“Although the Act was deemed largely constitutional, issues concerning the implementation and administration of the Act’s various coverage mandates may be litigated in years to come. For example, dozens of Catholic dioceses and schools filed lawsuits in a number of states charging the Act’s contraception coverage requirement violates their rights under the First Amendment to… Read more »
[Update: for a good understanding of what the decision means sector by sector, start with this analysis by Skadden: Supreme Court Narrowly Upholds Health Reform Law but Limits Congress’ Authority Over States... includes a look at the implications for employers, insurers, hospitals and institutional providers, and drug and device manufacturers.] See below for growing reading… Read more »
Less than a month after releasing a third report on social media activity in the workplace, the National Labor Relations Board published a new website to help workers understand, through specific examples, employee rights to engage in protected concerted activity. (Jump to the page here.) For employers, three takeaways: 1. Union and non-union employers alike… Read more »
“According to a recent study by Lloyd’s of London, cyber-risk — both malicious attacks and nonmalicious ones — is approaching the top 10 of risks threatening businesses worldwide. In the U.S., malicious attacks were ranked in the top five. Last year, hackers succeeded in attacking government networks in the U.S., India and Brazil. Data breach… Read more »
On June 18, 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the pharmaceutical industry in a closely followed case (Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp.) to do with overtime exemption for drug sales representatives. In short, SCOTUS ruled that pharmaceutical sales reps are in fact exempt from overtime – and, according to law firm… Read more »
I am writing this post on workplace issues while at work, but I’m using my personal laptop computer to do it. Could that be a problem? Potentially, yes. This issue (particular, of course, to our age of rampant technology) has been written about often enough to get its own acronym: BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device”)… Read more »
Just because your business is in the cloud doesn’t mean your head needs to be there, too. For your reference, here’s a roundup of recent advisories and alerts touching upon the myriad legal issues that have emerged for businesses with the rise of cloud computing. Jurisdictional issues, security, privacy, the Patriot Act, and other international… Read more »
You’d think that paying your employees for their time on the job would be a simple equation. But often it’s not: “Collective action lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations have risen 400 percent in the last 11 years, according to a recent post at CNNMoney. In 2011, there were more than 7,000 such lawsuits filed… Read more »
What’s on your mind? Employee handbooks, business insurance, medical marijuana, and IP protection, among other things. For your convenience, here’s a look at the most-read Small Business Support posts in May 2012: 1. Think That Email Isn’t a Contract? Think Again “You’ve got mail! And, as two recent court decisions indicate, you might also have… Read more »
Employers who sponsor group health plans, take note. If your business is subject to COBRA coverage (essentially all companies with more than 20 employees are), you could be the target of an Internal Revenue Service audit into your COBRA compliance. Fortunately, earlier this year the IRS published revised guidelines for such audits, providing employers with… Read more »
A recent decision before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals provides a cautionary lesson for employers involved in employee harassment lawsuits. In Townsend v. Benjamin Enterprises, Inc., the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that Benjamin Enterprises was liable for sexual harassment by its vice president because he was “a corporate shareholder [who] …… Read more »
