- Did you hear about the guy who went into a rage when he got the shorter end of the wishbone?
He just snapped!
In prior posts, I’ve described how Valentine’s Day and Halloween have been fowl holidays for employers. Many a harassment or discrimination complaint has been based on those holidays.
But what about Thanksgiving?
What does it feel like winning the lottery? I don’t know but it has to feel a lot like getting picked for jury duty.
(Wait, am I the only one to get excited at the prospect of jury duty? <grins sheepishly>)
If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you may remember that I’ve been called to jury duty before. Sometimes, it’s been cancelled but back in 2011, I made it all the way to a courtroom — only to be dismissed when I noted that I knew the attorneys at both lawfirms.
Anyways….I’ve been called to jury duty again next week, which gave me the inspiration for this week’s Employment Law Checklist Project post #emplawchecklist. The law is found in a different section than most — and a reminder that not all the laws that employers have to follow are in one neat package.
In fact, this might be one of more confusing employment laws out there.
The key portions of jury duty are actually found in two separate provisions. If your eyes glaze over at the laws, just skip to the summary down below.
Continue Reading Employment Law Checklist Project: Protecting the Sacredness of Jury Duty
At our Shipman & Goodwin Labor & Employment Law seminar last week, one of the hot topics that got attendees talking was about minimum wage & overtime rules — both of which are in the midst of change.
But my fellow partners brought up another law in that discussion that shouldn’t be overlooked. And
January 1st is typically a time for new laws to kick in and 2019 is no exception.
For employers, the biggest change is one that I discussed way back in May with amendments to Connecticut’s Pay Equity law.
The new law prohibits employers from asking a job applicant his or her wage and salary history.
Over the weekend, the General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting employers, including the state and its political subdivisions, from asking, or directing a third-party to ask, about a prospective employee’s wage and salary history.
I have previously discussed the measure here. There were a few versions floating around and it was House Bill 5386 that
With the final few working days of the General Assembly session, we’re starting to see the outlines on bills that are pretenders vs. contenders.
Yesterday, the House passed a contender on the subject of pay equity in a bi-partisan vote. Unless the Senate decides not to bring up the matter (as it decided last year),
Yesterday, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted to pass legislation that would promote pay equity among men and women. However, the bill lacks a key provision that would have barred prospective employers from inquiring into an applicant’s salary history.
The CT Mirror and Hartford Business Journal do a good job reporting on the developments. The
Well, it was bound to happen. After nine years of writing the blog on a near daily schedule, some work and personal commitments interfered with my blog writing schedule. But never fear, more new posts from me are now right around the corner.
In the meantime, one of our summer associates, James Joyce, joins the
It’s been a long-time coming but the General Assembly finally approved of a measure that would allow employers to pay employees on a bi-weekly basis without receiving prior CTDOL approval.
The provision, part of a set of “technical” revisions to various Department of Labor matters, is long overdue.
Several employers had moved to a bi-weekly
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing more tweets from human resources types and mainstream reporters using the phrase “wage theft”. Two recent examples? William Tincup (who runs the popular online DriveThruHR show that I appeared on a while ago) recently tweeted:
RT Wage Theft Another Assault on Workers’ Compensation http://t.co/iXmbHnASUL @jongelman
— William Tincup, SPHR (@williamtincup) April 23, 2014
And The New York Times labor reporter, Steven Greenhouse yesterday tweeted:
NYT Editorial: Wage Theft Across the Board–Sorry to say, wage theft hits low-wage & middle-class workers alike. http://t.co/4xnMqgtyEr
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) April 22, 2014
Yes, even The New York Times Editorial Board is beginning to use the term with surprising carelessness suggesting “law enforcement officials” (a term typically reserved for police officers, not Department of Labor officials) routinely use it.
It’s time for employers to beware this phrase and fight its usage because, in my view, it’s really an attempt to turn something often unintentional, into something nefarious and intentional.
Or as Mandy Patinkin’s character in The Princess Bride said: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
What DO I mean? Well, think of the word, “theft” and most of us think of the intentional taking of something that belongs to someone else. Like your jewelry, or your iPhone. Even your company’s trade secrets.
Continue Reading “Wage Theft”: The Trendy Phrase That May Not Mean What You Think It Means