EverythingPeople This Week!

Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity will award more than $30 million to employers for worker training and development. If your organization is pursuing 2022 funds to assist with short term training for both new and incumbent employees, applications are accepted September 20 – October 15, 2021.

For several reasons employee development is currently being left behind. One reported reason is training and development expenses have been significantly cut back during COVID-19. In addition to that, ASE is also hearing that employers are limiting employee training because of the labor shortage and business demands.

In 1894 Labor Day was formally established as a national American holiday to celebrate workers. Labor Day also marks the unofficial close of summer and the start of school.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) systems are probably not used as much these days as they should be by employers. That said, a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision handed down this month demonstrates how a poorly thought-out ADR system did not help the employer as it should have.

ASE continues to get member inquiries about substance abuse testing and policies. A recent article by the Washington Examiner says interest in relaxing strict employer policies against employee marijuana use is going on across the country.  Where marijuana is legal recreationally, such as in Michigan, employers are asking whether it’s worth continuing pre-employment and other testing for marijuana use. Amazon has eliminated marijuana from its drug testing and is treating marijuana...

As COVID-19 has resurged, safety protocols for workers have been updated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). In addition to guidance for unvaccinated persons on quarantining after close contact with someone with COVID, the updated protocol also includes guidance for people who are fully vaccinated and exposed.

As anticipated, the Biden Administration formally rolled back the wage and hour regulations narrowing the previous tests for joint employment status based upon Part 791 of 29 C.F.R. This will be effective September 28, 2021.

Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is indicting a medical center operator for colluding with some of its competitors to not recruit one another’s senior-level employees. This indictment is the latest move against this employment practice that the government has focused more upon since 2016. 

A “No Show, No Call” policy states simply if an employee is absent from work and does not call within a certain period of time the company will consider this abandonment of a job and a voluntary quit. In Michigan, our unemployment compensation law considers not calling and not showing up for work for three days a disqualification for unemployment benefits when a “No Show, No Call” policy is in place.

Every couple of years (or less) a lawsuit ruling is published that reminds and confirms the importance of employer policies and handbooks for protecting the employer. A recent example is the case handed down by Michigan’s Court of Appeals (6/24/2021) about an employee of Emmett Charter Township that over the years had been both an employee and an independent contractor for the Township.

Since last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision employers would be correct in thinking that sexual orientation is protected by Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and for most Michigan employers they would be correct. However, Michigan itself has its own anti employment discrimination law in the Elliot-Larsen Civil Right Act (ELCRA) and it too has a sex discrimination prohibition in it.  However, Michigan has not technically extended its laws to fully protect sex...

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) held that a California regulation that required employers to allow union organizers onto private property was an illegal taking. The California regulation allowed union organizers to enter and stay on private property for up to three hours a day and for up to 120 days per year. Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid No.20-107 594 U.S ____ (2021). SCOTUS found that this amounted to a government taking of physical property and was illegal under the Fifth and...

June 22, MIOSHA published new emergency rules superseding its May 24th emergency rule revisions. ASE has received many calls asking if the rescission of masking and social distancing rules by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MHDDS) also meant the workplace rules were rescinded. Up until yesterday, ASE had explained that MIOSHA had not issued any updated direction, and therefore, MIOSHA’s May 24th workplace COVID-19 rules were still in effect for Michigan employers....

Last Thursday the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published two directives addressing COVID-19 workplace safety. The formal regulatory standard called the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) covers health care workers. These apply to hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, emergency responders, home health care workers, and employees that do ambulatory care. The ETS rules for these categories of covered jobs are workplace requirements.

As the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) 20/21 term wraps up, last week it issued a ruling impacting employers’ employee computer usage policy. In its Van Buren v. United States (No.19-783) case SCOTUS ruled the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) could not be used against employee abuse of company owned computers and databases.