Articles Posted in Employment Law

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all employers covered by the FLSA pay their employees overtime wages for hours worked over 40 hours per workweek. Generally, “overtime” wages are 1.5 times the regular wage. The FLSA, however, identifies several classes of employees who are exempt from the overtime provision. One such class of…

Because arbitration usually is cheaper and faster than litigation, employers often include arbitration agreements in their employment contracts. However, courts do not always enforce arbitration agreements. Although federal law favors arbitration, state and federal courts may find an arbitration agreement unenforceable for several reasons. One such reason is when the arbitration agreement contains a provision…

The use of computers in the workplace has become so pervasive that, whether or not employers officially permit personal use, such use has become the norm. Where “reasonable” personal use is allowed, the lines between excessive use and acceptable or normal use may not always be easy to draw. For example, Coleman v. Review Bd.…

Is there a right to privacy in an employee’s personnel file? A recent Florida appellate court case Walker v. Rout, 2013 Fla.App. Lexis 6466 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013), analyzed this subject in depth. The court observed that personnel files undoubtedly contain private information. See, for example, Regan-Touhy v. Walgreen Co, 526 F.3d 641 (10th Cir.…

When a prospective employer contacts a potential employee’s former employer for a job reference, what liability does the former employer potentially face when responding? And is it prudent for a former employer to create potential liability issues by commenting on a former employee? Prior to 1990, employers had a common law qualified privilege to discuss…

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, interpreting the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) before its 2008 amendments, recently ruled in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 707 F.3d 437 (4th Cir. 2013), that an employee’s pregnancy does not justify a disability discrimination lawsuit. The ADA is a federal law that prohibits…

In March 2013, Mr. Mavrick successfully represented a corporate employer at trial in a worker’s compensation case in Broward County, Florida. Mr. Mavrick presented testimony from four witness and conducted an extensive cross-examination of the Claimant-employee. Crucial credibility problems emerged with the former employee’s case. The Judge ruled in favor of Mr. Mavrick’s client. In…

Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA or the “Act”), an eligible employee may be entitled to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year. During this time, the employee will be able to continue to collect medical benefits that he or she had before taking a leave of absence. Moreover,…

In the United States, federal and state employment and labor laws continue to evolve on regular basis. As a valuable resource to his clients, our office is providing the following summary of the most recent amendments affecting Florida employers on both a federal and state level. Federal Amendments Recently, the National Labor Relations Board, or…

Over the past few years, the Obama Administration has been heavily cracking down on employers who hire illegal aliens, making it extremely risky for companies to employ undocumented workers.In 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered numerous companies to provide them with their employment records for review and inspection. While these “silent raids” have…