July 2025

Supreme Court Bars Retiree’s ADA Discrimination Claim over Benefits

A retiree was barred by the Supreme Court from suing over retirement health benefits for alleged discrimination under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the court’s June 20 ruling in Stanley v. City of Sanford, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that “judicial innovations” extending anti-discrimination protections to retirees “might ‘create perverse incentives’ by encouraging employers to reduce retirement health care benefits for people with disabilities.

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June 2025

How to Handle a Reasonable Accommodation Request.

When an employee gives notice that they are having difficulty completing their work due to a medical condition or some disability, they could be asking for a reasonable accommodation. These requests should be treated seriously, with care, and in compliance with federal and state laws.

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May 2025

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCING SIEZURES AT WORK LOSES ADA CLAIM

A utility employee with more than 30 years of service began suffering from seizures after years of difficult physical duties that required significant overtime. As a result, his employer forced him to resign. The court sympathized with the employee, but it found that he could not prove disability discrimination when he posed a direct threat to the safety of others and himself.

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April 2025

What Employers Need to Know About Pregnancy Discrimination and Accommodations

Federal employment laws prohibit discrimination against and require accommodations for job applicants and employees due to pregnancy, childbirth, lactation or related medical conditions.

Several federal laws address discrimination connected to pregnancy. These laws do not pre-empt state or local laws that provide greater protections.

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March 2025

What happens when an employee on FMLA fails to pay their share of group health plan premiums?

FMLA requires a covered employer to maintain an employee’s coverage under its group health plan on the same basis as would have been provided if the employee had been continuously employed during the entire FMLA leave period. However, an employer may terminate an employee’s coverage during FMLA if the employee’s premiums are paid late, provided certain rules are strictly followed.

February 2025

Employee Handbook Reviews

The employee handbook is a very important tool for communicating company policies and expectations to your employees. Handbooks also help to ensure that staff and management are aligned with company  guidelines.

Handbook reviews help ensure everything is up to date and help keep your company compliant and ensure your employees receive correct information.

January 2025

DOL WITHDRAWS TIPPED-WAGE RULE

On December 17th, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) withdrew a tipped-wage rule that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had vacated in August 2024 that governed how tipped employees must be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Withdrawn Rule

The vacated, and now withdrawn, 2021 rule, called the “80/20/30 rule,” had identified three categories of work:

December 2024

Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule Struck Down

On November 15, 2024, a Texas federal court vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule increasing the salary thresholds for the “white collar” overtime exemptions. This ruling applies nationwide. In its decision, the Court found that the DOL exceeded its authority by attempting to raise the minimum salary for the executive, administrative, or professional and highly compensated employee exemptions under the FLSA. 

November 2024

Proposed Rule Requires Insurers to Cover Over-the-Counter Birth Control

Last week, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would require insurers to cover over-the-counter (OTC) birth control, including oral contraceptives, condoms, and emergency contraception, at no cost to patients with private insurance.

September 2024

FTC’S BAN ON NONCOMPETES SET ASIDE

On August 20th, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) proposed ban on most noncompete agreements. This means the rule will not be enforced or take effect on September 4th as intended.

August 2024

Jury awards $22.1 million to Wells Fargo employee laid off after ‘work from home’
accommodation request
On Friday, July 26, 2024, a jury in the case, Billesdon vs. Wells Fargo Securities, Inc., awarded a
former managing director $22.1 million after he alleged he was laid off after making a work from
home disability accommodation.

July 2024

OVERTIME RULE-FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

The standard salary threshold for the overtime rule has a minimum weekly amount, which the new rule has raised. This amount currently is $684 per week. It is set to rise to $844 on July 1st and $1,128 on January 1, 2025, then increase again by an as-yet-to-be-determined amount July 1, 2027, and every three years after.

June 2024

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) final implementation rule is set to take effect on June 18, almost a year after the law first took effect. While a lawsuit has been brought by 19 states against the regulation, 23 other states recently filed a brief in its defense. The controversy stems from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) definition of the term “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions” as including abortion.

April 2024

When an employee makes an informal or formal complaint, the employer should take immediate steps to stop the alleged conflict, protect involved parties and begin investigations. Under many laws (e.g., Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, state and local nondiscrimination laws), employers are legally obligated to investigate complaints (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, safety and ethical) in a timely manner.

March 2024

The plaintiff worked as a science teacher since 2004. She suffers from a number of medical conditions, including migraines, intracranial hypertension, affective disorder, vertigo and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These conditions, together with medication that she takes to control them, adversely effects her major life activities. Smithson has problems with balance; experiences difficulty walking and driving; has breathing problems; and experiences impaired vision, speech and memory.

February 2024

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to disclose his recent hospitalization has triggered an uproar in Washington, D.C. and in workplaces beyond the capital city. Experts have said employees should be prepared to disclose basic information about their own hospitalizations, for their own protection.

January 2024

Potential leave entitlement doesn't end with the exhaustion of 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) but may be extended for a specified period of time under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so long as that doesn't result in an undue hardship on the employer. ADA and FMLA obligations should be coordinated, including health insurance and return to work.

December 2023

The short interval between an employee's request for a medical accommodation and his termination was sufficient to show causation in the early stages of his discrimination and retaliation claims, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. The court also held that a jury could reasonably conclude from the evidence that the employer's reasons for firing the employee were a pretext crafted after having already decided to terminate him because of his accommodation request.

November 2023

The new Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, originally released on August 1, 2023, is now mandatory for all new hires, effective November 1, 2023. The enactment of the new form contained a grace period, during which employers could continue to use the new form or the old form, dated 10/21/2019, until October 31, 2023.

October 2023

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined a deaf employee could proceed to trial under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over an employer's failure to provide text message summaries of safety meetings and an interpreter at a disciplinary hearing as accommodations.

August 2023

Your employee handbook is an important document. Not only does it help employees understand company policies, promote solid company-employee communication and set a consistent standard of expectations, but it can also have serious legal ramifications.

July 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that employers can only deny an employee's request for a religious accommodation under federal law if they can prove it would result in substantial increased costs for the business.

June 2023

For 2024, individuals with a high deductible health plan (HDHP) will have an HSA contribution limit of $4,150. The HSA contribution limit for family coverage will be $8,300. Those amounts are about a 7% increase over what you can contribute this year for 2023. 

April 2023 Newsletter

In February of this year, the Internal Revenue Service released final rules expanding mandatory electronic filing requirements for certain employer tax...

March 2023

Employers often misunderstand the Family and Medical Leave Act's (FMLA's) definition of an employee who is eligible for FMLA leave, and they can't figure out...

November 7, 2022

While grounds for immediate dismissal vary from employer to employer, violations of certain policies can lead to an employee's quick exit...

October 10, 2022

Employers are required to retain important employee documents including government forms, sensitive employee information...

September 12, 2022

SERVICE ANIMALS AND THE WORKPLACE Approximately two and a half years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a...

August 15, 2022

An Employer’s Guide to Handling Worker’s Compensation Claims Here are the standard steps to for employers to use when administering a...

July 13, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that its proposed overtime rule is now tentatively slated to be released in...

June 7, 2022

COBRA Administration COBRA administration can be handled by either the employer or a third-party administrator, but as the legal obligation...

May 9, 2022

Common FMLA Mistakes Many employers have learned the hard way that common mistakes by untrained HR and people managers...

April 11, 2022

The Americans with Disabilities Act. What is the “interactive process?” During the interactive process—a discussion about an applicant's or employee's...

March 14, 2022

Is part-time work a reasonable accommodation under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)? According to a recent ruling made...