Q: Can private employers limit workplace speech and activities?

A: Yes, but only if the limits do not violate other laws.

On May 23, 2018, the NFL issued a new rule that will require all players on the field to stand for the national anthem. The NFL will also impose fines to teams whose players, coaches, or staff fail to follow the new rule.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated the new rule is a compromise because it does not require players to enter onto the field for the national anthem.  If players choose to enter onto the field, however, they are required to stand for the national anthem.

Q.  I suspect that our company may have inadvertently committed overtime and minimum wage violations. Is there a way I can make this right without incurring substantial legal liability?

A.  Possibly. Earlier this year, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division announced the creation of a new nationwide pilot program called the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program. In short, the PAID program encourages employers to conduct payroll self-audits and, if they discover overtime or minimum wage violations, self-report those violations to the DOL and work with the DOL to rectify the problem and ensure employees are paid any wages owed.

On May 21, 2018, a divided U.S. Supreme Court held that employers can force employees into individual arbitration and avoid class action lawsuits involving those same employees.

By way of background, in 1925, Congress passed the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), which validated arbitration clauses.  In 1935, Congress passed the National…

Q.  Can my company require its employees to sign an arbitration agreement mandating that they arbitrate all employment disputes, and limiting their ability to participate in a class action against the company?

A.  On May 21, in a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that arbitration agreements in which…

Pay equity is a hot topic – and not just in employment and HR circles.  Both inside and outside of the courts, the issue has gained national attention and is spurring legislators in states across the country to act. Recent developments are a timely reminder to all employers to start…

On Wednesday, May 23, from 3 – 4 pm ET, Troutman Sanders attorneys, Alan Wingfield, Wendy Sugg, and Meagan Mihalko will present a webinar discussing employment-purpose background screening laws. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes technical paperwork requirements on employers desiring to obtain background screenings, and many millions of…

We wrote recently about the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back the Obama-era NLRB’s workplace handbook and rule restrictions. It’s time to update you further on where that effort stands.

As a reminder, the Obama NLRB held in December 2017 in The Boeing Company case that facially-neutral employment policies and…

Q: Can I require an employee to do work while the employee is on FMLA leave?  What if the employee volunteers to work while on leave?

A: Under most circumstances, employees should not be required or permitted to perform work while on leave.  The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees a maximum of twelve weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and personal medical reasons in a twelve month period.  During that time, employers are prohibited from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any rights provided under the FMLA.

Q.  Do I need to provide paid sick leave to employees in New Jersey?

A.  Last week, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act, mandating paid sick leave for full and part-time workers in the Garden State. Similar to the laws in other states, the New Jersey law provides for employees to earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employees may use up to 40 hours of earned sick leave in a benefit year.  They may also carry over up to 40 hours of earned sick leave from one year to the next.  Earned sick leave is not paid upon termination, unless a company policy or collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise.

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court embraced a standard that presumes workers in California are employees instead of independent contractors. The April 30, 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County moves away from a more flexible classification test that had…