With all the snow piling up, there’s been a lot I’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t. So, it’s time to bring back the "Quick Hits" feature where I recap some of the employment law tidbits you might have missed recently.
- The Wage & Hour Litigation blog (a new employment law blog, so welcome), has a notable post about whether state-law class actions can be combined with a federal law FLSA "collective" action. One is an "opt-in" class, whi
le the other is "opt-out" — a big deal when it comes to class actions. The Seventh Circuit recently ruled that there no "categorical" rule prohibiting it, and is one of the first circuit courts to address the issue. - On Monday, I discussed how "protected concerted activity" was being applied to today’s modern workplace rules. The Workplace Prof blog noted yesterday about another "huge" possible expansion of the concept by the NLRB.
- For Connecticut employers with cross-border work in Massachusetts, the BLEG blog has news of a new Massachusetts Supreme Court case that said that a "You Break It, You Buy It" set-off for employers to their employees was not valid under state law.
- CT Mirror has news of a showdown coming on the prevailing wage issue for towns. Another Connecticut legislative initiative: Allowing children of deceased firefighters to get preferential treatment when applying for firefighting jobs.
- A new Congress means introduction of lots of new labor & employment law bills. None are expected to have any traction in a Republican-controlled house, reports the Washington DC Employment Law Update.
- And finally, the Delaware Employment Law blog tackles the question of what you can do with the paper I-9s after they’ve been scanned and saved.
Now, excuse me while I go find some dog sleds so we can get to work in this snow!