On May 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division published an opinion letter clarifying how holidays affect the calculation of intermittent leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (Opinion Letter FMLA2023-2-A). The FMLA regulations at 29 CFR 825.200(h) already explain that: (1) if a…
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Question: My employee was acting in an unusual manner, so we tested them under our drug and alcohol policy. The test came back negative, but we still believe that the employee is under the influence of some type of substance. What should we do? Answer: In general, you should allow your…
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It’s probably safe to say, in business a partner relationship is preferred over an adversarial one. There are low levels of trust in the latter, not to mention stress for both parties and lack of team effort to get the job done quickly and with good results. So, in the instance of…
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the end of its temporary relaxation of the standards for physically inspecting a new worker’s employment eligibility documents when completing the Form I-9. The relaxed standard officially expires on July 31, 2023, but DHS is allowing a 30-day grace period to come into…
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The 2023 legislative regular session ended on April 23, 2023, with Washington Governor Jay Inslee signing multiple employment-related bills into law. Please see our separate articles in today’s newsletter on two of those bills, “WASHINGTON: New bill limits most pre-employment cannabis tests” (regarding ESSB 5123) and “WASHINGTON: Employers must notify warehouse employees of quotas”…
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Governor Jay Inslee recently signed legislation requiring employers of warehouse distribution center employees to notify them of any production quotas, effective July 1, 2024 (HB 1762). Here are the requirements: Covered industries: A warehouse distribution center is an establishment engaged in activities as defined by any of the following North American…
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Governor Jay Inslee has signed ESSB 5123, which will prohibit Washington employers from requiring pre-employment testing for non-psychoactive cannabis (marijuana) metabolites of applicants who lawfully consume cannabis away from work, except under limited circumstances, effective January 1, 2024. It creates a new protected group and makes it unlawful for employers…
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Question: One of our employees yelled at our plant manager during a team meeting and called the manager “the devil incarnate,” said that the manager “must enjoy torturing the crew,” and that “working here was a living hell.” He was complaining because the manager was requiring mandatory overtime during the most recent heatwave. We follow all of…
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If Kept-On-Salary (KOS) always produced the best financial result for your company, all Retro groups would likely have KOS requirements. The truth is, KOS will always be good for the retro sponsor but there are times when KOS isn’t the best move for you. You need to be armed with the…
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On May 1, 2023, the White House announced that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine mandate and related safety protocols for federal contractors will end at 12:01 a.m. on May 12, 2023. This is the same time that the national COVID-19 public health emergency will officially be over. A notice on the…
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