If you are gearing up for union negotiations in 2024, do not miss the opportunity to review current and past practices that may not have been incorporated into expiring collective bargaining agreements. Trust me, it will be worth the effort to dig up and review all of the side letters, settlements and memoranda of agreement
Jen Will
MORE FAMILIES FIRST GUIDANCE EMERGES – INCLUDING THE SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION
By Jen Will on
Posted in Employer Liability, Workplace Trends
While the world was still discussing Friday’s passage of the landmark stimulus CARES Act, the Department of Labor issued additional guidance regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Remember, the Response Act requires many employers to provide emergency paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specific reasons related to COVID-19. The April…
FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT WILL BE EFFECTIVE APRIL 1, 2020
By Jen Will on
Posted in Workplace Trends
On the heels of its invitation to individuals and businesses to participate in a dialogue on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Response Act”), the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division issued a much needed Q&A late Tuesday afternoon.
Effective Date. The biggest question weighing on everyone’s mind has been answered. The…
NLRB Continues on an Employer-Friendly Roll
By Jen Will on
Posted in Unions
In a case that started back in February of 2013 – when Security called 9-1-1 and had police escort non-employee union organizers out of the employer’s cafeteria – the Board “modified” decades of its own precedent. Sort of.
Some background. The National Labor Relations Act requires that employers refrain from interference, discrimination, restraint or coercion…
McNees Expands Employee Benefits Practice – Welcome Renee Lieux and Kim Weibley
By Jen Will & Eric Athey on
Posted in Employee Benefits
McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC is pleased to announce the expansion of its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group with the recent addition of attorney Renee Lieux and specialist Kimberly Weibley.
Renee has focused her practice on executive compensation and employee benefits for nearly 20 years. She assists both private and publicly traded companies…
Supreme Court Rules Fair Share Fees are Unconstitutional
By Langdon Ramsburg, Adam Santucci & Jen Will on
This morning the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Janus v. AFCSME , holding that requiring public sector employees to pay fair share fees to unions violates the First Amendment. As we discussed in our prior posts , a fair share fee (sometimes called an agency fee) is a fee that non-union members must…
Are the Handbook Police (Finally) Standing Down?
By Jen Will on
Posted in Workplace Trends
We have been talking about the National Labor Relations Board’s assault on Employee Handbooks, policies and rules for years now. Frankly, precious few of these posts have contained good news for employers. See for yourself!
Then, yesterday, in a 3-2 vote (split along party lines) a Republican majority overturned the NLRB’s 2004 Lutheran Heritage standard…
Another Attempt to Control Rising Pension Costs in Pennsylvania Thwarted
By Jen Will on
Posted in Public Employers, Unions
In City of Allentown, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the City to implement an interest arbitration award which contained (among modifications to wages, sick leave, vacation, pension and overtime) a minimum staffing requirement of 25 firefighters per shift.
As every public sector employer and practitioner knows, a municipality has no obligation to bargain with…
Even in Colorado, you can be fired for off-duty drug use
By Jen Will on
Posted in Employer Liability, Workplace Trends
Remember this one about the employee fired for legal drug use? How about this one? It seems that we have been talking more about the impact of legal marijuana use on employment since 2012, when voters in Colorado and Washington lit up (pun intended) the blogosphere, with their landmark votes to legalize its recreational use. …