Noncompete agreements used to be commonplace, particularly in employment sectors, but they have become increasingly rare in recent years. Employers historically have used noncompete and non-solicitation agreements to stop employees from competing with a company or soliciting that company’s customers for a specific period after they leave their employment. State legislative changes and court rulings have limited or Read More

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), sexual harassment complaints made up about 35% of all complaints received by the agency between 2018 and 2021. In addition, almost 80% of the complaints came from women. Sexual harassment may include unwanted sexual advances and unwelcome sexual commentary. It also may include conduct that denigrates or shows hostility to individuals or groups of Read More

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would alter the definition of when two employers doing business with one another become joint employers. This definition is important because it determines when one employer is liable for the other employer’s unfair labor practices. Joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) both must bargain with the Read More

Five years ago, a tweet by actress Alyssa Milano went viral, leading women worldwide to use the now-familiar hashtag: #MeToo. The rallying cry had begun against sexual misconduct, rape culture, and sexual harassment in the workplace. A recent survey by The Shift Workshop, a New York HR consultancy firm, found that over 50% of the nearly 1,700 respondents had dealt with sexual harassment over the past 12 months. As a Read More

Although employee handbooks are not a legal requirement, they are a useful tool for employers to communicate policies, procedures, and expectations to new and existing employees. For multistate and international employers, creating a universal employee handbook can be very challenging due to the need to comply with all the local, state, federal, and international laws applicable to the jurisdictions in which the Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a unanimous unpublished opinion affirming an award of over $172,000 in attorney fees and costs to a former employee of the Alabama Department of Transportation in a race bias case. The appellate court upheld the trial court's decision because an Alabama jury found that race was a motivating factor in the employee's termination, even though the employer could Read More

Recent changes in state and federal laws have affected an individual's ability to carry firearms in public and the workplace. These changes should prompt all employers to review their policies on guns in the workplace, with the overall goal of balancing individuals' gun rights with maintaining a safe workplace.  Federal Gun Laws Employers have a legal duty to maintain a safe work environment for their workers Read More

ADP Inc., a payroll processing business, has filed a motion asking a Florida federal court judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by ex-ADP manager David Schwartz. Alternatively, ADP is asking the court to enter a default judgment in its favor, based on allegations that Schwartz deleted crucial evidence on a company iPad. ADP is requesting a jury instruction in any trial that may occur that any deleted evidence was Read More

Companies that are planning mass layoffs or reductions in force (RIF) must comply with the often-complex requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. Many states and even municipalities have enacted their own "mini-WARN Acts" that may impose different or additional requirements on employers who intend to conduct layoffs. The Federal WARN Act  The WARN Act requires covered Read More

Employers can make themselves vulnerable to liability when they lay off employees under such legislation as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), state versions of the WARN Act, and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). Fortunately, employers can take various steps to minimize this type of liability when they conduct layoffs.  Layoff Procedures to Follow First, employers Read More