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Q: Are employers required to pay wages to employees who are absent due to military service, similar to how they would be paid for jury duty or to attend a funeral?

A: At least for employers in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, employees who need time off for military leave may be entitled to paid leave commensurate with the employer’s other paid leave policies.  In a recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, White v. United Airlines, Inc., the Court held that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) requires employers to provide paid military leave for employees if the employer also provides “comparable” paid leave for other, nonmilitary time away from work, such as for jury service or sick leave.
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Decision Could Expand Employer Leave Obligations Under USERRA

Q: Our company has several locations in New Jersey where our employees work in proximity to customers and vendors. Can you please provide details on Governor Murphy’s recent order implementing new workplace health and safety protocols in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

A: On October 28, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order establishing new health and safety requirements for employers with employees who are physically present in the workplace. Effective November 5, the order establishes minimum standards for all public and private employers to protect employees, customers, and others who are present in the workplace.Continue Reading New Jersey’s Executive Order Addresses COVID-19 and Workplace Safety

Q. What is the standard for determining whether an individual is an independent contractor under Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation law?

A. Following a recent decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, businesses now face a tougher standard under the state’s unemployment compensation law for demonstrating that a worker is an independent contractor and not an employee. In A Special Touch v. Commonwealth of PA, the Court held that, to claim the exemption from tax liability for a self-employed worker, the employer must show that the individual in question is involved in an independent trade or business “in actuality,” rather than “having the mere ability to be so involved.”
Continue Reading Pennsylvania Supreme Court Clarifies Independent Contractor Standard For Purposes of Unemployment Compensation Taxes

On Wednesday, April 15, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, in conjunction with the state’s Department of Health, announced an Order requiring businesses to implement new safety measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Order details a litany of new “social distancing, mitigation, and cleaning protocols” that businesses must observe with respect to both employees and customers. Effective immediately, the Order applies to “life-sustaining businesses” authorized to maintain operations during the crisis under a prior order issued in March, including grocery stores and pharmacies. The Governor has directed a number of state agencies to enforce the new requirements, including the Department of Labor & Industry, the Department of Health, and the Pennsylvania State Police.
Continue Reading Employers Should Act Now in Response to New Order from the Pennsylvania Department of Health

Q. My company has offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Is Pittsburgh’s new paid sick leave law the same as Philadelphia’s paid sick leave law?

A. Effective March 15, 2020, Pittsburgh will be joining Philadelphia and several other jurisdictions in requiring employers to provide sick leave to its employees. While these laws share the same intent,…

Q: What is the current rule on whether an employee can use our company’s email system to distribute union material? Also, are we permitted to require employees to keep workplace investigations confidential without running afoul of the National Labor Relations Act?

A: There are actually two issues that arise from your question, and both were…

Q: An employee in my company has requested intermittent leave as an accommodation for what he claims is a debilitating “anxiety,” but he has no job performance issues and seems fine to me. Are we required to provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA for anxiety?

A: The question of whether an employee’s anxiety constitutes…

Q. A client of my company asked whether it could offer production bonuses to our employees who deliver their work product prior to the deadline. Does the FLSA require my company to account for these third-party bonuses when calculating the regular rate of pay for overtime purposes?

A.  The answer to your question depends on…

Q.  An employee at one of my company’s facilities in New York recently complained to his supervisor that his coworkers made fun of his disability. Can an employee with a disability file a “hostile work environment” claim under the Americans With Disabilities Act?

A.  On March 6, 2019, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the first time that hostile work environment claims are available to plaintiffs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). With its decision in Fox v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, the Second Circuit joins the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Tenth Circuits, which likewise have found that hostile work environment claims are cognizable under the ADA.
Continue Reading Second Circuit Court of Appeals Recognizes Hostile Work Environment Claim Under the ADA

Q.  Now that medical marijuana is legal in New Jersey, does the Law Against Discrimination require employers to provide an accommodation for medical marijuana use?

A.  While New Jersey employers are not required to accommodate the use of medical marijuana in the workplace, they may be required to accommodate an employee’s off-duty use of medical marijuana outside of the workplace, according to a recent decision. On March 27, 2019, the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed a lower court’s ruling that state law does not provide employment protections for medical marijuana users. Although the court affirmed that employers are not required to accommodate an employee’s use of medical marijuana in the workplace, the court found that failure to accommodate off-duty use of medical marijuana outside the workplace could give rise to liability under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD).
Continue Reading New Jersey Employers May Be Required to Accommodate an Employee’s Use of Medical Marijuana Outside the Workplace