Articles by Girish Anand

January 29, 2019

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The Past Is Prologue for the NLRB and Independent Contractors

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has returned to its longstanding independent-contractor standard, reaffirming the board’s adherence to the traditional common law test. In doing so, the board clarified the role entrepreneurial opportunity plays in its determination of independent-contractor status, as the D.C. Circuit has recognized. The case, SuperShuttle DFW, Inc., involved shutt...

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No ADEA Protection for Job Applicants

January 29, 2019

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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting en banc to review an earlier three-judge panel's decision, has ruled 8-4 that the provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) do not cover job applicants, only those with "status as an employee."The Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago, seat of the 7th Circuit Court...

Association Health Plans on the Brink of Extinction

January 27, 2019

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U.S. District Judge John Bates A George W. Bush-appointed federal judge seems poised to put the kibosh on the Trump administration's initiative to widen the use of association health plans (AHPs) by allowing for multi-state and multi-employer AHPs, something not allowed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare)....

January 25, 2019

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OSHA Eliminates Electronic Reporting Rule for Large Employers

In a final rule published today in the Federal Register, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has axed the Obama-era electronic reporting of injury and illness data by employers with 250 or more employees. The final rule applies only to OSHA Forms 300 and 301. Form 300A must still be filed electronically by all covered employers. The rule states: Elimination of the re...

Minor Leaguers Challenge Minimum Wage Exemption

January 24, 2019

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Major League Baseball (MLB), which last year got Congress to pass a measure exempting major leaguers from the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) during the regular season, is now lobbying Arizona legislators for equal protection from the law for spring training ballplayers. The federal law -- dubbed Save America's Pastime Act -- was buried on page 1,967 of the 2,232-page spen...

Oracle Shorted Its Workers $400M, DOL Alleges

January 24, 2019

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The Department of Labor (DOL) has revised a lawsuit against Oracle it filed in 2017 to now claim that the tech company underpaid its employees by some $400 million over a four-year period, while at the same time discriminating against females and Asians (who make up the bulk of its workforce). The department began investigating Oracle in 2014. In its compliant DOL alleges that Oracle created...

January 24, 2019

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OSHA Fines Increase Today

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is not part of the partial government shutdown, is raising its violation penalties today in accordance with the Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. The unfunded Department of the Federal Register was able to publish the new fines yesterday, so that they can go into effect today. The 2019 maximum penalties are as follows...

January 23, 2019

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Government Shutdown May Force Delay in EEO-1 Reporting

Nominally due March 31 (though it was delayed in 2018), the Employer Information Report EEO-1 could face delays this year since the team responsible for the portal and the whole reporting process is on furlough while the federal government faces a partial shutdown. The EEO-1 Report is a compliance survey mandated by federal statute and regulations. The survey requires company employment data...

January 18, 2019

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Ouch! Hotel on Hook for $21.5 Million for Religious Discrimination

A jury has awarded $21.5 million* in damages and front and back pay after finding the plaintiff, a former dishwasher and housekeeper for the Conrad Hotel in Miami, suffered religious discrimination. Marie Jean Pierre, a devout member of the Soldiers of Christ Church, told her employer when she started that her religious beliefs required that she not work on Sundays. For a few years, this req...

January 16, 2019

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NLRB Targets Concerted Activity Definition

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), now with a 3-1 Republican majority, is seeking to limit the uses of the "protected concerted activity" clause of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In a decision rendered Jan. 11, the majority members noted that, through the years, previous boards have "blurred the distinction between protected group action and unprotected individual action." ...

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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

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Articles by Girish Anand