Labor and Employment Law

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On Monday June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that requiring family owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. As noted in my previous entry, the contraception coverage requirement was challenged by corporations whose owners claimed that they run…

On July 14, 2014, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued an updated “Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues” (Notice No. 915.003), along with a question and answer document about the guidance and a fact sheet for small businesses. The Enforcement Guidance, Q&A document, and Fact Sheet are available on the EEOC’s…

Starting January 1, 2015, all employers subject to the Affordable Care Act must track, on a month-to-month basis, each full-time employee (generally any employee who averages 30+ hours of service per week per month) and the employee’s share of the lowest cost monthly premium for self-only coverage (if any) by calendar month, among other information.…

Federal statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act extend protections to employees based on traits such as race, religion, national origin, sex, age, and pregnancy.   Louisiana has similar protections under state law; however, sexual orientation is not a protected trait under…

On May 13, 2014, Louisiana’s legislators joined the ranks of several other states by passing legislation to prevent employers and schools from demanding access to social media, personal email, and other online accounts.  House Bill 340, also known as the Personal Online Account Privacy Protection Act, will prohibit employers from: (1) requesting or requiring an…

The U.S. Department of Labor, in conjunction with the IRS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has issued new model COBRA notices. The revised notices provide information to qualified beneficiaries regarding other coverage options, including marketplace exchanges, Medicaid and other group health plans.

The revisions also direct individuals with questions about marketplace exchange…

Yesterday (March 25, 2014), the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (“Hobby Lobby”) and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius (“Conestoga”), two consolidated cases which challenge requirements under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Specifically, each case involves private companies that challenge the federal health care law’s mandate that employee…

A Florida court threw out an $80,000 settlement because of the plaintiff’s daughter’s Facebook post.

The father had sued his former employer, Gulliver Preparatory School, for age discrimination. The parties ultimately reached an agreement to settle the matter. However, after the settlement, the plaintiff’s daughter bragged to her 1,200 Facebook friends: “Mama and Papa Snay…

On February 12, 2014, President Obama followed up on comments made during his State of the Union address and signed an Executive Order increasing the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors. The Order, which increases the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, covers all employees who perform services or construction work under…

On February 10, 2014, the Treasury Department released final regulations on the employer mandate provisions under the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). While the final rules retain much of what was outlined in the proposed regulations issued in December 2012, the most significant news is the additional one-year delay for certain covered employers with respect…