Title VII
Although federal law does not directly prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation, a recent decision from the Southern District Court of Florida illustrates how an employee may be able to state a claim under Title VII for discrimination based upon sexual orientation if the alleged discriminatory conduct was based upon the employee’s failure [...]
Hiring Interns
The current economic situation in this country has led to an increase in the use of unpaid internships by companies, especially unpaid internships for young people who have been hit particularly hard by unemployment. However, employers need to be extra careful in this regard since the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently announced [...]
HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption
In conjunction with the recently-passed Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (“HIRE”) Act, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) just issued a form Employee Affidavit that employers can use to claim a payroll tax exemption. You can view and print out the form affidavit at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw11.pdf
As we detailed in our earlier posting [...]
The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District ruling
In order to ensure that an employer gets the full benefit of the restrictive time period in its non-competition, non-disclosure or non-solicitation agreements, employers in Illinois should make sure that such agreements contain “extension clauses.” An extension clause states that the time period of the restrictive [...]
Illinois General Assembly considers Illinois Not to Compete Act
Illinois businesses should be aware that Illinois House Bill 4923 would radically alter the law regarding non-competition agreements in Illinois by creating the Illinois Not to Compete Act. This Act would restrict the enforceability of non-competition agreements in several key respects and create numerous rebuttable presumptions [...]
U.S. Senate passes HIRE Act
News reports say that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expects the House will soon consider the Senate-passed $15 billion jobs bill (H.R. 2847), known as the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, that passed the Senate by a 70-28 vote on Feb. 24. The bill passed by the Senate and [...]
Employment Contact being signed by the employee
The legal landscape regarding the use of independent contractors has dramatically changed over the past several years. For decades, employers’ use of independent contractors was not only rarely challenged, but it was also a way they could save significantly on labor and other costs associated with hiring employees. [...]
Legislative Update: Employment Non-Discrimination Act
ENDA
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would create federal protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The first version of the bill was introduced in 1994. The latest version, introduced in June 2009, is currently in committee. The House Education and Labor Committee held a full committee [...]
A New Law Prevents Defense Contractors from Arbitrating Employment Disputes with Employees and Subcontractors
On December 19, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. In this $63 billion spending measure is a provision, known as the “Franken Amendment” because it was originally introduced by Senator Al Franken of [...]
Social Media in the Workplace
As an attorney working with companies whose employees use social media on a daily basis I have observed that companies often react after problems occur instead of dealing with new technology proactively through sensible employee policies. Whether employees are twittering, texting, facebooking, or blogging, employee handbooks may now need social [...]