Employment Laws

Employment law covers all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship — whether current employees, job applicants, or former employees. Because of the complexity of employment relationships and the wide variety of situations that can arise, employment law involves legal issues as diverse as discrimination, wrongful termination, wages and taxation, and workplace safety. Many of these issues are governed by applicable federal and state law. This is FindLaw’s collection of Employment Laws articles, part of the Human Resources section of the Corporate Counsel Center. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.

Human Resources

Employment Laws Articles

Disturbing New Ninth Circuit Opinion Regarding Funded Paid Leave Plans

About a month ago, the Ninth Circuit issued its troubling Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Oregon Bureau of Labor decision, (See Footnote 1.) holding that Alaska Airlines' funded paid leave plan was not subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ...
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Divided Supreme Courts Decide Bazzle v. Green Tree: Lack of Clarity in Decision Requires Caution in Dealing with Arbitration and Class Actions

The Supreme Court in a divided 4-3 – 1-1 decision reversed the decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court in Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle 2003 U.S. Lexis 4798 to allow class actions in arbitrations when the agreement between the parties ...
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Do Leave Bank Deductions for Partial-Day Absences Destroy Exempt Status?

Executive, administrative, and professional "white collar" employees who meet the "salary basis test" and the "duties test" are exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and therefore, they do not have to be paid ...
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Do Your At-Will Employees Have an Employment Contract?

Some Arizona employers may be surprised to learn that their "at-will" employees have employment contracts. The Arizona Employment Protection Act explicitly states that the employment relationship is contractual in nature. This means that even if you ...
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Does a Social Security Mis-Match Letter Obligate an Employer to Re-Verify an Employee’s Employment Eligibility Status? Maybe

In our last issue we warned you about the flood of "mis-match" letters being issued by the Social Security Administration ("SSA") see Beware of Social Security Mis-Match Letters. These letters are sent to employers who submit employee lists with ...
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Does Payment Of Workers’ Compensation Benefits Interrupt Prescriptive Periods For Maritime Claims?

Prejean was injured during the course and scope of his employment with Industrial Cleanup, Inc. while working aboard a 16' aluminum boat which was owned and operated by his employer. The injury occurred while the vessel was located on navigable ...
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Does the Crow Law Firm Handle Injuries From Auto Accidents?

One of the most common questions we are asked by clients is "Do you handle injury cases other than railroad?" The answer is Regular readers of this column know that the Crow Law Firm represents injured railroad workers under the Federal Employers ...
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DOL Annual Report Filing Requirements for Employee Benefit Plans

Sections 103 and 104 of ERISA require the Plan Administrator of an employee benefit plan to file an annual report on a Form 5500 series document with the Internal Revenue Service. The report is later transmitted to the Department of Labor (DOL ...
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DOL Issues Opinions on Mutual Fund Alliances

Last month, the Department of Labor ("DOL") issued two advisory opinions regarding the receipt of fees by a financial institution from unrelated mutual funds in connection with investments in the mutual funds by plan clients of the financial ...
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DOL Issues Proposed Summary Plan Description Regulations

In September, the DOL issued proposed regulations regarding Summary Plan Descriptions ("SPDs"). As you are probably aware, ERISA requires that plan administrators distribute SPDs to all participants covered under both qualified plans and health and ...
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