Posts by Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP
Should Your Employer Pay You For Time Spent Changing Your Clothes?
A hotly contested topic around the country is whether workers should be paid for time spent changing their clothes. A failure to pay an employee for all of the time-spent working may be a violation of the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, employers must pay all non-exempt workers for all time-spent working,…
Read MoreYour Employer May Need To Pay You For Time Spent On Your Smartphone
For many workers, time spent working doesn’t end when they leave the office. With the increased usage of smart phones, employers may be able to reach workers at all hours. Workers may feel reluctant to ignore a late night or weekend email from an employer, even though it arrives during non-working hours. At what point…
Read MoreEmployment Practices May Be Considered Gender Disricimination
Many times when workplace discrimination occurs its subtle. For example sex discrimination doesn’t necessarily include an overt statement or action – such as groping or other obvious sexual actions – but may rather exist in a company’s policy or actions that have the effect of discrimination – but aren’t quite so obvious. It’s important to…
Read MorePresident Obama Calls For Minimum Wage Hike
President Obama’s State of the Union Address included a call for an increase in the Federal minimum wage – placing a renewed emphasis on the critical issue of making ends meet for many working Americans. Obama has asked Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25/ hour, a move that could…
Read MoreCompany’s Excuse That It Fired Employee for Insubordination Could Be Considered “Pretext”
It’s easy to imagine a work situation where a company decides it wants to fire a worker wrongfully – such as because of their gender, age or nationality. Fortunately employment laws rightfully prohibit a company from doing so. In legal terms, the concept of “pretext” applies where a company comes up with an excuse for…
Read MoreMan Called “Borat” Can Bring A Claim For National Origin And Race Discrimination
A man who was repeatedly subjected to name-calling could bring a claim for racial and national origin discrimination. According to a federal judge in Zayadeen v. Abbott Molecular, Inc., a Jordanian-American man who was routinely called “Borat” and otherwise mocked because of his heritage could bring a claim of discrimination under the “hostile work environment” theory…
Read MoreFMLA Leave Covers Care of Children Regardless Of Age Disability Begins
The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor has just issued an important opinion regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act. Officially entitled Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2013-1, the WHD has determined under the FMLA, an employee is eligible to take leave to care for a child who is “incapable of self-care because of a…
Read MoreDo Start Ups Need To Pay Their Employees Overtime Compensation?
The combination of the sluggish economy and advances in technology has led to an increase in the number of “start-ups” – new entrepreneurial ventures that are often started with little capital. Start-ups face certain unique employment law issues. Even though they may start out too small to be regulated by all state or federal labor…
Read MoreWhat Is An Essential Function Of Your Job?
What is an essential function of your job? The answer may affect your ability to bring a disability discrimination lawsuit. A basic rule of the federal anti-disability discrimination law (the ADA and the ADAAA) is that employers are prohibited from discriminating against “qualified individuals with a disability” in the terms and conditions of employment. A…
Read MoreHow Does A Natural Disaster Impact Your Take Home Pay?
What happens if you are scheduled to work and a hurricane strikes, or your office building floods, or the weather prevents you from getting to work? Are you entitled to be paid when a natural disaster keeps you from putting in the hours planned? A lot of that depends on whether you are considered an…
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