News

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently gave a free lesson about misclassifying employees as independent contractors under the FLSA.

Those failing this lesson may get another from the DOL, but it probably won’t be free. Since the DOL is making an effort to identify and remedy employee misclassification, employers should be doing the same.

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In March 2014, President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to “modernize and streamline” the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemption regulations governing executive, administrative and professional employees. On July 6, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) published its proposed regulatory changes to these so-called ‘white collar’ overtime exemptions, and despite their significance, they are quite simple.

The DOL essentially proposed three general changes to the white collar overtime exemptions.

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Did you know that telemedicine can reduce the amount of time off taken by employees to see or take their child to a doctor for non-serious medical issues? This may come as a surprise, particularly if you don’t know the most common reason people have for going to the doctor. (You’ll have to keep reading to find out.)

Telemedicine generally refers to the practice of using telecommunications technologies (phone, Internet, etc.) to diagnose and treat patients, and it’s come a long way. Consider this:

• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describes telemedicine as a cost-effective alternative to providing medical care.
• The American Medical Association says telemedicine is a key innovation that can maintain patient safety, improve access to health care and control costs.

The most recent enforcement and litigation data released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) confirm that employment-related liabilities remain one of the most significant risks facing employers. Controlling these risks requires an understanding of what employers can and cannot do under the various equal employment opportunity laws enforced by the EEOC, including:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII)
• the Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• the Equal Pay Act (EPA)
• the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).

These laws generally make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of a person’s protected characteristic, such as an employee’s or applicant’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to retaliate against a person because he or she complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing various federal equal employment opportunity laws. Every year the EEOC releases information about its enforcement and litigation efforts during the previous fiscal year (FY), which runs from October 1st to September 30th. This data can be used to get a better understanding of potential employment-related liability exposures that continue to pose a significant risk to most employers.

In FY 2014, the EEOC received a total of 88,778 charges of workplace discrimination, which is lower than recent fiscal years. There were 93,727 charges filed in FY 2013 and 99,412 charges filed in FY 2012. According to the EEOC, this decrease is due in part to the government shutdown during the first quarter of FY 2014.