The Administrative Task Force plays a critical role in keeping our OSHA practice current and vibrant. We follow developments daily and we work together to analyze the impact that proposed and actual changes will have on the law in general and specifically on our client’s industries. Employers today face an unprecedented range of workplace safety and OSHA legal issues as government increases worker safety and health regulation and demands meticulous reviews by its OSHA inspection force. Hunton & Williams LLP attorneys have experience handling both state and federal OSHA matters, covering the wide spectrum of legal issues arising in this context.
In a decision issued last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that gender-derogatory words and conduct that are either severe or pervasive may state a claim of a hostile work environment, even when the words at issue are not directed specifically at the plaintiff. Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., 11th Cir. (en banc), No. 07-10270, January 20, 2010.
Continue Reading...On Tuesday, February 4th, the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (“HELP”) Committee called a rare hearing to question Craig Becker, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). While Becker was approved by the HELP Committee last year in a 15-8 vote, Arizona Senator John McCain (R.) placed a hold on his nomination, keeping a Senate vote from taking place. Therefore, the White House resubmitted his nomination and the Committee voted on Becker again yesterday, before a confirmation vote in the full Senate.
Continue Reading...A recent decision out of the Pennsylvania courts is a caution to employers who are required to produce employee personnel information in responding to court or agency proceedings. Jane Doe v. Wyoming Valley Health Care System, Inc., (PA Super., December 18, 2009) raised the issue of how much privacy employees can expect in the information provided to their employers and kept in their company personnel files.
Continue Reading...Companies doing business in California should note that, on November 23, 2009, the Chief Counsel of the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE”) issued an Opinion Letter on behalf of Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet, in which the DLSE modified its position on the issue of making deductions from vacation and sick leave balances accrued by exempt employees for the purpose of covering partial-day absences. The Opinion Letter brings California law more in line with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act regarding the “salary basis test” and deductions from exempt employee paid time-off accounts for partial-day absences.
Continue Reading...As a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit makes clear, the fact that an employer prevailed against an employee’s Sarbanes-Oxley claim in an administrative proceeding cannot be used to bar a new trial of the claim in federal court. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed a former employee’s SOX lawsuit on the ground that it was precluded by an administrative law judge’s granting of the employer’s motion for summary decision. The Court of Appeals, in a ruling of first impression, held that the lower court erred and vacated its dismissal in Stone v. Instrumentation Lab Co., 4th Cir., No. 08-1970, 12/31/09.
Continue Reading...Late last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its numbers concerning the levels of union membership in 2009. As in past years, the number of union members in the private sector has declined, now down to 7.2% from 7.6% in 2008. In December 2009, the NLRB's General Counsel released the Agency's numbers regarding the number of initial union representation elections in FY 2009. Once again, the number of elections initiated by unions has declined, this time by a whopping 19% in just one year.
Continue Reading...The EEOC reported that workplace discrimination charges reached near-record highs in 2009. According to the EEOC, there were 93,277 charges filed in fiscal year 2009 -- the second-highest level in its history.
Continue Reading...A recent decision from the California Supreme Court has provided a rare victory for companies with employees in that state. In Schachter v. Citigroup, Inc., the Court ruled that a forfeiture provision in an employee incentive compensation plan did not violate California wage laws.
Continue Reading...The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which provides premium reductions for health benefits under COBRA, was recently amended by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (2010 DOD Act). Under this new legislation, those involuntarily terminated through February 28, 2010, a change from the prior cut-off of December 31, 2009, are entitled to COBRA continuation assistance. Furthermore, the legislation extended the length of that assistance to 15 months from 9 months.
Continue Reading...A recent decision of the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia has cast doubt on the view that employees have no reasonable expectation of privacy in work email accounts. Specifically, in Convertino v. United States Department of Justice, Judge Royce C. Lamberth held that an employee’s communications with his attorney, sent to and received on the employee’s work email account, were protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege, even though the employer regularly accessed and saved such email communications.
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