Employment Law, Business Litigation & Personal Injury Legal Updates

Time clock rounding is a longtime practice by which employers round employee start and stop times to the nearest five minutes, nearest one-tenth of an hour, or nearest quarter of an hour. While it has been the norm for many years, is the practice legal? Although...

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligible employees of covered employers (i.e., those employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles of an employer’s worksite) are entitled to unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons for up...

Employees in Arizona are protected in some circumstances against retaliation for “whistleblowing,” which is the reporting of what the employee believes is illegal conduct engaged in by the employer. Arizona has one “whistleblowing” law that applies to individuals who...

Effective August 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued regulations requiring employers to post two revised workplace posters. The first new poster, "Employee Rights Under The Fair Labor Standards Act" poster, contains new information about the rights of...

HB 2579 became effective August 6, 2016, making sweeping changes not only to preempt local governments from enacting their own living wage or fringe benefits ordinances for private employers but also redefining what legally constitutes a “wage.” Prior to this...

A new Arizona law (A.R.S. § 23-1601), effective August 6, 2016, attempts to help businesses to correctly determine which of its workers are employees and which are independent contractors. The issue of classifying a worker as an employee or an independent contractor...

After much ado, on May 18, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) released the final changes to Part 541 regulations, more than doubling the minimum salary threshold to qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act...

On May 11, 2016, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”), was signed into law. In addition to making significant changes regarding trade secrets protection, the DTSA imposes significant new notice requirements on employers related to employees’ (and consultants’...

With the November general election quickly approaching, Arizona employers should begin any necessary preparation for the potential impact voting may have upon the workplace. Arizona law requires employers to provide employees with time off work to vote if there are...

As stated in earlier articles, Arizona laws do not require employers to provide vacation benefits, either paid or unpaid, or sick leave benefits, either paid or unpaid. Arizona laws also do not required employers to provide employees with severance pay. You may be...

In Arizona, an employer is not required to pay an employee any wages for time spent complying with a jury summons or serving on a jury. However, an employer may not discharge or otherwise penalize an employee for complying with a jury summons or serving on a jury....

On July 15, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2015-1 providing further guidance regarding classification of independent contractors. The DOL points out that “[w]hen employers improperly classify employees as...

In a five to four decision, the United States Supreme Court held that (1) the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses require states to perform same-sex marriages and (2) the U.S. Constitution requires states to give full recognition to marriages...

On June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII does not require an applicant to demonstrate that a potential employer actually knew of the need for a religious accommodation. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.,...

This month the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) launched a pilot program referred to as the Action Counsel for Transformation to a Digital Charge System (“Act Digital”) taking its first steps toward an all-digital charge system. Currently, 11 of the 53...