Immediate Action Items for Employers: Recalculate “base rate” for any employee paid on anything other than a standard wage. If you presently scrutinize employees’ requests for ESST, consider approving it as a matter of course. Aling use of ESST to the increments in which you pay. Ensure your paystub includes the necessary information. Make a plan to keep pay and ESST information for 3 years. If you are offering paid leave above the ESST minimums, ensure that you are offering it on the same terms as ESST; or consider ceasing to offer excess.

I was recently asked to speak about employment law issues at a conference for human resource professionals. Registrants were polled in advance about what they’d like covered, and “DEI” was a top response. (DEI stands for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;” DEI means . . . well . . . the definition of DEI is part of...

“Chevron deference” and the end of Chevron deference has been all over the news since the United States Supreme Court published its June 28, 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimaondo, Secretary of Commerce.  As with most media coverage of the law, most of the reporting I’ve seen has been overly simplistic at best,...

The new rule provides details on the implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) (42 USC 2000). PWFA provides employees certain rights regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions.  (§1636.1.) Like most modern statutes, when our elected legislators passed PWFA, they left many details to be filled in by unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch. The new rule provides those details.

Statutory Title: Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program ActStatutory Citation: Minnesota Statutes section 187.01-.08.Bill Number: House File 782Issuing Body: State of MinnesotaDate Enacted: May 19, 2023Effective Date: The statute is immediately effective, but the obligations of employers will not be operative until the program is fully established, which looks to be January 1, 2025.In Brief: The...

Safeguarding Yourself from What You May Not Know With big ticket items like Earned Sick and Safe Time and Paid Family Medical Leave passed in the 2022- 2023 Minnesota Legislative Session getting most of the attention, you may have missed some of the smaller items that can get employers in trouble. Wage Disclosure Protections are...

Retaliatory discharge is a claim that an employee was fired, not for a legitimate business reason, but rather in retaliation for the employee taking some legally protected action such as: making a workers’ compensation claim, taking FMLA leave; or reporting harassment, unsafe working conditions, or some other illegal activity. Wrongful termination lawsuits are unique. In...