Articles

As most Maryland employers know, recreational marijuana was legalized as of July 1, 2023. The law does not contain any workplace provisions, and employers (and employees!) wondered what their rights were with regard to testing and disciplining employees for marijuana use. Well, according to recently-released guidance from the newly-created Maryland […]

Following the Supreme Court’s recent overhaul of the undue hardship standard for religious accommodations requests under Title VII, which we discussed in our June 29, 2023 E-Lert, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently found that an employer failed to meet the heightened standard and, in so […]

In the past, the various federal workplace agencies – the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Department of Labor (and its various divisions, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage-Hour Division, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) – did not communicate. […]

In two companion decisions issued on August 30, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) severely eroded unionized employers’ ability to unilaterally act in accordance with their past practice. The Board concluded in these cases that an employer will violate Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act (which […]

These were the points recently made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in finding that an employee was not disabled within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act and that he did not experience retaliation for requesting an accommodation. Background of the Case. In Israelitt […]

In our January 2022 E-Update, we discussed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Department of Labor to facilitate information sharing, referrals, joint investigations, and enforcement, and predicted that employers would face more aggressive agency activity. And that is the case, as evidenced […]

In order to establish a discrimination claim under Title VII, an employee must show, among other things, that they suffered some “adverse employment action.” Traditionally, courts have interpreted that to mean some “ultimate employment decision” (typically involving a direct economic impact, such as a lack of promotion or a termination). […]

The NLRB’s August 25, 2023 Cemex decision drastically changed the rules concerning union organizing, as we discussed in detail in our August 28, 2023 E-lert.  Under the new rules, if an employer does not file an “RM” petition with the NLRB within two weeks of receiving a demand for recognition […]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a new, streamlined Form I-9 that employers should use beginning August 1, 2023 to verify the employment eligibility of new hires. In conjunction with this announcement, the Department of Homeland Security issued a rule that continues to allow for remote verification […]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued an updated version of its Visual Disabilities in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act technical assistance document. This document provides guidance to employers on when they may ask employees and applicants questions about a vision impairment, possible accommodations, safety concerns, and […]