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Check Your Handbooks!!! UPS Settles Maximum Leave Policy Violations for $2 million.

Posted on August 9, 2017 by

The EEOC filed suit against UPS on behalf of approximately 90 current and former employees for multiple violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The agency charged UPS with failing to properly accommodate employees with disabilities.  Most importantly, the EEOC alleged that UPS had a maximum leave policy that automatically terminated employees when they […]

IRS Encourages Self-Assessment to Identify Fringe Benefit Errors

Posted on August 3, 2017 by

As much as I love tax law, filling out another tax form isn’t high on my list of fun things to do.  So when the IRS issues a form that isn’t legally required to complete, should you?  If you are an employer that provides one or more fringe benefits to your employees, you may want […]

To Arbitrate or Not Arbitrate? House Weighs In on CFPB Arbitration Rule

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Joint Resolution 111 which would rescind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s “Arbitration Rule”. Finalized on July 17, 2017, the Arbitration Rule places significant limitations on financial institutions’ ability to designate arbitration as the dispute resolution mechanism in its contracts with depositors and borrowers; additionally, the Rule […]

Wisconsin Court Re-affirms Employment At Will Principles

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

A recent decision from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals has upheld the concept of “employment-at-will” and determined that an employment-at-will provision in an employment contract superseded company policies that provided alternative procedures to be followed when investigating inappropriate conduct of an employee.  In a recent decision of the District IV Court of Appeals, the Court […]

Federal Court Reverses NLRB “Positive Work Environment” Handbook Decision

Posted on August 1, 2017 by

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created controversy a couple of years ago when it ruled that handbook policies maintained by T-Mobile USA requiring employees to maintain a positive work environment were illegal because they could be seen as having a chilling effect on employees’ unionizing and collective bargaining rights.  Last week, the U.S. 5th […]

Eligibility for Overtime Pay – Redo?

Posted on August 1, 2017 by

Recent action taken by the Department of Labor has started to signal the likely “redo” of the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations regarding overtime pay and which employees are eligible for overtime pay.  The Department of Labor issued a Request for Information document that asks employers to respond to a series of questions on overtime […]

Recent Bankruptcy Decision from the Western District of Wisconsin Discusses Negative Equity, Car Loans, and the Chapter 13 Cram Down

Posted on July 19, 2017 by

A quick introduction for those of you who are not bankruptcy nerds.  For certain types of collateral, Chapter 13 allows a Debtor to reduce a secured creditor’s claim down to the value of the collateral.  This is called “cram down.”  But, there are certain limits on the Debtor’s “cram down” powers.  For example, the Debtor […]

Right-to-Work Law Upheld

Posted on July 17, 2017 by

Without much fanfare, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Wisconsin Right-to-Work Law.  The Right-to-Work Law passed in Wisconsin is similar to a law passed in Indiana and holds that a company may not enter into a labor agreement with a union representing company employees that requires the employees to join the union […]

Attempted End Run Around Wisconsin’s Exclusive Remedy of Worker’s Compensation Fails in Asbestos Litigation in the Seventh Circuit

Posted on July 13, 2017 by

Wisconsin’s exclusive remedy of worker’s compensation has long been a bulwark against civil suits brought by employees (subject to a few narrow exceptions not applicable here).  This bulwark has survived a creative attack in an asbestos case in Pecher v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. 859 F.3d 396 (2017), which was decided on June 6, 2017. The case […]

A Seemingly Important Win for Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Insurance Carriers and Employers

Posted on July 11, 2017 by

On its face the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Flug v. LIRC, 2017 WI 72 (decided on June 30, 2017), is a clear, important win for the employer side in common injuries that involve pre-existing degenerative conditions.  The general circumstances presented in Flug are familiar.  In that case, a forty-three year old retail […]