Labor & Employment Developments Blog

We have posted an alert regarding Ohio's new military leave law, which takes effect on July 2, 2010. An initial question that the new law raises is how it compares to and interacts with the FMLA’s provisions for military leave. At present, the answer is not clear but there are a couple of points worth noting.

Most people have heard the news by now. Gen. Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his command of international forces in Afghanistan after his disparaging remarks about the Obama administration were published in Rolling Stone.  I had not intended to comment on this story, but so many people have asked me my opinion (offline) that I decided to blog about it.  Upon reflection, the story does have some application to labor and employment law issues.  In fact, I have decided to coin a new term for use in the employment law context — a “McChrystal.”

Executive Order 13496, signed in January 2009, requires all federal contractors and subcontractors to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including their right to join and support unions. The key take away is that federal contractors with $100,000 or more in federal contracts and subcontractors with $10,000 or more must post a notice in the workplace in paper form where other such notices are posted.

Have you heard about the non-solicit suit involving communications on LinkedIn? Well, it seems that an employer in Minnesota is suing former employees and their new employer over violations of the employees’ non-solicitation agreements. The twist is that one of the employees allegedly did her solicitation through her LinkedIn page, communicating with several former colleagues after going to work for a competitor.

Using forms and checklists can save the client time and money on the finished product but they can never be a substitute for sound legal analysis. 

Here is a scenario I’ve seen too many times to count.  An employee is terminated and files a lawsuit.  The employer had a good reason but there are counter arguments. 

In employment litigation, management witnesses are sometimes reluctant to be forthcoming about business decisions if they perceive that the reasons for a decision might not look good to others.  This kind of thinking often misses the point in employment litigation. 

Here is a scenario that I’ve seen many times:  An employee does something bad that will likely lead to termination; while the employer is investigating and deciding what to do next, the employee submits FMLA paperwork requesting leave. 

Maybe I’m a cynic but it’s possible that the employee doesn’t really need FMLA leave. 

I have followed the news coverage of the Healthcare Reform package, the online blog coverage, and I actually perused the legislation myself.  Why did I do that?  So I could compile the following non-exhaustive list of Healthcare Reform issues that may impact employers, apart from the more obvious employee benefit and insurance issues.  Here is what I have so far, in no particular order...

The Ohio Supreme Court delivered a major victory for employers this week by upholding the constitutionality of Ohio's intentional tort statute.