Important Changes to Georgia’s Garnishment Laws Coming January 2021
12/31/20
By: Amy C. Bender Without much, if any, attention, Georgia’s garnishment laws were amended in ways that will significantly impact continuing garnishments served on employers effective January 1, 2021. Some of the major changes are discussed below. As background, garnishment is a method by which a creditor may recoup a debt owed by an individual.…
Federal Court Addresses Georgia Restrictive Covenant Rules
10/21/20
By: Ken Menendez Employers regularly grapple with the interpretation and application of the law regarding restrictive covenants. Court rulings in such cases are often drawn narrowly to address the specific facts of the case at issue and therefore can be of limited value in providing guidance to employer and employee alike. In light of this, decisions…
Georgia Revamps Lactation Break Law for Private Employers and Creates a New One for Public Employers
9/22/20
By: Tim Boughey The Georgia state legislature recently weighed in on the issue of lactation breaks by passing “Charlotte’s Law.” Before August 5, 2020, Georgia employers largely followed the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s lactation break requirements to provide an employee with a reasonable amount of unpaid break time and a space to express milk…
U.S. Department of Education Announces Temporary Halting of Wage Garnishments
3/30/20
By: Jeffrey A. Hord On March 25, 2020, the Department of Education (DOE) announced that it will temporarily halt seizing wages and/or withholding tax refunds from borrowers who have defaulted on their student loans held by the federal government. As part of the Trump Administration’s multifaceted response to the COVID-19 national emergency, the DOE has…
3/23/20
By: Andrew Kim In response to COVID-19, on March 16, 2020, the Georgia Department of Labor adopted emergency rules making it a requirement for employers affected by COVID-19 to file partial unemployment claims on behalf of their employees. Barring subsequent action from the Georgia Department of Labor, these emergency rules will remain in effect for…
NLRB Finally Issues Its Long-Awaited Joint Employer Rule
3/3/20
By: Justin Boron In a pivotal move that could constrain collective bargaining among multiple businesses, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) last week issued its final rule for the joint employer test. It is the final step before the rule becomes effective on April 27, 2020. The NLRB uses the joint employer test to determine…
Federal Court Temporarily Enjoins California’s Ban On Mandatory Arbitration Agreements
1/7/20
By: Brad Adler Employers will recall that California passed a law in October, 2019 (AB 51) that would limit the ability of employers to require mandatory arbitration of certain statutory employment claims as of January 1, 2020. Specifically, AB 51 provided that employers could no longer require, as a condition of employment, that a job applicant…
1/2/20
By: Brad Adler On December 17, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in Caesars Entertainment that employees have no right under the National Labor Relations Act to use an employer’s email system for union activities, including organizing. This decision reverses a controversial and unprecedented ruling by the NLRB in 2014 (Purple Communications) that essentially…
DOL Releases New Overtime Rule And Increases Minimum Salary To $35,568
9/30/19
By: Brad Adler On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor released its long-awaited new minimum salary threshold for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white collar exemptions (i.e., executive, administrative and professional exemptions). Under the new rule, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2020, the DOL has set the minimum…
EEO-1 Portal for Pay and Hours Data to Open July 15, 2019
7/2/19
By: Brent Bean The EEOC reported last week that its Portal for receiving Component 2 information, employee pay and hours worked data, will open on July 15, 2019. The deadline for submission of this information by covered entities is September 30 of this year. Companies with 100 or more employees, along with federal contractors who…
6/24/19
By: Michael Hill The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to answer the question of where to draw the line when a decision is motivated in part by race discrimination. Must the plaintiff show the decision would not have been made but for his or her race, or is it sufficient to show that race was…
Did You Really Terminate That H-1B Employee?
5/21/19
By: Layli Eskandari Deal U.S. Department of Labor Awards $43,366 Back Pay to Engineer. In January, a Microfabrication Engineer, employed under the H-1B visa program by Minnesota-based TLC Precision Wafer Technology, Inc., was awarded $43,366.67 in back wages and interest after an investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and hour Division. The employment began…