment laws, but rather simple managerial mistakes.
Late Thursday, Governor Snyder signed the Minimum Wage law (SB 1171) that takes Michigan’s minimum wage to a maximum of $12.05/hr. in 2030 and removed the future indexing of the minimum wage to inflation. He also signed the Earned Sick Time law (SB 1175) that implements paid time off for employee or family member illness, injury, domestic violence, and sexual assault. The new law applies to employers with over 50 employees.
As many employers know by now, the Michigan Legislature amended the two expensive and administratively burdensome laws this month. They now go to the Governor’s desk for signature. However, Governor Snyder is being somewhat cagey in his support for passage. On Sunday’s Channel 4 show, Flashpoint, Devin Scillian asked Governor Snyder if he would be signing the laws. Governor Snyder responded he was looking at all laws passed by the lame duck Legislature for policy value...
OFCCP is moving at light speed to make changes as to how it operates. There have been a number of new directives in 2018 already, “righting the ship” from the previous administration. Now comes three new directives for Fiscal Year 2019 (DIR 2019-01, DIR 2019-04, and DIR 2019-03). These directives are officially changing the way OFCCP is doing business and how audits will be handled in the future.
For employers defending an equal pay act (EPA) discrimination claim, the “factor other than sex” affirmative defense generally prevails, except when it doesn’t. And lately, courts have been more reluctant to accept the affirmative defense.
As covered in the November 21st issue of EPTW, Michigan employers have to monitor what paid time off benefits will be required of them going forward. Will Michigan’s GOP-led legislature repeal the Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act entirely or just amend it in order to relieve some of its expense to smaller employers? It appears that pro-business parties may just go for amending the law down to some “reasonable” degree.
Our Michigan Legislature will be returning to work the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. The session between then and the end of the year is what is called the Lame Duck Session. Lame Duck is a term used in politics that refers to elected officials whose successor has already been elected so they have less influence because they only have a limited time left serving. Though that sounds a bit depressing, the flip side of the coin is a lame duck is free to do things without much fear of consequence.
With the election over and the results showing Democrats taking over the House of Representatives and the Republicans retaining Senate control, what does it mean for employers? It is expected that the House Democrats will push a pro-labor and regulatory agenda as well as an aggressive oversight of the Executive Branch. The Senate Republicans will likely continue staffing the Federal courts, which will have a long-term impact on employment cases, and thus employment policy.
Last week Michigan’s electorate voted in Democrat Gretchen Whitmer as Michigan’s Governor, breaking eight years of solid GOP governance in Michigan. Not to mention the state Republican Supreme Court as well. Employers, overall, have enjoyed a pro-business environment for quite a long time where governance has been pragmatic and not by “gotcha” legal and regulatory enforcement.
The people of the State of Michigan passed Proposal 18-1, also known as Proposal 1 or Prop 1, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Below are answers to some of the questions employers may have around the legalization of marijuana and drug testing in the workplace.