By Matt Anderson on June 13, 2017

Employers large and small regularly turn over employees. Employees quit to take care of their families, resign to take other jobs, or are fired.  Also, many employers, particularly ones whose employees are unionized, will lay off or suspend employees.  The reason for…

Q.  A former employee has posted a negative review about our company on a social media website. Is there anything we can do about it?

A.  While social media is a powerful tool for promoting your company’s brand, negative reviews can be equally powerful in affecting the company’s reputation. When the negative review is by an employee or former employee, the review is particularly galling.

Religious issues in the workplace are challenging both from a legal and practical standpoint. Managers and HR professionals want employees to feel accepted and included, and they don’t want anyone to feel targeted or mistreated based on their religious beliefs or practices. Problems can arise, however, where an employee’s religious practices interfere with the employee’s job or professional interactions. How do you accommodate the employee’s beliefs while also ensuring that the employee meets the job’s requirements?

Q.  Can I fire an employee for making disparaging comments about the company and its supervisors on social media?

A.  According to a recent Second Circuit opinion, if the social media post was made in the context of union organizing activity, then the answer likely is no. The National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) prohibits employers from terminating an employee based on that employee’s union-related activity. If the employee’s protected activity rises to the level of “opprobrious” or abusive conduct, however, it could lose the protection of the NLRA.   Nonetheless, the standard for a finding that the employee engaged in “opprobrious” or abusive conduct is quite high.

Q. When will the new salary history law go into effect in New York City?

A. Effective October 31, 2017, employers are barred from asking job applicants in New York City about their salary history. The bill, which was passed by the New York City Council in early April, was signed into law by Mayor Bill di Blasio on May 4, 2017.

Q.  An employee worked several hours of overtime last week. Can I offer him compensatory time off, to use in the future, rather than pay him overtime?

A.  Currently, unless you are a public-sector employer, the answer is no. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees who are not exempt must be paid overtime pay (one and one-half times their regular pay rate) for all hours worked over 40 in a work week.

That may soon change, however.

By now, you have undoubtedly heard about the current administration’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the proposed travel ban against foreign nationals from certain countries (which continues to be vigorously contested in court). Most recently, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS or the Immigration Service) announced its plan to combat fraud and abuse in the H-1B Visa Program.  The H-1B Visa is a highly popular nonimmigrant visa available to foreign nationals who are being offered a “specialty occupation” position as defined by immigration statutes and regulations.  The Immigration Service has a unit dedicated to preventing fraudulent use of this visa.  (If your company has ever filed an H-1B petition on behalf of an employee, you may recall paying a $500 fraud prevention fee – that fee is used to fund the Immigration Service’s site visits, interviews, and investigations). 

Q.  I understand that the Philadelphia Wage Ordinance was supposed to go into effect soon. Do I need to take action to comply now?

A.  As we blogged previously, the new Philadelphia Ordinance would make it unlawful for employers in Philadelphia to inquire about a prospective employee’s wage history or require disclosure of wage history as a condition of employment. Employers would only be permitted to rely on such information if the prospective employee knowingly and willingly disclosed his or her wage history to the employer.

Q.  My company is thinking about hiring a summer intern. Is there a requirement that we pay the intern, or can we hire him or her on a voluntary basis?

A.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, many companies are looking at their workforce needs during the summer months. Summer internships provide an excellent way for interns to get much needed “real world” job experience, while helping employers by adding another set of hands to complete projects that have not been completed during the rest of the year.

But must the employer pay for this assistance?

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals became the first Federal Appellate Court to hold that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  While some states have already enacted laws protecting against that type of discrimination, and many employers have added such protections into company equal employment opportunity policies, this marks the first time sexual orientation has been deemed protected at this level under the federal Civil Rights Act.