National Labor Relations Board: Employees May Use Employer’s Email System for Protected Communications
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) held in a 3-2 decision last month that employees who are given access for work purposes to their employer’s email system are presumptively permitted to use that system to engage in communications protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).
Supreme Court: Wait-Time for Security Screening not Compensable under the FLSA
The Supreme Court held in a 9-0 decision this week that employees who were required to pass through anti-theft security screenings at the end of each work day were not owed for the time spent waiting in line, emptying their pockets, and passing through metal detectors, because that time was not compensable...
Missouri Supreme Court: At-Will Employment Not Sufficient Consideration for Arbitration Agreement
The Supreme Court of Missouri’s primary holding in a 4-3 decision last week in Baker v. Bristol Care, Inc., is that continuing at-will employment does not constitute consideration to make an arbitration agreement enforceable. This holding may negatively impact some Missouri employers’ ability to enforce current arbitration agreements with...
Joint Employer Status with Temporary Employment Agency Under Missouri’s Minimum Wage Law
In Tolentino v. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., the Supreme Court of Missouri held that an employer that contracts to receive employees from a temporary employment agency (“temporary agency”) may be held liable as a joint employer with that temporary agency for the temporary agency’s violation of...
Requiring Employees to be “Positive and Professional” May Be Unlawful
On April 1, 2014, a panel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) held that an employer’s policy that, among other things, required employees to “represent [the employer] in the community in a positive and professional manner in every opportunity” is unlawful. Hills and Dales General Hospital, 360 NLRB No. 70. The...
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) Case Settles for Over $100,000
In what it hails as the “first systemic case” under GINA, which was enacted in 2008, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it settled a case against a nursing and rehabilitation center that allegedly illegally asked applicants for family medical history as part of a post-offer pre-employment medical examination. See EEOC...
EEOC Statistics Fiscal Year 2013
The EEOC recently issued its Fiscal Year 2013 statistics, which show that it received 93,727 charges of discrimination, which is a decrease from prior years, but still is one of the five highest years in terms of number of charges filed. Once again, retaliation accounted for the most charges, followed by race, sex...