A recent DOL Interpretation will probably entitle more workers to benefits and overtime compensation as employees. David Weil, the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Interpretation last week regarding the proper analysis to be used in determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. See Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1:The Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “Suffer or Permit” Standard in the Identification of Employees Who Are Misclassified as Independent Contractors. Continue reading “The Department of Labor Narrows The Independent Contractor Exemption Classification”
Month: July 2015
Court Rules That Employer May Be Liable For Actions Of An Anonymous Harasser
On July 1, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case of Pryor v. United Air Lines, Inc.,[1] that a jury will be allowed to decide whether or not United Airlines should be held liable for failing to investigate an anonymous, racially-oriented note left in an employee’s company mailbox.
The Plaintiff, Ms. Pryor, an African-American, was employed as a flight attendant with United. She found a note in her company mailbox with a drawing of a noose and language encouraging the hunting and killing of African Americans. Ms. Pryor took the note as a threat and immediately reported it to her supervisor. Despite the threatening nature of the note, the supervisor did not investigate the matter. Rather, he passed the note up-stream to his supervisor, who also failed to investigate the matter. Continue reading “Court Rules That Employer May Be Liable For Actions Of An Anonymous Harasser”
EEOC Issues Revised Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues
This Guidance issued June 25, which can be found at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/pregnancy_guidance.cfm
revises the Guidance previously issued by the EEOC in 2014 on this subject and sets out a framework for determining how far employers must go to accommodate a pregnant employee.
The Guidance is tailored to track the Supreme Court’s ruling in Young v. United Parcel Serv., Inc. in which the Court held that, although a policy of providing light duty only to certain workers was facially neutral, it could still violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act when the employer failed to provide the same accommodations to pregnant workers as to other similarly situated employees. Continue reading “EEOC Issues Revised Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues”
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