Blogs

Employment Law

New Virginia Law Requires Employer Disclosure of Requested Personnel Records

A quick heads up for those Virginia employers whose policy has been to deny employees access to or copies of their employment records. As of July 1, 2019, Virginia law now requires employers to “furnish a copy of all records or papers retained by the employer in any format” that reflect the following information about the employee: Dates of employment with the employer; Wage or salary history during the employment; Job description and job title during employment; and Injuries sustained by the…

October 3, 2019

Employment Law

EEOC Report: Workplace Sexual Harassment Complaints are Up

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released its discrimination enforcement and litigation statistics for its fiscal year ending September 20, 2018. The report provides employers with a detailed breakdown of the 76,418 charges of workplace discrimination the EEOC received in FY 2018. The numbers are consistent with anecdotal reports in the mainstream media of a sharp increase in sexual harassment activity since the New York Times and The New Yorker first published…

May 10, 2019

Employment Law

When Can I Deduct from the Pay of an Exempt Employee?

To be exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employee must perform certain job duties and be paid on a “salary basis,” meaning that the employee receives a set salary each week, regardless of the number of days or hours worked, with limited exceptions. Under the…

April 23, 2019

Employment Law

FMLA Delay? No Way.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter on March 15, 2019 that answered the question of “whether an employer may delay designating paid leave as Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave or expand their FMLA leave beyond the statutory 12-week entitlement.” The DOL’s answer in short: No way. Guidance from the…

March 22, 2019

Employment Law

5 Takeaways from DOL’s Proposal to Change FLSA Overtime Rules

On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed rules that would update the salary threshold for the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) so-called “white collar” or “EAP” exemptions from overtime. The importance of this issue for employers is tied to the fact that an employee must be paid on a salary…

March 11, 2019

Employment Law

Fourth Circuit Concludes: False Rumor that Female Employee Slept with Her Male Boss to Obtain a Promotion Can Support a Claim of Sexual Harassment

In a decision that pushes the boundaries of past decisions defining hostile work environment sexual harassment, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Parker v. Reema Consulting Services, Inc. , concluded that “a false rumor that a female employee slept with her male boss to obtain a promotion . . .” can give rise to employer liability under Title VII for discrimination ‘because of sex.’ When a supervisory employee perpetrates workplace innuendo of this kind, the court wrote, the employer…

February 25, 2019

Business and Financial Services

Virginia Employers: Are Your Non-Competes Enforceable?

Restrictive covenants continue to be among the most hotly contested employment law issues in Virginia. Non-solicitation and non-competition clauses are fundamentally important to a business like yours. Drafted well, they provide your company with significant legal protections against a key employee usurping the sales opportunities and client relationships developed while in your employ to start a competing business or to provide an unfair advantage to one of your competitors. However, Virginia…

August 1, 2018

Employment Law

Montgomery County and D.C. Minimum Wage Rates Increase

Montgomery County, Maryland Effective July 1, 2018, the minimum wage payable by employers in Montgomery County, Maryland, increased to $12.25 per hour, from the previous minimum wage rate of $11.50 per hour for large employers (those with 51 or more employees in the county). For mid-size employers (11 and 50 employees) and small employers (10…

July 6, 2018

Business and Financial Services

DOL Explains When Employees Must Be Paid for Travel Time

Eighty years ago the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established federal minimum wage and overtime requirements for hourly employees. The law’s basic tenet seems straightforward: Employers must pay employees for their “work.” Yet for many employers, compliance with the FLSA on issues such as employee travel time continues to be problematic because the FLSA does not really explain when an employee is at “work.” The FLSA and Portal-to-Portal Act The Supreme Court initially explained that “work”…

July 6, 2018

Employment Law

5 Steps to Limit Liability for Sexual Harassment at Work

A previous blog post discussed sexual harassment in the workplace in the age of the #MeToo Movement. This post discusses steps that an employer can take to avoid liability for harassment, or at least minimize legal exposure. Have a Sexual Harassment Policy An employer should have a clearly articulated sexual harassment policy that: expressly prohibits…

March 16, 2018