Vigilant Blog

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that workers cannot force a company into class arbitration unless their arbitration agreement explicitly lists “class arbitration” as a way to resolve disputes, overturning a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision. In this case, the worker signed a contract prepared by the employer that said the worker agreed to…

Question: We have a manager who is great at keeping production on pace and running efficiently, but he has a hard time getting along with other people. He recently said some really inappropriate things to one of his employees. Normally we would terminate for this behavior, but he is our top performer; can we avoid…

The guidance is based on federal regulations at 29 CFR 1904.35 which prohibit employers from discriminating against workers or firing them for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses. In its new announcement, OSHA retracted informal Obama-era guidance that took a strict approach in evaluating whether workplace safety incentives and post-accident drug testing might illegally discourage workers…

Answer: You need to do a lot of homework before conducting a pay equity analysis. California, Oregon (as of January 1, 2019), and Washington have all revised their equal pay laws in ways that significantly increase employers’ potential liability for pay discrimination claims. Oregon’s law is particularly concerning because it takes into account 10 protected…

On February 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees who report financial wrongdoing under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are protected from retaliation only if they make their reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Supreme Court overruled a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on…

After more than a year off from filing annual EEO-1 Reports, covered employers must once again submit data on the race/ethnicity and gender of their workforce, sorted into 10 job categories. For many years, September 30 was the annual deadline, but the 2017 report was moved to March 31, 2018, as part of an Obama-era…

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that minimum wage compliance under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is based on the workweek, not the hour. Details of the Ruling Customer service employees at a call center earned different rates of pay depending on their tasks. The company used a workweek average…