The New NLRB Ruling on Joint Employers for 2024 The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently finalized a significant rule change regarding the Standard for Determining Joint-Employer Status. Effective December 26, 2023, the new NLRB rule represents a seismic departure from previous standards, promising far-reaching implications for labor relations and legal obligations.  But what does this rule actually entail, and why should it matter to you? Let’s unravel the intricacies of this transformative shift and explore its profound significance in shaping the landscape of employment dynam ..read more

Our clients recognize how important it is to write up employees when situations call for it.  Yet, most companies struggle terribly with getting supervisors actually to fill out a disciplinary form when a problem arises with an employee.  Why is that?  And what can employers do to fix it? The most common explanation we hear is that filling out a disciplinary form just takes too much time.  Supervisors, like everyone else, believe that they already have too little time to perform their main duties.  Just the thought of having to sit down to fill out HR paperwork often s ..read more

Depending on where you get your news, you might think that unionization at private employers is experiencing a drastic rise.  Nearly every week, news articles highlight unionization efforts at high-profile companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Mcdonald’s.  Despite being only three-quarters of the way into FY22, union election petitions for FY22 have already exceeded the total number of election petitions filed in all of FY21.  This represents a 58% increase in election petitions from FY21 if the trend holds for the remainder of FY22. The factors cited for the rise of union elect ..read more

All employers know that maintaining a workplace that is free from sexual harassment is the right thing to do.  A harassment-free workplace shows respect for all employees at work and creates a safe work environment.  It also happens to be good for business.  Complaints of sexual harassment are unsettling, distracting, time-consuming, and expensive. But from an employer’s perspective, the law traditionally has established a reasonably high threshold for a complaining employee to win a lawsuit based on sexual harassment.  According to the broadly adopted standard for claiming ..read more

One of the first questions many attorneys are asked when a client is considering filing a lawsuit is whether the fees and costs they will incur in the litigation are recoverable. In virtually all personal injury and property damage cases and in many business disputes, under what courts have dubbed the “American Rule,” the answer is no. Because the cost to a client of pursuing a claim is an important factor to be considered when evaluating a case (a $100,000 claim that will cost $50,000 in unrecoverable fees and costs to litigate is only worth $50,000 even if successful), knowing when and how f ..read more

One of the first questions many attorneys are asked when a client is considering filing a lawsuit is whether the fees and costs they will incur in the litigation are recoverable. In virtually all personal injury and property damage cases and in many business disputes, under what courts have dubbed the “American Rule,” the answer is no. Because the cost to a client of pursuing a claim is an important factor to be considered when evaluating a case (a $100,000 claim that will cost $50,000 in unrecoverable fees and costs to litigate is only worth $50,000 even if successful), knowing when and how f ..read more

The end of the current session of the United States Supreme Court has seen the Court issue rulings on many hot-button political topics including gun control, abortion, immigration, and environmental protection laws.  These rulings, along with the January 6th Commission’s ongoing public hearings, have created an environment of heightened political tension and stress.  While the decisions themselves may be unrelated to an employer’s business, employers can still be impacted by these decisions through their employees’ reactions and interactions with one another.   One major wa ..read more

During the most recent legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Time to Care Act.  The big takeaway from the passage of this law: Maryland will, eventually, have a paid leave program for employees who need time off due to childbirth or serious health conditions.  Unfortunately, the coverage of the law’s passage has created confusion among employees and employers as to its effective date, who is responsible for funding the program, and its effective date.  Contrary to some misconceptions, the law only establishes a framework for what the program will eventual ..read more

Across the country, government mask mandates are being lifted, students are attending schools without masks, and people are beginning to resume activities that were curtailed when the Omicron variant was spreading like wildfire only a few short weeks ago.  Many employers are watching these trends carefully as they make plans to resume, expand, or modify their in-person work policies and practices.  Many employers are asking the same questions… Should vaccination mandates remain?  What about mask requirements?  Should remote work be curtailed? Recent polls suggest that, whil ..read more

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, no one could have predicted the ongoing transformation it would have on our home and work lives. This transformation is particularly obvious in how we talk about remote work and how many companies have adapted to, and in some cases embraced, remote work.  Once a perk offered by a few tech-savvy companies, remote work became a necessity for many employers beginning in March 2020. While it had its hiccups to start overtime, more and more executives and managers became accustomed to remote work and remote management. As a result, a PwC survey t ..read more