Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC - Practice Groups - Labor Management Relations


January 2009	DOL Issues New FMLA Regulations Kentucky Employment Law Letter, Vol. 19, No. 4 Richard Cleary On November 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations.
June 27, 2008	Interviewing Job Applicants: Some Traps to Avoid Business Lexington, Volume 4, Issue 13 Wendy Becker Having suffered some unfortunate encounters with the Kentucky Department of Labor on wage and overtime issues recently, our hypothetical friend Elmer Employer is now determined to turn over a new leaf.
March 2008	Constant vigilance needed to avoid/stop unfair competition Law Letter- Issue 1,2008 Philip Eschels An Ohio jury recently awarded a company, Innovative Technologies Corp. (ITC), nearly 23 million in damages against a group of three former employees. Amazingly, a competing company had colluded with the former employees to misappropriate ITC’s trade secrets, even after the employees had been enjoined from competing with ITC under noncompete agreements they had signed. Innovative Techs. Corp. v. Kenton Trace Techs., verdict entered 1/4/08.
November 2007	Timing and employer’s statements are crucial in reviving FMLA claim Law Letter - Issue 4, 2007 Careful documentation and communication are often key to successfully defending a Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claim. In the recent Sixth Circuit case of Bryson v. Regis Corp., the court revived the Plaintiff’s FMLA claim based on a failure to do so.
November 2007	Department of Homeland Security issues, and court enjoins, final rule regarding “no-match” letters Law Letter - Issue 4, 2007 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule in August 2007 that would have provided guidance to employers regarding their handling of “no-match” letters. The new rule was scheduled to take effect on September 14, 2007, but the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction, prohibiting DHS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) from giving any effect to, or otherwise taking action to implement, the new rule.
September 2007	Two ex-Kentucky Lottery employees hit it big in court Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary Jury verdicts against employers can be quite substantial — especially when the facts aren't particularly pleasant. Let's learn what facts caused a Kentucky jury to return $1 million-plus verdicts in favor of two African-American former employees of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation.
August 2007	Staffing agency, hospital, and CFO entitled to defense in defamation claim Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary HR managers and other company leaders responsible for third-party communications about employment matters should be careful not to engage in communications (written or oral) that could be considered slanderous or defamatory. Even routine business information can sometimes trigger that kind of litigation, as the following case shows.
July 2007	Kentucky Court of Appeals determines what it takes to be a 'successor' Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary Generally, an employer that acquires all or substantially all of another employer's assets, or otherwise succeeds its business, is considered a "successor" to the acquired employer.
June 2007	Pending bills will affect employment relationship Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary, Benjamin Evans Congress’ first quarter of 2007 has been an active one, with proposals made for regulating various aspects of the employment relationship. Since January, several significant pieces of legislation pertaining to labor and employment have been considered.
June 2007	Does your employee health plan meet the new HIPAA wellness program requirements? Law Letter - Issue 3, 2007 Employers and other plan sponsors that offer employee health plans that include wellness programs must now comply not only with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules, but also with the new nondiscrimination rules.
May 2007	Written job descriptions not critical under ADA Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary Attend a seminar on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and you may well come away with the sense that written job descriptions are absolutely necessary to determine the essential functions of a particular job.
April 2007	Pregnancy discrimination Law Letter - 2, 2007 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which is the appeals court for federal courts located in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee, recently overturned a trial court’s dismissal of a pregnancy discrimination claim.
April 2007	Sixth Circuit upholds dismissal of age, disability claims Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Kentucky) recently upheld a district court’s dismissal of claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and analogous claims under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act (KCRA). Read on to learn more about the difficulties employees face in attempting to establish a prima facie, or initial, case under the ADA and ADEA.
March 2007	Employer bans radios in plant despite union’s objections Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently found that a management rights clause empowered an employer to unilaterally prohibit the use of radios in its plant.
February 2007	Differing reasons for pregnant employee’s dismissal revive discrimination claim. Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Kentucky, recently overturned a trial court’s dismissal of a pregnancy discrimination claim.
January 2007	Waiver of EEOC charges in severance agreement wasn’t retaliation, court says Kentucky Employment Law Letter Richard Cleary, Wendy Becker Employers sometimes offer severance benefits to fired employees in exchange for their agreement to refrain from suing and release all potential claims.
April 2006	Department of Labor issues guidance regarding payments to union officials Law Letter – Issue 2, 2006 The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance outlining requirements employers may have to report certain financial transactions with union officials.
February 2006	Wage and hour collective action Law Letter – Issue 1, 2006 In 2004, seven current and former store managers from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area filed suit against Jiffy Lube, claiming that they were misclassified as exempt executives under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and, therefore, entitled to overtime for all hours worked in excess of 40 during previous years as permitted by the statute of limitations [Smith v. Heartland Auto. Servs., Inc., d/b/a Jiffy Lube (D. Minn., 2005)].