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Hurricane Harvey has caused unprecedented damage in Texas, resulting in thousands of companies temporarily (or perhaps even permanently) closing down operations. While the main focus is and should be the safety of everyone affected by Harvey, this natural disaster brings with it a host of legal and practical issues for employers. Even if a company is not in the storms path, it should consider using Harvey as an opportunity to think through some of the preparations that can make disasters a bit easier to manage. Below are a few common questions employers may be faced with in an emergency.
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Last week a federal judge in Washington, D.C. directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to revisit its regulations governing employee wellness programs but did not vacate the regulations.  The court noted that striking down the regulations until they could be revised may have significant disruptive consequences and it assumed that the EEOC could address the failings it identified in short order.  Nonetheless, the decision not to stay implementation or vacate the regulations creates confusion for employer wellness programs.

The EEOCs wellness regulations took ...

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With the violent protest events in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend, it seems particularly timely to address a recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on potential labor law protections for racist behavior. While Judge Beam of the Eighth Circuit opined that no employer in America can be forced to employ a racial bigot, he did not persuade the rest of the Courts panel in the recent Cooper Tire v. NLRB decision.
 
In the Cooper Tire case, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals examined tensions between behavioral protections for picketing workers under the federal National ...
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It has become a bit easier for Minnesota employees to blow the whistle against their employers due to a recent decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court. In the case of Friedlander v. Edwards Lifesciences, LLC, et al., the Minnesota Supreme Court eliminated the previous requirement under Minnesota law that in order to establish a claim for a violation of the Minnesota Whistleblower Act, it must be shown that in blowing the whistle the employee was acting with the purpose of exposing illegal activity by the employer.  The net effect of this judicial ruling may be a relaxation of the proof ...
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A high-profile Minnesota employer, Surly Brewing Company, has been found liable in a state court class action for violations of Minnesota's wage and hour statute governing the pooling of employee tips. The amount of damages has not yet been assessed but the class of employees who stand to receive payment from Surly under the ruling appears to number in the hundreds. Given the prevalence of various kinds of tip pooling in the hospitality industry, a great many Minnesota employers may be at risk for similar litigation under the tip pooling statute. At a minimum, an employer whose ...
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