Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

August 14, 2012

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FLSA Lawsuits Reach Record Level

According to just-released statistics, the number of wage-and-hour lawsuits based on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) reached record heights in the year ending March 31, 2012, with a total of 7,064 filed, up from 7,006 in the same reporting period a year earlier. The statistics were compiled from court data maintained by the Federal Judicial Center. Earlier this year, the Wage and Hour Divis...

August 13, 2012

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USCIS Says to Continue Using Current Form I-9 Past Expiration Date

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued an e-mail advising employers to continue using the soon-to-expire Form I-9 in verifying the employment eligibility and right to work in the United States of new hires. Months back, the USCIS announced it was revising its Form I-9 to incorporate user input but has now run smack up against an Aug. 31, 2012, expiration date ...

August 10, 2012

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ALJ Rules that Photocopies Don't Compensate for Incomplete Form I-9

An administrative law judge (ALJ), hearing an appeal on a Form I-9 fine issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has ruled that even when full supporting documents are copied and attached, an I-9 that is not completed properly can still be deemed a "substantial violation." Thus Four Seasons Earthworks, which sought the appeal and exoneration, is still liable for a "su...

August 9, 2012

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NLRB Appeals D.C. Court's Second Rejection of Quickie Election Rules

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed an appeal with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn an earlier district court decision that the board lacked a quorum when it passed what has come to be know as quickie election rules for union organizing. The appeal was filed on Aug. 7, 2012, and seeks to overturn the May 14 decision by the U.S. D...

August 7, 2012

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OSHA Steps Up Heat Stress Inspections

Though it has never released a heat standard, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) relies on the OSH Act's General Duty Clause to carry out heat-related inspections to insure that employers are providing plenty of water, rest and shade for affected workers during heat waves and other extremely hot periods. OSHA recently instructed its field inspectors "to expedite h...

August 6, 2012

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Jenny Yang Nominated to Fill Vacant Democratic EEOC Post

Jenny R. Yang has been nominated to fill the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) vacancy from the resignation of fellow Democrat Stuart Ishimoto earlier this summer. Following Congressional custom, the Senate isn't expected to take up her nomination until after the November elections. If confirmed, she would serve until July 1, 2017 Yang is a partner at the law firm Cohen Milstei...

August 5, 2012

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Illinois Becomes Second State to Ban Employers from Password Requests

Illinois on Aug. 1, 2012, became the second state behind Maryland to bar employers from asking job applicants and employees for passwords to their social media accounts. State legislatures have begun taking action on the social media front after reports surfaced that many employers, as part of vetting job applicants, were asking for passwords to the Facebook, Twitter and other social media acco...

August 3, 2012

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Surprise DOL Visits on the Uptick

According to a former Bush administration official (now a Washington, D.C. lawyer who follows enforcement trends), the Department of Labor (DOL) is conducting more surprise wage-and-hour investigations than at any time in the recent past. Afred J. Robinson Jr., who was acting administrator for the DOL's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) under George W. Bush, is now an attorney with Ogletree Deak...

August 2, 2012

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OSHA Ratchets Up Enforcement of Severe Violators Program

Since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in June 2010 announced a new emphasis on its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), the agency has nearly doubled the number of companies on its severe violators list. OSHA defines severe violators as those “employers who have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate...

July 31, 2012

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DC District Court Rejects NLRB's Appeal of Expedited Elections Ruling

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has rebuffed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in its appeal of the court's May 14 ruling that it lacked a quorum when it passed a rule for expedited union elections that took effect on April 30, but has since been suspended pending legal proceedings. The court in May ruled that only two members had actually voted for the rule: Ch...

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