AT&T Connecticut and the Communications Workers of America were embroiled in bitter contract negotiations in 2009. Among other efforts to let the public know about the dispute, employees, many of whom had to go into customers’ homes, began wearing shirts that said “Inmate” on the front with a black box underneath the lettering. The back
July 2015
EEOC Says Sexual Orientation Is Protected Under Title VII!
So I’ve noticed that the EEOC likes to adopt major policy shifts in sneaky ways. For example, when the EEOC first decided that pregnancy-related impairments may be disabilities under the amended Americans with Disabilities Act, it didn’t put in the revised regulations, but slid it into the Q&A document on the revised regulations. When the…
The DOL Issues Guidance on Independent Contractors
So the Department of Labor is on a mission to extend the reach of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Following on the heels of the proposed overtime regulations, in which the DOL is seeking to expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay (and thereby increase their income – at least theoretically), the DOL…
Same Sex Marriage in the Workplace
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which it held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, made headlines. This decision has a practical impact on employers – particularly on those with operations in states that to date had not recognized the validity of same-sex marriages.
There are a…
Concerns About the Proposed Overtime Rules
So, after many months of anticipation, I found the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rules oddly disappointing. This was supposed to be a major overhaul of the regulations governing which employees would be exempt from the requirement to pay overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The current regulations set forth three…