Employee Relations Insight

The White House announced Tuesday that it would help pay medical bills for early retirees who have health insurance provided by their former employers. Under the program, the federal government can reimburse employers for 80 percent of the cost of claims from $15,000 to $90,000 a year for a retired worker who is 55 or [...]

Effective July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage increases to $7.25 per hour. This is the last increase required by the 2007 Minimum Wage Act. Employers of covered employees must post a notice that describes, among other things, employees’ minimum wage rights. A link for posters is available below, under “Resources.” Note that the U.S. [...]

The Employee Free Choice Act is a bill that was drafted when it had no chance of moving successfully through Congress. It sought to eliminate union elections by allowing unions unlimited time to campaign and then requiring employers to accept the union if sufficient numbers of employees expressed interest. The Bill’s supporters argued that eliminating [...]

On July 15, 2009, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued updated and comprehensive guidance on the issue of employee waivers of discrimination claims contained in severance agreements. Although the recent guidance is directed to employees, it contains valuable information for management, as well. The document addresses, among other topics, the requirements of the Older [...]

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act has been amended to add two types of required leaves of absence. The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (“N.D.A.A.”) amends the F.M.L.A. to provide a new 26 week leave to care for a family member who is in the military and is undergoing treatment or is temporarily disabled due to a serious injury or illness. The N.D.A.A. also extends the familiar 12 week leave to care for a family member who has experienced an as-yet-undefined “qualifying exigency.”

Minnesota’s highest court has issued its opinion in Lee v. Fresenius Medical Care, Inc. This case addresses the question of whether an employer can attach conditions to an employee’s being paid for accrued but unused vacation leave.

An increasing amount of an organization’s information is recorded electronically. Electronically stored data is as important as any other form of information to assessing, pursuing, or defending employment claims. There are, however, some unique legal issues that arise due to the specific nature of electronic data. In an effort to manage the production and use [...]

Covered employers are not required to resurvey their workforces pursuant to the revised ethnic and racial categories until the reporting period ending September 30, 2008, one year past the original effective date. Other aspects of the revised EEO-1 procedure continue to take effect with the close of the 2007 reporting period.