Tyler S. Laughinghouse

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On March 25, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed into law new protections for employees related to the medicinal use of cannabis oil.  Effective July 1, 2021, the newly enacted law will prohibit employers from disciplining, discharging, or discriminating against an employee for his or her lawful use of cannabis oil so long as the use is pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a health care practitioner for the treatment of the employee’s diagnosed condition or disease.…
Continue Reading Virginia Enacts Employment Protections For Medical Use of Cannabis Oil

Last month, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York invalidated portions of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule on joint employment, holding that parts of the Final Rule conflicted with the statutory language of the FLSA and chiding the DOL for failing to adequately explain why the Final Rule departed from the DOL’s own prior interpretations.…
Continue Reading Court Invalidates DOL’s Final Rule On Joint Employment Under The FLSA

On August 3, 2020, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York struck down portions of the DOL’s Final Rule regarding who qualifies for COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, collectively referred to at the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Of particular importance to employers, the Court invalidated two provisions of the DOL’s Final Rule pertaining to: (1) conditioning leave on the availability of work and (2) the need to obtain employer consent prior to taking leave on an intermittent basis.…
Continue Reading Federal Court Strikes Down Portions of Department of Labor’s Final Rule On COVID-19 Leave, Expands Coverage

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on an employee’s sexual orientation and/or transgendered status. …
Continue Reading BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Title VII Protects LGBTQ Employees

Virginia has enacted several new labor and employment laws that are poised to dramatically change the legal landscape for employers in Virginia, including enacting “ban the box” legislation for simple possession of marijuana. …
Continue Reading Virginia Enacts “Ban the Box” Legislation for Marijuana Possession Arrests, Charges, and Convictions

In a recent decision of first impression, the NLRB held that its contract coverage doctrine does not apply to changes to the terms and conditions of employment after the expiration of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, unless the contract contained explicit language that the relevant provision would survive contract expiration. …
Continue Reading NLRB: Employer Right to Take Unilateral Action Under a Collective-Bargaining Agreement Does Not Survive the Expiration of the Agreement Absent Explicit Language to the Contrary

The Seventh Circuit recently held that district courts should not send court-authorized notice of pending FLSA collective actions to employees who are party to a mandatory arbitration agreement.…
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit: Employees Covered by Arbitration Agreements Should Not Receive Notice of Pending FLSA Collective Actions

As we have previously reported, courts and the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) have released a number of recent decisions favoring the enforceability of arbitration agreements in the employment context. It is now settled law that class-action waivers in arbitration agreements do not violate the National Labor Relations Act or infringe on employees’ Section 7 rights under the Act.  In a recent decision, the NLRB extended this holding to allow employers to implement arbitration programs—including those with class-action waivers—in direct response to litigation by its employees.

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Continue Reading NLRB Allows Employers To Implement Mandatory Arbitration Programs In Direct Response To Being Sued

On September 20, 2019, the NLRB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to exclude undergraduate and graduate students who perform paid work for private colleges and universities in connection with their studies from the definition of employee under the National Labor Relations Act.  The proposed rule would prevent undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants from unionizing or collectively organizing.…
Continue Reading NLRB Issues Proposed Rule That Grad Students Cannot Unionize