Employers that have franchise operations, engage independent contractors, or both have had the rules and protections that come with these business relationships turned on their heads in recent years. A newly proposed 4-factor test may simplify things.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Opinion Letter clarifying how employers must go about allowing an employee to use other time off (paid or unpaid) in conjunction with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requirements.

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.

With the impending autonomous automobile era, comes the next iteration of collective bargaining concerns. When an employer is organized by a union the jobs are normally what is part of the union and spoken of in the labor contract – not the individual workers that hold the job. Therefore, when jobs and job security intersect, the issue of work classification changes are what is of concern to the union.

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.