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Oct 23 2019
Uncategorized

New Form W-4 coming for 2020

The IRS will issue a newly revised Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate, to be used beginning in 2020 to reflect changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and help employees improve withholding accuracy. The redesigned form will no longer use withholding allowances to establish income tax withholding but will instead use…

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Oct 08 2019
Uncategorized

WARN Act notice required for employment loss, not temporary layoff

An employer wasn’t required to give workers 60 days’ notice of a layoff lasting fewer than 6 months since the layoff wasn’t an “employment loss” under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), according to a recent court decision. Under the WARN Act, an employer must give at least 60 days’ notice in…

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Oct 08 2019
Uncategorized

Q&A: Duty to keep health insurance during workers’ comp is limited

Question: We have an employee out on leave to recover from a workplace injury. Are we supposed to keep her on our health insurance plan? Answer: It depends on whether the employee’s leave is protected by federal or state leave laws in addition to workers’ compensation. State workers’ comp laws generally don’t require employers to…

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Oct 08 2019
Uncategorized

Employer pays $58K penalty after teen’s death

A Georgia company was found in violation of federal child labor laws prohibiting hazardous occupations for minors when it employed a 15-year-old to operate a power-driven weed cutter. Sadly, the teen drowned while cutting brush along a river. During its investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) also found the employer had employed the teen…

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Sep 25 2019
Safety and Health

Employer sentenced after welder’s death

In the aftermath of a welder’s death on the job, an oilfield company pled guilty to a willful violation of federal safety standards requiring tanks to be cleaned before welding. The welder was 28 years old and had recently moved to North Dakota to work in the oil industry after serving in the Marine Corps…

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Sep 25 2019
Wage and Hour

EEOC doesn’t intend to seek pay & hours data for 2019 or beyond

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says it needs time to analyze the 2017 and 2018 data on worker pay and hours it’s currently collecting, and therefore doesn’t intend to ask for such data in future years. The agency has also come to the conclusion that it grossly underestimated the amount of time it…

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Sep 20 2019
Wage and Hour

Q&A: Directly sharing wages with other companies is illegal

Question: Our plant manager asked the managers of the other operations in our business park to share what they’re paying for forklift operators and what they’re planning for wage increases this year. He’d like to make sure that we remain competitive; is his informal survey of these local companies okay? Answer: Absolutely not! Antitrust laws…

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Sep 11 2019
Termination & ResignationWashington

Supervisor in Washington may be individually liable for termination

In Washington, an employee may bring a legal claim against an individual supervisor who participated in an employment termination decision, according to a federal district court. A former middle school principal brought a claim for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy against both the school district and the individual school superintendent who participated in…

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Sep 11 2019
Uncategorized

Q&A: Don’t use lie detectors to investigate theft

Question: Our petty cash has been disappearing lately. There are three employees with access to the cash drawer. Can we use lie detectors as long as we test all three? Answer: No, that’s not enough to justify such a test. Although you’re attempting to be non-discriminatory in testing everyone, using lie detectors on employees is…

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Sep 11 2019
DisabilityHarassment & DiscriminationTermination & Resignation

Balancing competing employee interests can be tricky

An employer in Missouri is finding out the hard way that balancing the competing rights of employees can be complicated. In this case, a coworker with Tourette’s syndrome regularly and repeatedly shouted racial slurs at an African American employee. The employer tried to separate the workers so they didn’t have to work together, and the…

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Aug 29 2019
Leave LawsWage and Hour

Q&A: Denying perfect attendance bonus to FMLA users can spell trouble

Question: We have a “no-fault” attendance policy, which means that if an employee doesn’t show up for a scheduled shift, they get a point. We’re careful, however, not to penalize, discipline, or terminate anyone for using protected leave (such as paid sick leave or FMLA). Instead, we incentivize employees. If an employee reaches the end…

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Aug 29 2019
Leave Laws

DOL says FMLA covers special ed consultations at child’s school

Recently the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released an opinion letter saying an employee should be granted intermittent leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to attend school meetings related to her children’s health. The children had medically certified serious health conditions, and the employee was allowed intermittent leave to take the…

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