On March 25, the Department of Homeland Security announced its intent to terminate the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole program in 30 days (April 24). The Biden-era CHNV program granted certain individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela lawful, non-citizen status allowing them to be present in the US for designated terms. Many
Now more than ever, it seems that employees are willing to express themselves. While open communication with and among employees is usually a good thing, sometimes an employer’s rules are broken in the process. A worker might call her supervisor a nasty name while complaining about her production team’s overtime assignments. An employee could use
No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. You read that correctly. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently affirmed a ruling by the NLRB which found an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act when it fired an employee who wrote a vulgar phrase on an overtime sign-up sheet. But, the
Many employers require their workers to sign arbitration agreements at the outset of employment, and it’s no wonder why. These agreements allow employers to require arbitration of many employment-related disputes, rather than participate in lengthy, expensive lawsuits.
On February 10, 2022, the United States Senate passed a bill that will prohibit this practice with respect
As legitimate unemployment compensation claims have spiked in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so too have fraudulent ones. Just yesterday, Maryland’s Department of Labor announced that the state has detected over 508,000 new, potentially fraudulent unemployment claims since May 1, 2021. Last year, a $650million unemployment fraud scheme rocked Washington state. In April 2021,
Nearly one month after Pennsylvania shut down in March to slow the spread of COVID-19, Governor Wolf announced a three-phase plan to reopen the Commonwealth. Counties were to be classified in to red, yellow, and green phases with each step carrying progressively easing restrictions. As more counties approach the least-restrictive green phase, employers should consider
On March 19, Governor Wolf announced that non-life sustaining businesses would be required to close their physical locations in Pennsylvania by 8:00 p.m. that evening. As part of the order, the Administration published a list of life sustaining and non-life sustaining businesses. The measure was implemented to inhibit the spread of COVID-19 and enforcement was
COVID-19’s impact on workplace matters continues to broaden. The National Labor Relations Board, which has jurisdiction over most private sector employers, announced on Thursday that all union elections within its purview are suspended for two weeks. Importantly, the suspension applies to both in-person and mail-in voting.
The Board implemented the freeze due to concerns over
In 2014, the NLRB held in Purple Communications that employers must allow their employees to use company email systems to engage in union activities and other protected conduct under the National Labor Relations Act. Last year, we reported that the NLRB was set to re-examine the controversial Purple Communications decision. The Board did just that
In a key decision for many franchisors and franchisees, and others who rely on independent contractors, the National Labor Relations Board recently reinstated its test for examining contractor status. In 2014, the Obama-era NLRB, in a case involving Fed Ex delivery drivers, “refined” its test for examining contractor status. The refinement was really a fundamental