Posted in Employment Law, Immigration Law, Labor Law
Another successful seminar in the books! Thank you to the nearly 400 attendees who came from near and far. We hope you enjoyed the day and that our presentations provided timely, relevant and valuable insight.
Congratulations to our blog contest winners! You will receive complimentary registrations to our 2019 Seminar.
The top takeaways from each of our sessions: Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law, Immigration Law, Labor Law
Thank you to those of you who attended our 28th Annual Labor & Employment Law Seminar in Miami. It was a huge success with over 400 attendees. Be sure to keep an eye out for our top takeaways post coming soon.
In addition to the Miami seminar, we are excited to bring a similar seminar to Tampa this year! Please join us for our Annual TAMPA Labor & Employment Law Seminar Friday, May 18 from 8am-3pm at the Tampa Bay History Center Museum.
Speakers from our Labor & Employment group will cover the following topics:
Posted in Employment Law
Did you know that 48.8% of the charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC in the 2017 fiscal year alleged retaliation as a result of employees asserting claims of employment discrimination? In a distant second place were allegations of race discrimination. In third place: disability discrimination. Employers should expect retaliation claims to continue to lead the pack.
To give you an idea, in just the past two weeks, Coral Gables Trust Company settled with the EEOC in Miami on sexual harassment and retaliation claims for $180,000 along with other non-monetary terms; a printing company in Nevada settled for $242,000; and a grower in Washington settled for $95,000. On the upside, after litigating claims of retaliation, employers prevailed last week in Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and Florida. Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law
The recent budget bill contains big changes for businesses with tipped employees. The new law provides that an employer (including its managers and supervisors) may not keep any portion of its employees’ tips even if the employer does not take a tip credit, which is a maximum of $3.02 in Florida. Employers who violate this prohibition not only lose the tip credit but also now will be required to repay any improperly kept tips to their employees plus liquidated damages (double damages) based on the total amount of any tip credit taken plus any improperly kept tips. In addition, the Dept. of Labor can now assess violators a civil penalty of up to $1,100 for each violation. Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law
Last week, the U.S. Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) announced that it will soon offer employers the chance to self-report to the WHD and potentially resolve minimum wage and overtime violations. This opportunity will be offered under the new WHD Payroll Audit Independent Determination (“PAID”) program.
The employment law community is buzzing with the question: when would it make sense for an employer to subject themselves to a WHD audit? Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law, Immigration Law, Labor Law
Please join us for our 28th Annual Labor & Employment Law Seminar Friday, April 27th from 8am-4pm at the JW Marriott Marquis Miami.
Our annual seminar draws hundreds of human resource professionals, in-house counsel and senior executives from South Florida’s top businesses. And for good reason! No one does events quite like we do – our seminars are not just lectures, they are learning experiences. This year will not disappoint. Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want. So, tell me what you want, what you really really want.
From “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls
Are financial rewards the best way to motivate employees?
In employee/employer survey after survey over the last 70 years, there has been a continuing disconnect between what employers think employees value most and what employees actually value most. The trend continues up through today.
Here are the survey results ranked in order — 1 being the most valued and 10 being the least valued: Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law, Labor Law
What can we learn from Major League Baseball’s currently unemployed players? Employee satisfaction has become increasingly important as employees expect fulfillment in their careers (both financially and with work-life balance programs and benefits). Whether unionized or not, it is important to analyze a company’s culture and the industry to consider what motivates employees. Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law
Last week, the Attorneys General (“AGs”) in each state and U.S. territory all announced their support for ending mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims. They wrote Congress that the “secrecy requirements of arbitration clauses” as applied to sexual harassment claims “disserve the public interest … [by creating] a culture of silence that protects perpetrators at the cost of their victims” and that victims “have a right to their day in court.” Continue Reading
Posted in Employment Law
Amazon recently made a voluntary decision to ban the use of salary history questions during the employment application process. Why?
The idea is that banning questions about salary history aims to close the gender pay gap. According to the Census Bureau, women make 80% of every dollar a man makes. Many argue that the gender pay gap widens as women and men age. Furthermore, according to payscale.com, “a woman who is asked about her salary history and declines to disclose earns 1.8 percent less than a woman who discloses. If a man declines to disclose, he gets paid 1.2 percent more on average.” Continue Reading
