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The Consequences of Misclassifying an Employee as an Independent Contractor

Due to increased scrutiny from state and federal government agencies and high profile cases involving companies such as Uber, UPS and FedEx Ground, businesses are becoming increasingly concerned over proper classification of workers. Read More ›

Categories: Employee Benefits, Employment, Labor Relations, Lawsuit, Liability, Wage and Hour

The Return of the Unpaid Internship

For the past eight years, the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") followed a strict six-part test to determine whether a for-profit employer could use interns without compensating them for the services they provided. Read More ›

Categories: Department of Labor, Employee Handbook, Employment, Fashion, Labor Relations

Laid-off teacher says school district didn’t follow evaluation process — and court agrees

There’s a reason why school districts are required to provide fair, transparent and timely teacher evaluations — and it’s not just to make sure instructors are doing their best. It’s because it’s the law. And, as the Michigan Court of Appeals made clear in a recent published decision, not following through with teacher evaluations is actionable.  Read More ›

Categories: Compliance, Did you Know?, Employment, Lawsuit

Classification Risk: Employees or Independent Contractors

Are they employees or independent contractors? It’s a question that many employers grapple with as they attempt to properly classify members of their workforce. Read More ›

Categories: Employee Benefits, Employment, Wage and Hour

VCP Fee Change Represents Opportunity for Larger Plans

VCP is a program offered by the IRS to allow sponsors of qualified retirement plans (401(k)/ 403(b) plans) to correct retirement plan errors. An applicant must disclose the mistake in writing and then correct the failure and pay a fee. Read More ›

Categories: Compliance, Employee Benefits, Tax

Mandatory Union Fees at Risk

The U.S. Supreme Court will listen to arguments soon in another challenge to the mandatory fees that some government employees must pay to their unions for negotiating and administering their contracts.  Read More ›

Categories: Employment, Employment Tax & Withholding, Labor Relations, U.S. Supreme Court, Union

IRS Begins Enforcement of ACA Employer Mandate

The IRS recently began enforcing the employer mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) by assessing penalties on noncompliant employers for the 2015 calendar year. Read More ›

Categories: Affordable Care Act, Employee Benefits

Are You Paying Your Employees Enough to Keep Them?

According to the Wall Street Journal on July 21st, for the first time in many years, pay for the lowest income Americans are rising faster than for any other group. Read More ›

Categories: Employment, Labor Relations, News, Wage and Hour

UAW Rips Off Employees Twice in Chrysler Fiasco

In a stunning development, reported Thursday by the Detroit Newspapers including Crain's Detroit, a former Chrysler labor negotiator was in collusion with several high executives of UAW and has pocketed more than $1.2 million worth of money and goods that was supposed to have been used for UAW employee training purposes. Read More ›

Categories: Labor Relations, Lawsuit

Employers Beware – Employees May Lawfully Record Workplace Discussions and Activities

RecordingIn an effort  to guard against workplace meetings or discussions being recorded and uploaded to social media for all to hear, and to protect employees against surreptitious recording of their conversations, many employers have implemented "no recording" policies. One such employer was Whole Foods Markets, which had two no-recording policies in place. Read More ›

Categories: National Labor Relations Board