New Employment Law Updates

This continues to be a very active time in terms of legislation especially in the area of employment law.  Below is the most recent edition of “Employment Law Updates”.  These updates are provided by Jon Vegosen, a founding member of the Chicago law firm of Funkhouser Vegosen Liebman & Dunn Ltd. (“FVLD”).  FVLD is a full service law firm, and Jon regularly counsels clients, publishes articles, and conducts seminars on all types of labor and employment law matters.  Jon’s periodic labor and employment law “updates” are only brief overviews of important federal laws so we encourage you to speak with him directly at (312) 701-6860 or visit his firm’s website (www.fvldlaw.com), or contact your regular counsel, EAP, or other HR consultants. Of course, the updates are merely informational and do not constitute legal advice.

Reminder:  New Form I-9 Takes Effect April 3, 2009 

Every employer in the United States is required to complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for each new employee, including citizens and non-citizens, within three days of hire.  Effective April 3, 2009, all employers will need to complete a revised Form I-9 for each new hire, as well as for re-verification of employees with temporary work authorization.  The new Form I-9 must be used on and after April 3, 2009, and includes a revised list of acceptable documents for proving identity and employment authorization.  The new Form I-9 is available at http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis. 

And Don’t Forget:  COBRA and the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 

President Obama recently signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Stimulus Package”) into law.  The Stimulus Package makes several substantial changes to COBRA health care coverage.  Because these changes could potentially affect your organization, and the Stimulus Package requires employers to provide a notice to employees by April 18, 2009, you may want to review our recent newsletter that discusses the changes.  For more information, please visit http://www.fvldlaw.com/newsletters/2009-02.htm. 

A Word to the Wise

There have been rumblings about potential changes to federal wage and hour laws that employers can expect from the Obama Administration.  Currently, the wage and hour laws contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”) remain unchanged, and the Department of Labor has not recently issued any new regulations that affect the interpretation of the existing federal wage and hour laws.  Notwithstanding, at least one bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act, has been introduced in Congress that seeks to amend these laws.  Aside from any proposed legislation, the Obama Administration has also indicated that it will place an increased focus on the enforcement of the existing federal wage and hour laws.  All employers, therefore, need to ensure they are complying with current wage and hour laws contained in the FLSA, and they would be wise to conduct an internal audit to make sure that they:

• Have properly classified their independent contractors and employees
• Have properly classified their employees as “exempt” or “non-exempt”
• Are paying their non-exempt employees overtime for all hours worked in excess of 40 during a workweek
• Are not taking prohibited deductions from their employees’ paychecks
• Are paying departing employees their earned and unused vacation pay

Significant Increase in EEOC Claims 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) announced on March 11, 2009, that a record-breaking number of workplace discrimination charges (95,402) were filed with the EEOC in Fiscal Year 2008.  This figure constitutes a 15% rise in claims over and above Fiscal Year 2007, when the EEOC received 82,792 discrimination charges.  Fasten your seat belts.  With the very challenging economy, more claims will likely be filed in Fiscal Year 2009.

 Supreme Court Weights In on Retaliation Claims 

On January 26, 2009, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that an employee is protected from retaliation when the employee answers questions during an investigation of a co-worker’s discrimination or harassment allegations.  Employers need to be mindful of this expanded protection for employees.  For more information, see Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

Tags: employment law, Federal Regulations, law