By Patrick Schach
In the past decade, jury verdicts in employment cases have continued to grow across the country. Kentucky is no different. The ten largest non-Fair Labor Standards Act employment verdicts in Kentucky from 2000-2009 as reported in The Kentucky Trial Court Review Series, editions 3-12 are:
- $4,352,316: Hill and Hill v ...
By George J. Miller
On June 22, 2010, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a written interpretation of the Family and Medical Leave Act concerning whether employees who do not have a biological or legal relationship with a child may nevertheless take FMLA leave for the birth, adoption, or serious health condition of a ...
By Daniel E. Hancock
The general American rule is simply this: every party in an action is responsible for his or her own attorneys’ fees. But there are statutes that provide for awards of attorneys’ fees in the context of specific actions. Of course, the language of these provisions is far from uniform, though most only allow the prevailing party ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
The National Labor Relations Board announced on June 21, 2010, that Lafe E. Solomon, a career NLRB attorney, has been named Acting General Counsel by President Obama, replacing Ron Meisburg who resigned to return to private law practice. Solomon had most recently been Director of Representation Appeals at the NLRB.
According to ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
The Washington Post reported today that the U.S. Senate confirmed some 60 Obama nominations including two National Labor Relations Board Member nominations.
Mark Gaston Pearce, a Democrat and lawyer who formerly represented unions and who was given a recess appointment to the NLRB in March, 2010 by President Obama, was ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 21, 2010, in a 5 to 4 decision in Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Antonio Jackson, 561 U.S. ____ (2010), expanded the reach of clauses in arbitration agreements that provide for the arbitrator to resolve questions of arbitrability when the challenge is to the enforceability of the entire agreement.
By Kim Koratsky
On June 17, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in City of Ontario, Calif. v. Quon, No. 08-1332, slip op., 560 U.S. ___ (June 17, 2010), upholding the municipal employer’s right to search an employee’s text messages on a city-issued pager. In this case, SWAT Sgt. Jeff Quon used the pager issued to him by the Ontario ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On June 17, 2010, in New Process Steel, LP v. NLRB, 560 U.S. ____ (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, ruled that the National Labor Relations Board could not operate as a two member Board due to vacancies which reduced its number from five members down to two. The majority opinion by Justice Stevens was supported by ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
In March, 2010, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it would periodically issue “Administrator Interpretations” of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) in order to clarify and interpret statutory or regulatory issues that affect broad cross sections of the economy. Previously ...
By Debra Dawahare
The HIRE (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment) Act, signed into law on March 10, 2010, gives a tax break to businesses that hire unemployed workers before January 1, 2011.
To qualify the employer for the benefit, the new employee must sign an affidavit saying that he or she was employed for 40 hours or less during the 60 days ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
As a harbinger of things to come, the National Labor Relations Board, now the “Obama Board,” in St. Barnabas Hospital and Committee of Interns and Residents, Local 1957, SEIU, 355 NLRB No. 39, issued June 3, 2010, declined to grant an employer’s request to review the NLRB Regional Director’s decision to direct a ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
According to a June 2, 2010, announcement from the Proskauer Rose law firm, Ronald Meisburg, General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board, is leaving government to join Proskauer as a partner in its Labor & Employment Law Department and will practice out of the firm’s Washington, D.C. and New York City offices.