Articles by Girish Anand

August 25, 2012

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EEOC Loses 'Frivolous' Lawsuit and Must Pay $140K in Attorneys' Fees

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court's summary dismissal of a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against a New Mexico firm and awarded the defendants $140, 571.62 in attorneys' fees. The EEOC was alleging a failure to accommodate for a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against TriCore Reference Laboratories, ...

August 23, 2012

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Wal-Mart Fails to Accommodate, Settles Lawsuit for $50,000

In a cautionary tale for all employers covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ACA), Wal-Mart is now on the hook for $50,000 and mandated internal reforms at a site where a manager refused to listen to a 22-year employee's request for a reasonable accommodation, instead demanding that she return to full duty. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in a lawsuit filed in ...

August 22, 2012

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Processing Time for Federal Government EEOC Complaints Improves

EEOC retaliation complains

Federal employees and applicants filed 16,974 complaints of employment discrimination in fiscal year 2011, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC's) “Annual Report on the Federal Work Force Part I: EEO Complaints Processing for Fiscal Year 2011.” The report assesses federal agencies’ equal employment opportunity compla...

August 20, 2012

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DOJ Reaches Settlement in I-9 Discrimination Case

Department of Justice Immigration and Nationality Act INA

Best Packing Services Employment Agency Inc. of Philadelphia will initiate internal reforms and award back wages of $4,379 to two persons whose employment was delayed by the company's misuse of the I-9 employment verification process, following a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which enforces immigration policies. The settlement invol...

August 20, 2012

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Drive-By, On-the-Spot OSHA Inspection Results in $154,400 Fine

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector driving by a construction site decided that what he saw didn't cut muster, so he dropped in for a surprise inspection. When he departed the firm, he left behind notice of a substantial fine to be paid. All in a day's work, evidently. What the inspector noticed from the street was that the residential construction site in ...

August 19, 2012

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EEOC Field Office Weighs In Against Gag Orders

Civil Rights Act Title VII

In a move parallel to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and its recent enforcement of Section 7 employee rights, the Buffalo field office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has warned an employer that it is a "flagrant" violation to prohibit employees from discussing among one another claims of harassment leveled by fellow employees. In a letter to the emplo...

August 16, 2012

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DOL to Continue Challenging Overtime-Exempt and Independent Contractor Arrangements

FLSA independent contractors overtime

Speaking before the American Bar Association (ABA) at its annual conference this month, Solicitor M. Patricia Smith of the Department of Labor (DOL) said that investigations of employment arrangements that incorrectly classify people as independent contractors, or otherwise make employees exempt from overtime pay, would continue in a cooperative effort with several states. Smith, who as labor s...

August 15, 2012

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Recent FLSA Overtime Settlement Outside of Court Definitely Not the Norm

DOL FLSA overtime

The Department of Labor (DOL) and the courts themselves have generally hewed to the ruling in the 1982 case of Lynn's Food Stores, Inc. v. the United States that the "substantive rights" afforded by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cannot be bargained or negotiated outside of court except by the DOL. Such "substantive rights" include the FLSA guarantee of time-a...

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 ...

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Girish Anand

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...

Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...

DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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Articles by Girish Anand