Micah T. Saul

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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…

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 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…

Another Obama-era National Labor Relations Board policy may be on the ropes.  Four years ago, the Board issued its controversial Purple Communications decision.  In that case, it determined that employees have the right to use employers’ email systems to unionize and engage in other activities protected under the National Labor Relations Act. You can access…