Rojgar Job News

Caution: You may not want to get your legal advice from reading Cosmo. As I approach the ninth anniversary of this blog this week (watch for that anniversary post soon), I’ve gotten a bit more reflective as well.  Some of that is personal circumstances I’ve mentioned before; perhaps some of it is age and experience. And I find myself wanting to speak directly to employees who have brought suit against their employers. But here’s the thing: I can’t.  The simplest of explanations is that ethics rules prohibit the attorney for one party from contacting the opposing party directly. And so: End of the blog post. Well, not quite.  As I’ve discovered over the years, I also get several phone calls from people looking to sue their employers for one reason or the other. While I have to politely decline many of those requests, I sometimes wish that I could tell them a few things before they brought suit. So here goes: 1)  Odds are, your employer d...

USDOL Headquarters in DC Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of bluster about lawsuits filed that are challenging the new overtime rules that are set to take place in just a few weeks. And there was also news that Congress was considering a law restricting the law as well. Both seem unlikely to come to pass and employers that have been postponing action in the hopes of a “white knight” on the issue should think twice. I covered the new rules in several prior posts (here and here, for example). But as a reminder, the rule becomes effective December 1, 2016. Note that December 1 is a Thursday, so employers will have to make sure that the entire pay period is compliant with the new rule. So, that leaves you with precious few weeks to get into compliance.  There are a number of different approaches to take and its definitely not a one-size-fits-all type of law. One suggestion though is to have your trusted attorney or HR consultant take a look at any questions...

When was the last time you said you’re sorry to someone at work.  Last week? Last month? Last year? Never? There isn’t a right answer to this but I was thinking about this yesterday on the Jewish New Year. Jews are asked to spend the next 10 days to reflect on the past year and ask those who they may have slighted in last year for forgiveness. Call it prep work for Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. First, an acknowledgement (apology?) up front: This isn’t the firm time I’ve written about workplace apologies. Back then, I referred you to the SorryWatch blog, which tracks good, bad and ugly apologies.  (There is also a category for “Evil Twin” apologies too. Worth checking out just for that.) More recently, the blog authors recount the apologies of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police in settlement of a massive discrimination and workplace harassment claim a while back. It’s a terrific and rare example of the power of an apology in ...

Last week I talked about the new state law regarding pregnancy discrimination that is going into effect on October 1, 2017.  In that post, I mentioned a new notice that was required to comply with the law. Although there is no set form that is required to be used, the Connecticut Department of Labor has created one that is available for employers to use that will comply with the state law.  It is free to download here.   Because the content is useful, I’m using it down below so that employers can cut and paste it into a handbook or into a notice to be given to employee upon starting work too.  One can quibble with some of the word phrasings that are used, but overall — and stating the obvious — if you use this, you’ll be in comp liance according to the state. Covered Employers Each employer with more than 3 employees must comply with these anti-discrimination and reasonable accommodation laws related to an employee or job applicant’...

One of the interesting strains to come out of the new round of publicity surrounding sexual harassment is a renewed focus on mandatory arbitration provisions. And it comes from an unexpected source: former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. Indeed, Carlson recently gave an interview with former ESPN producer and self-titled “Commander-in-She” Valerie Gordon that may have slipped under radar in which she talks about such provisions. She notes that mandatory or “forced” arbitration provisions enable sexual harassment to exist under the radar. I’m doing some advocacy work on Capitol Hill, working on gathering bipartisan support to take the secrecy out of arbitration.  You know the forced arbitration in employment contracts makes these things secret.  We have to stop the silence around it. In another recent interview, Carlson suggested that these arbitration provisions are often “in the fine print” and not focused on when people s...

Shorter is better. Why? The slang TL;DR comes to mind. But it turns out there’s an educational component too — at least according to the results of a new study that examined workplace contracts. In the study, published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology and recapped by Insights by Stanford Business School, “the researchers found that workers whose contracts contained more general language spent more time on their tasks, generated more original ideas, and were more likely to cooperate with others. They were also more likely to return for future work with the same employer, underscoring the durable and long-lasting nature of the effect.” In other words, contracts that contained pages upon pages of specific do’s and don’t for workers, ended up harming the employment relationship. Instead, researchers found that “the more general contracts increased people’s sense of autonomy over their work.” This isn...

You’ve agonized over firing an employee.  You hired her over a year ago and it just isn’t working out.  The employee is kind, conscientious and punctual, but just doesn’t have the skills needed for the particular position. But you’ve made up your mind. You’re firing her at a meeting this afternoon. In that meeting, the employee stops you part way to say that she too has been thinking the job hasn’t been a good fit and asks if she can resign instead. Can you still accept the employee’s resignation? It may seem obvious, but I’ve had more than a few discussions with employers who are caught offguard with such a request.  (In some other circumstances, the employer may ask if they can allow the employee to resign in lieu of termination. Gets to the same point.) The answer is yes, you can allow the employee to resign. Even if you originally were firing them. There’s no law that requires employers to stick with a decision tha...

In trying to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace, how do we go beyond just training? That is, in essence, the question that my colleagues (Jarad Lucan and Ashley Marshall) and I have been talking about recently. And, fortunately for you, a topic of a free CLE webinar we are putting on a few weeks.  It’s set for February 13th at 12 p.m. What we are really looking at is how do you get your company culture and actions in line to try to reduce and eradicate sexual harassment from your workplace? It does not, obviously, happen overnight.  Perhaps it’s revising your policies. Perhaps it’s adding an ombudsman program if you’re large enough. Or perhaps it involves encouragement of employee complaints so that you can tackle the issue more directly. There is no one size fits all to this but it’s an important enough topic (naturally) that we wanted to devote a CLE webinar just to this. Hope you can join us for this timely topic. The post Beyond Trai...

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the basics of what is and is not “sexual harassment”. Continuing the theme of going back to the basics, employers in the Constitution State have certain posting and training requirements that must be followed. These requirements are found in the administrative regulations set up by the CHRO regarding sexual harassment prevention. I first detailed these in a post WAY back in October 2007 (!) but they remain just as important today as ten years ago. For posting : All employers who have 3 or more employees must provide notices that say sexual harassment is illegal and address what the remedies are for such harassment. But here’s a free shortcut: The CHRO has prepared a model poster that complies with the statute and is free to download.  You can do so here.  It’s a good time to remind employers too that employers should also update their “Discrimination is Illegal” poster also offered by the CHRO....

With a new wave of sex harassment complaints making headlines, there is also a bit of reflection that should happen at workplaces and the lawfirms that counsel them. One area that we can evaluate is whether the training that is provided is effective. A report yesterday from NPR concluded that training is just not working at many workplaces.  The primary reason most harassment training fails is that both managers and workers regard it as a pro forma exercise aimed at limiting the employer’s legal liability. For those of us who have been paying attention, this isn’t new.  I know that for the trainings I give, I try to have them be engaging with discussions of different fact scenarios being discussed. But I’ve wondered whether we could be doing more. Indeed, the EEOC issued a report last year highlighting the problems with existing training programs. In its executive summary, it noted two big issues with the current model of training: “ Training Must Chang...

A while back, I had a good discussion with a colleague on a topic with no real firm answers. No, it wasn’t on whether the Yankees are better franchise than the Red Sox.  The answer to that is unequivocally yes.  (Sorry, Sox fans.) Rather: When is a employee-related issue a legal one? Or alternatively, when can human resources handle the issue on it’s own? What comes to mind at first is the old Justice Potter Stewart quote of, “I know it when I see it” but that seems unsatisfying. For some smaller employers, the answer may lean more heavily towards “legal” in part because there may not be an in-house human resources professional to call on. But on the flip side, there are some other employers that might rely heavily (perhaps overly so) on their HR contacts to handle matters, trying to avoid unnecessary legal expenses. What I’ve concluded is what I’ve started with — there are no real answers to the question. But I can outline...

Over the weekend, the General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting employers, including the state and its political subdivisions, from asking, or directing a third-party to ask, about a prospective employee’s wage and salary history. I have previously discussed the measure here.  There were a few versions floating around and it was House Bill 5386 that carried the day (as amended). The prohibition does not apply in two situations: if the prospective employee voluntarily discloses his or her wage and salary history, or; to any actions taken by an employer, employment agency, or its employees or agents under a federal or state law that specifically authorizes the disclosure or verification of salary history for employment purposes. While salary may not be inquired, the bill DOES allow an employer to ask about the other elements of a prospective employee’s compensation structure (e.g., stock options), but the employer may not ask about their value. The bill has a two ...

Like a lot of people, I’ve got the summer bug and, given the choice between a walk outside and a blog post — well, you can figure out what has been winning. But I’ve got a few posts lined back up the next few weeks.  In the interim, I want to share with you one of the most meaningful and amazing speeches I’ve ever heard in person. It’s from last week when I attended the American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, where I serve as the State Delegate for Connecticut (and on the ABA Nominating Committee as well).  At that meeting, the ABA presented it’s ABA Medal (it’s highest honor for exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer to the cause of American jurisprudence) to Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. During a 40 minute speech (which you really must listen to), he called on attendees to do four important tasks: Get close to people who live in the margins of so...

It was the last semester of my senior year in college – right after Spring Break – when I heard the news that would forever shape my views on mental illness. A friend and fellow editor of the college newspaper I worked for, Steven Ochs jumped to his death from one of the many bridges near his hometown in Pittsburgh, PA. A group of us ended up driving out there across the fields of Pennsylvania to mourn his passing. It was the first time I was a pallbearer at a funeral and I knew then that was something I never wanted to be for a friend again. Steven was a remarkable young adult. I wish you could’ve known him.  He wrote amazing columns for our college paper and editorials nearly every weekday.  Thanks to the internet, you can still read a few here. I can still remember sitting in his newspaper office couch and hearing him talk; he was always a few steps ahead of me.  I thought he had a promising future. I thought about Steve a bunch last week, when the ce...

In my prior post, I wondered aloud whether there were some rough waters ahead for employers.  Apple recently announced that it would not meet it’s earnings estimates in the first quarter of 2019, in part because of soft demand from China. Other companies are expected to announce some similar issues. Honestly, I’ve had enough conversations in the last few years with HR professionals who just haven’t lived through a major downturn. Think about this way: For anyone who joined the workforce since 2010 or so, the era of massive layoffs in the financial and automobile sectors had just passed. But fortunately, there are still a few of us around who remember. So here are four things to think about: Performance Reviews.   Why? Because when a downturn hits, your company will need to start a selection process as to who stays and who goes.  Inevitably, you will start looking at performance reviews to see about ranking employees.  You know what you might fi...

There are certain expressions in the employment law world that don’t make much sense.   Call them: Employment Law Oxymorons. At least for me, hearing an employer ask what they should do about their “1099 Employees” is one of them. Let’s back up one step: Employees are paid wages and as such, they get issued a W-2 tax form at the end of the year. Independent contractors are paid fees and as such, they should be issued a 1099 tax form. See the difference? So when someone says a “1099 employee”, under the law, there really is no such thing.  The problem is that some employers still do not understand the differences or, worse, improperly label workers as “independent contractors” instead of employees. The modern day example of this was a series of tweets put out last week by a website advertising for a “full-time freelance position.” See the contradictions?  Full-time and freelance don’t really mesh togeth...

Readers of the blog will no doubt know that it’s been far too long since I had Nina Pirrotti on the blog for a conversation about employment law topics. Excuses abound, but Nina — who mainly represents individuals in employment-related disputes — recently penned a piece for the Connecticut Law Tribune that is too good to let more time pass. So, knowing still that titling a piece a “Dialogue” while just offering up a link to her piece is less than ideal, it’s important that we move beyond labels to get at the heart of sexual harassment issues remaining in the workplace. Nina suggests that there are still far too many employers that have chosen to “bury their heads in the sand rather than confront the harassers who line their pockets.” You can disagree about the scope of the issue but the underlying premise is sound — sexual harassment remains a scourge of the workplace for too many. What are some of her tips for employers? C...

Sometime soon, your e-mail inboxes are going to be bombarded from attorneys telling you that you need to pay attention NOW to new overtime rules by the U.S. Department of Labor.  ROFL.   At least based on what we know now, it’s best taking a lesson from my teenagers and ignoring the messages and hype (and all the text abbreviations too.)  SMH.  Late last week, Bloomberg news reported that the DOL is considering changing the rules regarding who is eligible to receive overtime by increasing the salary threshold from about $24,000/year to $35,000. IKR? In plain English, employees who make less than $35,000 would have to be paid overtime on any hours worked over 40 — no matter what their duties are.   MEGO.  If all this sounds vaguely familiar, you may recall that the Obama-era proposed rules were enjoined by a court before implementation and then we had an election.  Those proposed rules would have set the bar even higher to approxim...

It seems likely that some type of paid Family and Medical Leave (otherwise known as “Paid FMLA”) bill is going to pass the General Assembly. CBIA recently posted about the pitfalls that await employers with passage with one CBIA staff testifying that “small businesses are terrified of this proposal.”   But the “paid” aspect of the bill is only one part. I’m not going to cover that in this post, but there are plenty of resources already on what it might mean. What hasn’t been widely reported is that the bill would allow nearly  all employees at nearly  all companies in Connecticut to take protected family and medical leave — a monumental shift from the limits that are currently in place.  But in another way, it would expand the ability of employees to take  unpaid leave too. A caveat – there are various versions of the bill floating around.  For purposes of clarity, Bill No. 1 – w...

Employers who want to (or need to) use independent contractors often scratch their heads at a disconnect – how do you determine who is an independent contractor?  I recall at one speaking engagement years ago, an employer who came up to me and asked: “So are you saying that there are TWO tests to determining if someone is an independent contractor?” Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying. The Connecticut Department of Labor and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (the state equivalent to the IRS) have each developed tests for determining if someone is an employee vs. an independent contractor. And they are not the same. I’ve looked at this before, but my colleagues at Shipman & Goodwin — who now host a terrific new little blog on tax law (www.cttaxalert.com) — have posted about it too — but this time from the perspective of tax lawyers.  Worth your time. The post DOL vs. DRS: Battle of the Employee / Independent Con...