Arnstein & Lehr will continue to update employers on whether they have any obligation to post the notice as these appeals progress. Let us know if you have any questions about how the notice posting rule or any other action by the Board may impact your business.

Lori Adelson

Arnstein & Lehr Fort Lauderdale Partner Lori Adelson was quoted in a March 21 article in The Business Insider. The article, “9 Common Interview Questions That Are Actually Illegal,” discusses illegal questions asked during job interviews. Lori was cited as the sole expert and listed nine of the common illegal questions asked during an interview that are often mistaken as appropriate.

To read the article in full, please click here.

Excluded from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act are public-sector employees, agriculturaland domestic workers, independent contractors, workers employed by a parent or spouse, employees of air and rail carriers covered by the Railway LaborAct, and supervisors (although supervisors that have been discriminated against for refusing to violate the NLRA may be covered).

Lori Adelson

Judge Jackson refused to delay the posting requirements pending an appeal of the decision, reasoning that the NLRB’s rule simply notifies employees of rights that they are already guaranteed under the NLRA, and that increasing employee awareness cannot be deemed “irreparable harm” to employers. The poster may be found at the NLRB website: https://www.nlrb.gov/poster.

2012 Employment Law Toolkit for Illinois Employers

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Jason Tremblay’s recently published the 2012 edition of the handbook, Employment Law Toolkit for Illinois Employers, is now available. The handbook is a comprehensive resource highlighting the significant employment and labor issues facing Illinois employers. It provides practical and cost-effective advice on avoiding employment and labor-related liability and complying with state and federal laws facing employers.

To learn more about the 2012 Employment Law Toolkit for Illinois Employers and order your copy, please click here.

E. Jason Tremblay

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Jason Tremblay was interviewed in the article “Face Recognition Technology Might Get Employers in Trouble,” which appeared online in Society for Human Resource Management’s technology section on February 27. In the article, Mr. Tremblay discusses the broad implications and uses of facial-recognition software in the workplace for the hiring process. He offers cautions for companies bent on using the technology for broader purposes.

To read the article in its entirety, please click here.

Charles W. Pautsch

Arnstein & Lehr Milwaukee Partner Charles W. Pautsch‘s article “Buying A US Business With A Labour Contract: Opportunities For The Wise And Traps For The Unwary” currently appears online at Financier Worldwide magazine’s website. His article addresses the challenges presented to a foreign or domestic purchaser who is considering buying an American business that has had a history of labor problems with its incumbent union. To read Mr. Pautsch’s article, please click here.

Financier Worldwide is a monthly publication providing financial insight and analysis to a unique audience of dealmakers responsible for structuring, negotiating and executing sophisticated business transactions. It targets senior corporate executives charged with financing and deal making strategies, senior members of in-house legal teams, corporate bankers and financiers, private equity and institutional investors and other legal and financial experts involved in M&A and corporate finance matters.

Jesse Dill

Charles Pautsch

On February 21, 2012, the Wisconsin Assembly completed the final legislative steps in eliminating the availability of compensatory and punitive damages for violations of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act. The bill, passed last November by the Wisconsin Senate as Senate Bill 202, repeals a law from 2009 that created the availability of such damages for discrimination, unfair honesty testing, or unfair genetic testing claims. The Wisconsin Assembly concurred with Senate Bill 202 on party lines, moving the bill to the Governor’s desk for approval. Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill into law.

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act protects applicants and employees from discrimination on the basis of age, ancestry, arrest record, color, conviction record, creed, disability, genetic testing, honesty testing, marital status, military service, national origin, pregnancy or childbirth, race, sex, sexual orientation, and use or nonuse of lawful products off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours. When a complainant raises a claim of discrimination with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development based on one of these protected class statuses, that individual can receive back pay, reinstatement, costs, and attorneys’ fees as part of the administrative process remedy. Under current law, a complainant who is successful in alleging a violation of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act through the administrative process may also then recover compensatory and punitive damages through an action brought in a Wisconsin circuit court. For an employer in Wisconsin with over 500 employees, these damages could be ordered up to $300,000. Senate Bill 202 eliminates these compensatory and punitive damages available through a circuit court action and limits a complainant’s recovery to the damages available through the administrative process.

Arnstein & Lehr LLP attorneys are available to discuss these changes to the law and other questions employers may have about the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act.

Arnstein & Lehr attorneys Charles Pautsch and Jesse Dill contributed to this post.

E. Jason Tremblay

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Jason Tremblay authored the article titled “How to avoid defamation and reverse discrimination claims when investigating harassment,” which appeared in the February 22 edition of Inside Counsel. In the article, Mr. Tremblay explains that an employer must conduct its investigation in the most confidential manner possible and be extremely careful about how it characterizes the harassing employee to reduce their potential liability. Also, an employer’s disciplinary measures of its harassing employee should always be uniformly administered and readily justifiable.

To read the article in full, please click here.

E. Jason Tremblay

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Jason Tremblay will speak at the “Employment Law for Businesses” seminars co-hosted by Arnstein & Lehr. The 4-part seminar series covers topics on  employment laws, pitfalls facing employers and easy steps to reduce liability and protect your business. The seminars will take place in Arnstein & Lehr’s Chicago office and by teleconference in March, April, June and July. The first seminar will be March 14 and is titled “Independent Contractor v. Employee: Why it matters and what you can do about it.”

To find out more information about the seminars, please click here.

Lori Adelson

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement recent statutory amendments to the Family Medical and Leave Act contained in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

The proposed changes affect military servicemember leave and include new provisions for certain airline employees, who would otherwise be ineligible for leave. According to the DOL, the proposed regulations cover the following:

• a flexible, three-part definition for serious injury or illness of a veteran;
• the extension of military caregiver leave to eligible family members of recent veterans with a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty;
• the extension of military caregiver leave to cover serious injuries or illnesses for both current servicemembers and veterans that result from the aggravation during military service of a preexisting condition;
• the extension of qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees with covered family members serving in the Regular Armed Forces;
• inclusion of a foreign deployment requirement for qualifying exigency leave for the deployment of all servicemembers (National Guard, Reserves, Regular Armed Forces);
• the addition of a special hours of service eligibility requirement for airline flight crew employees; and
• the addition of specific provisions for calculating the amount of FMLA leave used by airline flight crew employees.

The DOL has created a web page containing links to the proposal, fact sheets, and more here.

Employers may comment on the draft regulations before April 16, 2012. For details on how to comment, see the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here.