The National Labor Relations Board ended 2019 with a bang by reversing Obama-era case law on several fronts. NLRB Allows Employers to Limit Use of E-Mail and IT Systems to Business-Use Only In Caesars Entertainment, 368 NLRB No. 143 (2019), the Board overturned its 2014 holding in Purple Communications, Inc. that had allowed employees to use […]
read more2019 was an eventful year for the Washington legislature with respect to employment law matters. The Legislature enacted (and the Governor signed) important new laws on a range of subjects: pre-offer inquiries into wage or salary history, non-competition agreements, accommodating employees’ need to express breast milk, “panic buttons” for certain workers, and important amendments to the nascent Paid Family and Medical Leave law […]
read moreTo be exempt from overtime pay, an employee must (1) perform certain defined job duties (“the duties test”) and (2) be paid a fixed salary that meets or exceeds the state or federal salary threshold (“the salary basis” test). Most Washington workers are covered […]
read moreOn January 1, 2020, Washington will become the fifth state to implement a mandatory paid family and medical leave
program, joining California, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon have enacted similar laws, but they do not take effect until 2021 or later.) In Washington, the […]
Each year the United States Supreme Court accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 lower court decisions it is asked to review. The Court’s term runs October through June, and to date, it has accepted just over 50 cases, including a few that may significantly impact employers. Issues to be decided by the Court include whether gay and […]
read moreIn Washington, wage and hour laws often impose technical and unforeseen obligations on employers. Long-term practices can become unlawful overnight with no warning. Happily, however, the Washington Supreme Court recently resolved a contested issue in employers’ favor. In Sampson v. Knight Transportation Inc. (September 5, 2019), the Court […]
read moreSometimes things just don’t add up. And sometimes, there’s a reasonable explanation. Every employer is required to determine employee eligibility to work in the U.S. by using the I-9 form. The current form is set to expire on August 31, 2019, but the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services […]
read moreRecently, the Washington State Supreme Court expanded the Washington Law Against Discrimination (“WLAD”) to include “obesity” as a disability. Specifically, the Court held that “obesity always qualifies as an impairment under the plain language of [the WLAD] because it is recognized by the medical community as a […]
read moreIn 2018, Washington State joined the ranks of states enacting expanded legislation designed to achieve gender-based pay equity when it enacted the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (the “EPOA”). The EPOA significantly expanded Washington’s then-existing […]
read moreThe hoped-for “Trump effect” appears to be in play and is pushing the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) pendulum back toward the management side of the equation after the Obama years. Among the changes on the horizon are a thawing of the definitions of […]
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