For invitations to our events and updates on key legal issues and business concerns:
Please Click HerePosted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The United States Supreme Court will be considering whether the time that an employee spends putting on and taking off work clothes is a compensable act which would require payment for time spent in that activity. A case involving employees of U.S. Steel Corp. has been accepted by the Supreme Court based on the issue […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
According to the federal Department of Labor (DOL), it plans to publish a final rule in April 2013 revising its so-called “persuader rules” under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. The “persuader rules” have long obligated employers to disclose, in writing, certain activities aimed at thwarting union organization tactics but only under exceptional circumstances where labor-relations […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has filed a federal lawsuit against Toys “R”‘ Us alleging that the Company violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when it did not provide a sign language interpreter to a deaf applicant at a job interview. The EEOC alleges in the federal lawsuit that a Company of this size would […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
A few days ago I was reading the Wall Street Journal and came across an interesting article about whether daily, fringe-benefit meals are taxable – a watered-down version of the article may be accessed here. Apparently (and probably not too surprising to most), the IRS is considering whether these free lunches are fringe benefits on […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Mary Ellen Schill
Last week I had the pleasure of talking Affordable Choice Act with human resource and benefits professionals in Madison and Wausau. From some of the questions I was fielding it was clear that there were some out there who doubted whether the federally facilitated exchanges will be operational by October 1, as required by the […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The Eighth Circuit recently decided a case that stands for the notion that an employer’s description of the essential functions of an employee’s job, and not the employee’s specific personal experience in the job, is critical in determining whether or not an employee is qualified for protection under the ADA. In Knutson v. Schwan’s Home […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
One of my colleagues recently wrote about an Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that determined whether an employee is disabled. That determination was based on the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job. Rather than considering the actual duties being performed by the employee, the Court looked to the job description […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Mary Ellen Schill and I were talking about the e-alert that we posted April 19 on the right of reimbursement for self-insured group health plans under ERISA in light of the US Airways v. McCutcheon case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 16. A couple of points caught our attention. The scope of […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
This past month, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) caught the employer community off guard with an unexpected, union-friendly pronouncement, one that provides labor unions free reign to infiltrate non-union workplaces. On April 5, 2013, OSHA publicly announced [through a letter of interpretation/Standard Interpretation to the United Steelworkers Union dated February 21, 2013, […]
Posted on May 20, 2014 by Ruder Ware Alumni
A federal district court decision has struck down an administrative rule proposed by the National Labor Relations Board that would require all private sector employers to notify their employees of the right to join a union. The recent decision held that this rule was not lawful and constituted an unreasonable exercise of administrative rule-making powers […]