The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (“ADAAA”) has created new liability concerns for employers since it was enacted a few years ago. Specifically, the ADAAA protects, among other persons, “qualified individuals with a disability” from unlawful discrimination or harassment. It further requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to such employees to enable them toperform essential job functions, with various exceptions ...
The Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”), the bill that would have altered the way in which unions are allowed to organize workers, was introduced in both chambers of the United States Congress on March 10, 2009 ...
Supporting OSHA’s aggressive semi-annual regulatory agenda, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Jordan Barab, recently warned a research symposium that, “despite what goes on in Congress, [OSHA] [has] absolutely no intention of pulling back or retreating.” Barab alerted attendees that OSHA’s regulatory agenda aims to extend enforcement beyond traditional manufacturing and construction sectors ...
A June ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has provided a bit of a relief for employers who face Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claims from employees. The Supreme Court's ruling in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 131 S.Ct. 1325, 1329, 179 L. Ed. 2d 379 (2011) represented a significant victory for employees, but now all is not lost for employers. In Maynor v. Dow, No. 10-40771, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 12759 (5th Cir ...
The Internal Revenue Service has proposed guidelines detailing how tax-exempt hospitals can conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), as required in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Although this new requirement is not effective until taxable years commencing after March 23, 2012, the IRS issued its guidance now because hospitals may choose to start the process of conducting CHNAs and implement strategies in advance of the effective date ...
On April 4, 2011, the Honourable Benoît Morin, speaking for the Court of Appeal, with Justices Michel Robert and Jacques A. Léger concurring, issued a judgment co nfirming the decision of the Superior Court rendered on April 22, 2009 by the Honourable Jean-Yves Lalonde. The case arose out of the bankruptcy of Stonehaven Country Club Resort & Spa L.P. (“Stonehaven”)(1) ; the Court had to rule on the validity of Investissement Québec’s claim against the bankrupt co mpany ...
Texas health care providers, health insurers and health clearinghouses face new mandates and increased penalties over the use of electronic health records (EHR) as a result of HB300, which was passed in the 2011 Texas legislative session and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. The Texas legislation expands privacy rights of patients beyond that contained in federal HIPAA legislation ...
On July 1, the Texas Supreme Court handed down an opinion that has the potential to impact any case where medical or health expenses are at issue. In the wake of the Court’s ruling, a plaintiff may not recover medical expenses for amounts that the plaintiff’s health providers bill but have no right to be paid. In addition, the Court held that such bills are inadmissible - including to show pain and suffering. Case Background and Issues Presented Haygood v ...
In April 2011, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule that could have a significant impact on employers that use a “tip credit” to satisfy their obligation to pay employees minimum wage. Although courts have generally required employers to notify employees of (but not explain) the tip credit, the new rule requires employers to provide very specific and detailed information regarding their use of the tip credit ...
On June 13, 2011, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 564 U.S. ___ (2011), holding that the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege does not apply to the United States government’s administration of Indian trusts ...
During the 2011 legislative session that just ended, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law a bill that allows rural hospitals to employ physicians, known as the “corporate practice of medicine,” despite the state’s long-standing ban on such practices. This legislation, along with similar recent legislation, signals that Texas might eventually do away with its ban on corporate employment of physicians altogether ...
Are you already using E-Verify for all of your new hires? If not, you will soon be required to. The North Carolina legislature passed "An Act to Require Counties, Cities and Employers to Use the Federal E-Verify Program to Verify the Work Authorization of Newly Hired Employees" (the "Act"), which was signed into law by Governor Beverly Perdue on June 23, 2011 ...
It's been a long time coming, but the EEOC has finally published the official regulations for Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). (Title I addresses non-discrimination in the context of health insurance, and regulations for that Title will be issued by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury.) GINA was originally enacted on May 21, 2008, by, President George W. Bush, and became effective November 21, 2009 ...
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”) was signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010. The Act was enacted to address many regulatory issues, including to promote financial stability in the United States “by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system,” “to end ‘too big to fail,’” and “to protect consumers from abusive financial services ...
On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, reversing a Court of Appeals decision that had affirmed certification of a nationwide class of 1.5 million female employees in a gender discrimination suit against Wal-Mart. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that class certification was improper because the named plaintiffs failed to satisfy the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ...
On June 16, 2011, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in Smith v. Bayer allowing a plaintiff to pursue class certification in a state court action after a federal court had denied certification in a substantially similar case. The Court held that it was improper for the federal court to enjoin the state proceeding under the “relitigation exception” of the Anti-Injunction Act because the issues were not identical and the state court plaintiff was not a party to the federal lawsuit ...
Contents * Foreign Reporting: a Costly Oversight, * The Act Respecting the Legal Publicity of Enterprises and Limited Partnerships: We Win, We Lose… Maybe! * What Should You Do When Tax Authorities Pay a Visit to Your Client? * Beware of Hybrid Sales Transactions Involving Assets and Shares! FOREIGN REPORTING: A COSTLY OVERSIGHT Pascale Blanchet [email protected] Luc Pariseau lpariseau@lavery ...
Employers are likely to let out a collective groan of exasperation over the recently launched consultation on shared, flexible parental leave and the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees ...
Employers are likely to let out a collective groan of exasperation over the recently launched consultation on shared, flexible parental leave and the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees ...
Recent cases in which employers have successfully defended their decisions to enforce dress and diversity policies against Christian employees have led to comments by Christian campaigners that there is "disproportionate animosity" towards the Christian faith in the UK courts ...
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that a failure by the transferor to provide the information required by Regulation 13 of TUPE does not render the transfer ineffective (Marcroft v Heartland). The underlying dispute in this case concerned the enforcement of restrictive covenants in Mr Marcroft's contract. He had been employed by PMI in its commercial insurance business ...
In Watson v University of Strathclyde, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the inclusion of a particular member of staff on a panel to hear an appeal against a grievance amounted to a fundamental breach of contract, so that the employee who had brought the grievance was constructively dismissed ...
It is well established that an employer who provides a reference owes the employee who is the subject of the reference a duty to take reasonable care in preparing the reference ...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that career-long compensation will only be awarded in cases where an employee has little to no prospect of ever finding an equivalent job. (Wardle v Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank). Mr Wardle, aged 44, brought a race discrimination claim against his employers, the French bank Credit Agricole, when a French candidate was awarded a promotion ahead of him ...
In a welcome decision for employers, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has considered the extent to which employment tribunals should investigate the employer's marking and scoring process in a redundancy procedure and held that detailed judicial scrutiny of the scores awarded in a redundancy process is inappropriate (Dabson v David Cover & Sons Ltd). Mr Dabson argued that he had been dismissed unfairly for redundancy ...
