Connecticut Employment Law Blog Insight on Labor & Employment Developments for Connecticut Businesses

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Proposed Bill Would Create Chaos for Employers and Constituionalize Common Workplace Grievances

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Legislative Developments

Employers: If there is one proposed bill at the Connecticut General Assembly to be concerned about this year, it is the stealth House Bill 6667.  It could have the single biggest impact on employer/employee relations in a generation.   And that’s just for starters. If you look at the bill on the legislative website, it looks innocuous enough. … Continue Reading

Reading the Tea Leaves for Employment Law in 2013 (Harry Potter Edition)

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Labor Law & NRLB, Laws and Regulations, Legislative Developments, Litigation, Social Media

In this week’s Connecticut Law Tribune, I filed my annual “forecast” of employment law for 2013. As with the weather forecasts, it is subject to change on a moment’s notice. So drink your “tea” with a grain of salt. So, last year, I brought out my trusted Magic 8-Ball to make my 2012 predictions. Looking… Continue Reading

Doing Something Good for Newtown

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Human Resources (HR) Compliance

1:00 p.m. update: I’m hearing of slight delays in processing the e-gift cards at Target.  Just please make your contribution as soon as you can today and we’ll watch for them this evening if need be. You can also use Walmart, Staples or Amazon if you prefer.  I am extending the cutoff to donations until this evening due… Continue Reading

Four Potential Employment Law Impacts of Obama’s Next Four Years

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Labor Law & NRLB, Litigation, Wage & Hour

President Obama was re-elected to a second term last night (something forecasted by stats guru Nate Silver). What does it mean for employers? I won’t go quite as far as fellow blogger Jon Hyman, who said this morning that “it just doesn’t matter” who won last night.  I think it matters in part. But the impact… Continue Reading

Don’t Forget to Vote … For ABA Journal Blawg 100

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured

It’s the middle of the political season. And you know what that means, a request to vote. No, not for the Presidential election (though I’ll have more on that next month). But for the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 nominations which end on September 7th. For three years running, this blog has been named to the… Continue Reading

After NLRB’s Memo, Drafting Employment Policies Got Trickier

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Labor Law & NRLB, Laws and Regulations, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource Center, Social Media

I’ve had a little more time to digest the latest memo from the NLRB opining on what is and what isn’t appropriate for employers to have in their policies. And I’ve come to a very serious conclusion: It’s an utter mess.  (Fellow employment lawyers use the phrases “bungled mess” (Jon Hyman), “not good” (Molly DiBianca),… Continue Reading

Conn. Supreme Court Rejects $10M Verdict; Insubordination is Not Protected Speech

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Litigation, Wage & Hour

In one of the most significant employment law cases decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court in recent years, the Court unanimously ruled earlier this month that an employee’s free speech rights in the private workplace do not extend to speech pursuant to his job duties.  Those rights do not cover insubordinate behavior either. In doing so, the Court reversed the… Continue Reading

Big Day for Employers at Connecticut Supreme Court

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Litigation

It’s been several years since employers had some decisions to cheer about at the Connecticut Supreme Court.  But yesterday, the court released two important decisions that will likely rank as among the most significant the court has issued in the employment context in the last decade. I represented the employer in one of those cases, which you… Continue Reading

Employment Discrimination Protocols for Discovery: They’re Coming

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Highlight, Litigation

UPDATED A few weeks ago, the U.S. Courts’ publication “The Third Branch” updated the public on a pilot program that has been going on for a while that established initial discovery protocols that employers and employees need to follow in discrimination cases, without the need for case-specific discovery requests. (I was tipped off to this… Continue Reading

Legislative Session Begins; Discrimination Against Unemployed on the Agenda

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Highlight, Legislative Developments

The new legislative session at the Connecticut General Assemblybegan last week and the Labor & Public Employee Committee wasted no time setting an agenda for bills for discussion in this short legislative session. At a committee meeting last Thursday, the Committee discussed a variety of items to be discussed and proposed as bills.  Among the… Continue Reading

Super Bowl Office Pools in Connecticut – What Box Are You In?

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations

It doesn’t get much better than this for Connecticut residents. Giants vs. Patriots for the Super Bowl.  In a state where the loyalties are divided, a Super Bowl rematch from four years ago is nirvana.  And with such interest and enthusiasm, friendly wagering among friends will no doubt follow. But what happens when those people… Continue Reading

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Supports Fairly Broad “Ministerial Exception” to Anti-Discrimination Laws

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Highlight, Litigation

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today gave some teeth to the “ministerial exception” that, in essence, precludes some employees of religious institutions from suing them under federal discrimination laws. I’ve discussed the exception in various posts over the years here and here.  Its been supported in the Second Circuit and by the… Continue Reading

BREAKING: Connecticut DOL Issues Guidance and Poster on Paid Sick Leave

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Wage & Hour

The Connecticut Department of Labor has issued its long-awaited guidance this morning on the new Paid Leave Law that becomes effective on January 1, 2012. You can download the CTDOL’s guidance here. My cursory review of the guidance indicates that it answers some questions that have been floating out there — albeit in ways that… Continue Reading

Paid Sick Leave and What Employers Need to Know: A Seminar

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Legislative Developments, Social Media

Employers in Connecticut have less than two months to get ready before the new Paid Sick Leave law goes into effect. If only that were the only new development. A few months ago, my firm held a sold-out seminar to address these new developments and much more. Because of overwhelming demand, we are putting on… Continue Reading

What Are My Favorite “Work” Songs On My iPod? Steve Jobs Knows.

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance

I’ve been meaning to write a post about work songs since I started this blog.  (In fact, back in 2008, I noted that I would write about it in an upcoming post.  Three years later…) But it never felt important enough. Too frivolous. Just a simple post about songs. I was thinking about that again… Continue Reading

Hurricane Irene: Do You Need to Pay Your Employees If You’re Closed?

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Wage & Hour

Updated: August 28, 2011 – As of mid-morning, more than 40 percent of the state is without power, making this storm the highest power outage in state history.  Widespread office closures are expected for Monday and early this week. It’s the (relatively) calm before the storm on Saturday night.  Hurricane Irene is definitely coming. But… Continue Reading

Hurricane Irene: “Reporting Time” Pay and Other Wage & Hour Issues for Employers

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Wage & Hour

So, by now (Friday morning), your preparations at your workplace should be in full swing.  The latest forecasts this morning call for a landfall on Sunday somewhere along the Connecticut coast (perhaps Bridgeport) with hurricane impacts felt throughout the state. Connecticut has set up some new resources since my post yesterday specifically on Hurricane Irene. … Continue Reading

The Seven Updates To Consider to Your Employee Handbook

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative Developments, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource Center

With all the legislative developments in Connecticut over the last year or so, it’s tough to keep track of all of the changes that your company needs to consider to update your employee handbook and employment policies. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the changes to consider with a link to more information on… Continue Reading

Wal-Mart v. Dukes: What The Class-Action Decision Really Means for Employers

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Class Actions, Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Highlight, Litigation

Over the last 24 hours, there’s been a lot written about the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes.  Frankly, all of them are starting to say the same thing:  The decision is going to hamper all class-action discrimination cases going forward. But that statement tends to simplify the decision a bit too… Continue Reading