Imagine you are a corporate Human Resources/Total Rewards leader who receives a request from a state’s law enforcement agency for health plan records about a plan participant’s abortions or other reproductive health care. How should you respond? Since most company health plans are considered a “HIPAA covered entity,” the request should be generally be denied, … Continue Reading
In the era of Tiktok influencers and Instagram models, almost everyone has an online side hustle, and that highly qualified referral you just interviewed or bright new hire you just made might just be one of them! The same digital world that created social media celebrities has also made it easier than ever for employers … Continue Reading
With the rise of chatbots, such as ChatGPT (OpenAI), Bard (Google), and Claude (Anthropic), and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools developing at a rapid pace, employers need to consider whether, and to what extent, employees should be permitted to use them in workplace. On the one hand, there are confidentiality and privacy issues, bias … Continue Reading
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly revolutionizing the workplace. More and more employers are relying on algorithms or automated tools to determine who gets interviewed, hired, promoted, compensated, disciplined, or terminated. If adequately designed and applied, AI can help employees find employment, match employers with valuable employees, and advance diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the workplace. … Continue Reading
Imagine this: a nurse leaves the operating room during spinal surgery to participate in a union action, the employer terminates the nurse, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) holds that the employer violated federal labor law by terminating the nurse. That is exactly what happened to a New York hospital recently when the Board … Continue Reading
It is every employer’s worst nightmare: an unsuspecting employee receives an email in the early morning from an individual claiming to be his supervisor. The email asks him to follow up on an urgent work assignment that needs his immediate attention. With multiple deadlines fast approaching, he does not think twice. He opens the email … Continue Reading
Background checks are a great idea—unless you fail to do them correctly. Mistakes can be costly. One online retailer paid $5 million to settle a class action filed by 454,000 job applicants alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a key federal law governing the conduct of background checks. The number of such … Continue Reading
With the rise of remote work, employers are increasingly considering measures to monitor employee’s work, whether for security purposes, or to monitor productivity. But employers take note: some states are starting to weigh in by passing laws that limit employer monitoring, or require employers to notify employees that they are monitoring them. And recording employee … Continue Reading
Employers who conduct background checks, beware! It might be time to revisit your standard documents and screening processes to ensure they comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The number of lawsuits brought under the FCRA has more than doubled since 2009. FRCA litigation was the highest on record at the close of 2019, … Continue Reading
Screening employees for symptoms of COVID-19 is critical to limiting both the spread of the virus and a company’s exposure to claims that it did not do enough to protect its employees. But screening itself can create other liabilities, so you will want to be sure your process follows recommended federal, state and local regulations … Continue Reading
The explosive growth of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic has re-shaped notions about how we work, presenting novel challenges for management. Re-opening business worksites brings new legal and operational challenges in continuing to effectively manage remote workers, while deciding whether, when, and which remote workers should return to the worksite. The new focus on teleworking … Continue Reading
Employer-sponsored retirement plans have long been targets for cybercriminals. Employers should be on the lookout as the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the types and likelihood of potential cyber attacks against retirement plan accounts. After all, with many more Americans working remotely, interfacing with the secure plan recordkeeping sites is occurring around the clock from a … Continue Reading
Can an employee secretly record conversations with a co-worker, supervisor, human resources manager or executive and use that recording in a claim or lawsuit against his/her employer? It depends. First, where you live is important. While the federal Wiretap Act, as amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, permits recording as long as … Continue Reading
Suppose you hire Kristin Chenoweth to be your new TV show host, and she shows up on the set with her dog Thunder, claiming she needs the dog for emotional support. Must you allow this distraction? Or suppose her third cousin shows up at your restaurant with Thunder’s twin bearing a “service animal tag,” yapping … Continue Reading
Employees who don’t want to disclose genetic information about themselves and their families to their employers may have to pay a stiff price for that privacy in the future. The Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act (H.R. 1313), a GOP-sponsored bill currently under consideration in Congress, could dismantle the employee privacy protections of the Genetic Information … Continue Reading
Employers who sponsor employee wellness programs must plan now to comply with a new notice requirement that takes effect soon. Beginning with the first plan year on or after January 1, 2017, employers sponsoring wellness programs that collect employee health information (such as through a health risk assessment or biometric screening) must issue a notice … Continue Reading
It seems that not a day goes by without another massive data breach incident providing fodder for the morning headlines or the evening news. That should come as no surprise. According to key studies, the average company experienced more than 91 million security events in 2013 and 33 percent of Fortune 100 organizations will experience … Continue Reading
Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. YouTube. Blogs. Email. Texts. Social media and the “E-Workplace” have become a fact of life for all employers. Companies have learned that these social media sites can be powerful marketing tools, but also provide an open door for risk. Employees can post or write negative comments in social media that may create … Continue Reading
In Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 356 N.L.R.B. No. 63 (February 14, 2011), the National Labor of Relations Board held that an employee’s secret tape recording of a meeting with his supervisor was protected activity; and, as a result, the employee’s termination was a violation of the National Labors Relation Act. The basis of the Board’s decision was … Continue Reading
Although the workforce’s heavy reliance on email and other electronic resources is not new, many employers are still grappling with how to address the ever changing ways in which employees utilize the company’s computer systems for personal purposes. One of the primary challenges created by employees’ personal use of company systems is exposure to invasion … Continue Reading
Unfortunately, many employers have learned the hard way that failing to properly preserve emails and other files after receiving notice of a potential employee claim can result in severe sanctions against the company. One well known example is Zubulake v. USB Warburg. Although Zubulake started out as a fairly “vanilla” gender discrimination case, the employer … Continue Reading
Yet another law for employers to worry about! The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued final regulations implementing the employment provisions of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). GINA applies to all employers covered by Title VII and generally prohibits discrimination and harassment in the terms and conditions of employment, including health benefits, … Continue Reading
