By Joshua C. Hausman, Esq.
Published on: Fri 13th Dec, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
The Department of Labor reminds employers that reimbursement payments to non-exempt employees may increase the employee's overtime rate, unless the payments equal or "reasonably approximate" the actual expenses incurred by the employee on the employer's behalf.
A November 8, 2024 Opinion Letter of the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, FLSA 2024-01, reminds employers that whether payments in the nature of expense reimbursements are truly "reimbursements"--or whether they are pay in another form--matters for overtime purposes. Unions often seek to implement or increase such ar...
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By Peter J. Halesey, Esq.
Published on: Wed 11th Dec, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
Recently, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit regarding the standards of proof applicable to Title VII reverse discrimination claims.
In a so-called “reverse” discrimination case brought under Title VII, a plaintiff attempts to show that they are a member of a majority classification who is discriminated against. In the Sixth Circuit case, Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Plaintiff, Ames, sued an employer, the Ohio Department of Youth Services pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights A...
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By: Allison N. Genard, Esquire
Published on: Tue 19th Nov, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On Friday November 15, 2024, Judge Sean Jordan of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas struck down the Department of Labor (“DOL”) Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) “white collar” exempt employee minimum salary increase regulations. The court held that each of the three components of the rule exceeded the DOL’s statutory authority under the FLSA. The court held that the July 2024 and January 2025 increases were in excess of the DOL’s authority by focusing on the salary over the duties performed by the employee. The court also held the automatic fu...
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By: Gretchen K. Love and Jacob D. Schramm
Published on: Thu 14th Nov, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On Tuesday, October 29, 2024, Governor Shapiro signed into law Act 121 of 2024, which amends the Workers’ Compensation Act by broadening the eligibility of “first responders” to receive workers compensation for post-traumatic stress injuries. The Act will become effective in one year after its passing, on October 29, 2025.
Act 121 will provide workers compensation to first responders who, based on the diagnosis of a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, have a post-traumatic stress injury as a result of a “qualifying traumatic event,” which the Act defines as an incident or expos...
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By: Tiffany Allen, Esquire
Published on: Mon 7th Oct, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new final rule delimiting the exemptions for Executive, Administrative, and Professional (EAP) employees and outside sales, computer, and highly compensated employees who have traditionally been exempt from overtime compensation. The final rule, which took effect on July 1, 2024, provides that in order for an employee in one of these categories to be considered exempt from the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the Labor Standards Act (FLSA) they must earn a base salary of $43,888. The base salary threshold for these exempt employees will in...
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By: Allison N. Genard, Esq.
Published on: Mon 7th Oct, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On September 9, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Human and Health Services, and Treasury released final rules under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. The new rules are part of the Biden Administration’s goals to improve mental health and substance use treatment access and reduce the barriers to treatment. These final rules come at a time when many public employers have been exploring ways to increase participation in mental health services and substance use treatment to avoid burnout and improve employee retention. While many employers provide Employee Assistance Progra...
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By: Patrick J. Harvey, Esq. & Peter J. Halesey, Esq.
Published on: Fri 4th Oct, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to review the Act 111 narrow certiorari appeal standard in a case where a police officer was returned to work by an arbitrator despite egregious misconduct. On September 6, 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a petition for allowance of appeal in City of Philadelphia v. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5. The case began as an appeal from an arbitration award related to the discharge of a police lieutenant for sending a series of sexually suggestive texts and a bestiality video to two female officer and then instructing one of the office...
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By: Gabrielle D. Campbell, Esq.
Published on: Fri 23rd Aug, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
Over the last few years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has seen an uptick in religious-based discrimination charges under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For example, in Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2021, American workers filed 2,111 charges alleging religious discrimination, but in FY 2022 the EEOC recorded a significantly increased number of 13,814 religion-based charges. See Enforcement and Litigation Statistics, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, https://w...
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By: Jonathan F. Whalen, Esquire
Published on: Fri 23rd Aug, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On July 8, 2024, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Act 49 of 2024 into law, which provides the ability to make optional changes to many municipal police pension plans. Specifically, Act 49 permits (but does not require) certain municipalities to offer current, qualifying full-time officers the option to purchase up to five (5) years of pension service credit for 1) prior full-time police service provided in another police department and/or 2) prior part-time service in their current department or another police department. By its terms, Act 49 of 2024 does not impact “pension plans within the P...
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By: Jacob D. Schramm, Esq.
Published on: Mon 10th Jun, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Under the statute, it is unlawful for an employer to “fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual” on the basis of their protected class but includes a catchall provision that an employer may not “otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” for the same. 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-2(a)(1).
In the decades since the passage of Title VII, federal courts have no...
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By: Paul N. Lalley, Esq.
Published on: Mon 10th Jun, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published new Guidance to prevent harassment in the workplace. This new Guidance replaced all past guidance from the EEOC and serves as a comprehensive resource for EEOC-enforced workplace harassment law. There are several major changes including the addition of protected characteristics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy, childbirth, or other related conditions as well as guidance on the use of the internet and technology in workplace harassment. The guidance also clearly outlines when workpl...
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By Paul N. Lalley, Esq. and Richard D. Miller, Esq.
Published on: Mon 29th Apr, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the United States Department of Labor issued its “Final Rule” regulation that increases the minimum salary threshold for employees (including municipal employees) to maintain their status under what are commonly called the “white collar” exemptions from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Final Rule increases will go into effect on July 1, 2024.
The affected exemptions include executive, administrative, professional and computer employees, and for employees who do not fit these categories but are highl...
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By Paul N. Lalley, Esq. and Richard D. Miller, Esq.
Published on: Fri 19th Apr, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the “Final Rule” regulations that interpret and implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (the PWFA). The regulations will be officially published on April 19, 2024 and will become effective 60 days later.
The PWFA applies to employers who have 15 or more employees. The law requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees who have known limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.
O...
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The decision preserved the ability of a Receiver appointed under Act 47 to do what is necessary to restore a municipality to fiscal and operational health in the future.
Published on: Fri 5th Apr, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
By: Ben Patchen, Esq.
In Siger v. City of Chester, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for the first time reviewed the extent of a Receiver’s authority under Act 47. The Siger Court could have limited the effectiveness of Receivership under Act 47, as it has done in the past with other Act 47 provisions. Instead, relying upon a record that established that the City was operationally dysfunctional, the Supreme Court’s decision preserved the legislature’s intent behind Act 47 and reinforced an Act 47 Receiver’s ability to implement initiatives that the Receiver has determined to be neces...
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By: Allison N. Genard, Esq.
Published on: Fri 5th Apr, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
During the pandemic, municipalities were trying to keep their employees safe while dealing with the challenges of staffing and an ever growing to do list. Many municipalities struggled with disciplining employees when health recommendations were changing daily and becoming increasingly politicized. There was very real concern about whether arbitrators and the courts would uphold discipline related to masking and other health-related rules and policies. The courts previously upheld municipalities’ right to require vaccines and testing measures, but the courts have not issued many rulings on...
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By: John P. McLaughlin, Esq. and Joshua C. Hausman, Esq.
Published on: Tue 26th Mar, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
The United States Supreme Court has established a new, two-part test for determining whether a public official violates the First Amendment when the official blocks or deletes comments on the public official’s social media account. In this pair of unanimous decisions, the Court brought clarity to the question of when such action by the public official constitutes “state action” which could create liability under 42 U.S.C. §1983.
Resolving that question requires a fact-intensive analysis. The Court stated that if the public official: (1) possessed actual authority to speak on the s...
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By: Joshua C. Hausman, Esq.
Published on: Mon 19th Feb, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on a protected classification. It also prohibits discrimination which occurs as a result of a facially neutral policy or practice that has a disproportionate adverse effect on the members of a protected class. Physical abilities testing for job applicants has been a common source of Title VII litigation under this “disparate impact” theory. A recent Seventh Circuit decision emphasizes the importance of ensuring that abilities testing truly measures the applicant’s ability to perform the job in quest...
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By: Peter J. Halesey, Esq.
Published on: Mon 19th Feb, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
If your municipality has ever been a party to litigation, then it is likely that it received a letter instructing it to preserve documents pertaining to the litigation. These letters, commonly known as litigation hold letters, are routinely sent to parties in litigation and provide instructions as to the types of documents that must be preserved and instructions for doing so. Normally, these letters will caution that failure to preserve pertinent documents may result in negative consequences.
A recent employment discrimination case in the Northern District of Texas serves as a warning to...
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By: Gabrielle D. Campbell, Esq.
Published on: Fri 5th Jan, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
The EEOC recognizes that the use of employment tests can be an effective means for determining the qualification of job applicants or employees for a particular job. In fact, many employers routinely use employment tests to screen applicants for hire and employees for promotion. So, what’s the problem? Well, the EEOC cautions that the use of employment tests can violate federal anti-discrimination laws if not properly assessed and validated.
In a recent lawsuit initiated by the EEOC against Walmart, the EEOC challenged the use of an employment test because of its disparate impact on d...
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By: Allison N. Genard, Esq.
Published on: Fri 5th Jan, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
On October 2, 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released its updated Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. When the proposed guidance becomes final, it will supersede several of the EEOC’s previous guidance documents including, Compliance Manual Section 615: Harassment (1987); Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment (1990); Policy Guidance on Employer Liability under Title VII for Sexual Favoritism (1990); Enforcement Guidance on Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc. (1994); and Enforcement Guidance on Vicarious Liability for Unla...
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By: Jonathan F. Whalen, Esq.
Published on: Fri 5th Jan, 2024 By: Campbell Durrant, P.C.
Federal Courts Weigh in on Post-Pandemic Requests for Remote Work as a “Reasonable Accommodation” -
Recent federal court decisions provide insight on when employees’ physical presence at the job represents an “essential function,” and how pandemic-era policies might be viewed moving forward.
Although the days of widespread uncertainty, strict lockdowns and mask mandates seem to be behind us, it is evident that remote work is here to stay, at least in some form. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers have moved to “hybrid” systems involving both in-office and re...
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Published on: Thu 4th Jan, 2024 By: Joshua C. Hausman
Employer Pays $365,000 Where Automated Screening Software Excludes Older Applicants
The recent settlement serves as a cautionary tale for employers making use of artificial intelligence, as such tools may cause employers to run afoul of nondiscrimination law based on a disparate impact theory.
By: Joshua C. Hausman, Esq.
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has been a hot topic since the release of “ChatGPT” late last year. While use cases of this technology are often flippant and silly—a recent AI-produced example of Frank Sinatra singing a song by the band ‘Green Day’ comes to...
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