Employment Law Chronicle for Virginia & the District of Columbia

DOL has published its Final Rule implementing the January 2008 amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In addition to modifying existing FMLA regulations to add military family leave entitlements enacted in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 (NDAA), the final FMLA Regulations provide needed clarification about employer and employee rights and responsibilities under the FMLA.

The revised FMLA Regulations take effect on January 16, 2009. You can visit DOL's final rule website for the Final Regulations and a useful Fact Sheet highlighting key changes to the FMLA Regulations.

Contact Lori Searcy at 703-644-4122, for questions on the FMLA or other business and employment laws.

Effective November 13, 2008, the District of Columbia's new sick leave law requires employers to provide employees with up to seven days (varies based on employer size) of paid sick leave for absences due to the employee or family member's medical condition, domestic violence or sexual abuse. While the Federal Government has paid sick-leave policies for federal employees, for now, no other jurisdiction in the Washington Metro area (Maryland or Virginia) requires employers to provide paid sick leave.

The Mayor is expected to issue rules implementing the new sick leave law within 60 days of the effective date. It is my hope that the regulations will clarify the following two issues that are, at best, ambiguous in the law: (a) whether the ASSLA applies only to employees who satisfy the DCFMLA's time and hour restrictions; and (b) the employer's control over an employee's use of carryover sick leave.

Please see the following Questions & Answers for highlights of the new law:

Continue reading "D.C. Employment Law: District of Columbia Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act ("ASSLA") Takes Effect Providing Employees With Paid Sick Leave" »

As a courtesy to employers and employment lawyers, The Employment Law Chronicle provides links to the text of key Federal, Virginia, and District of Columbia labor and employment laws published on government sites.

The FMLA permits eligible employees of covered employers to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2008 amends the FMLA to provide for additional categories of job-protected leave relating to members of the military.

Continue reading "Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA): 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et. seq. " »

As a courtesy to employment lawyers and employers, The Employment Law Chronicle provides links to the text of key Federal, Virginia, and District of Columbia labor and employment laws published on government sites.

The Fair Labor Standards Act sets minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards. It applies to most employers in the private sector, Federal, State, and local governments. The U.S. Department of Labor provides helpful material on the FLSA.

Minimum Wage: While some workers may qualify for a FLSA exemption, nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage as follows: $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and $7.25 effective July 24, 2009.

Overtime: After 40 hours of work in a workweek, covered employers must pay nonexempt workers overtime in the amount of at least 1 1/2 times their regular rate of pay.

Increasing its on-line advisory tools, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a new "elaws" tool to help employers comply with federal labor laws by determining the recordkeeping, reporting and notice requirements that apply to them.

What are elaws? According to DOL, "The elaws advisors are free, Web-based tools designed to help employers and workers understand the department's major employment laws. By asking a series of questions, the advisors simulate a conversation with a Department of Labor expert and guide users to customized information explaining the requirements of each law. By asking questions such as size of business, location and type of industry through multiple choice or yes and no questions, the FirstStep Employment Law Overview Advisor determines which federal employment laws apply to each user. The advisor then provides information from the Labor Department's Employment Law Guide on the basic provisions of these laws."

Elaws are available at www.dol.gov/elaws/firststep.

Employers in Virginia, the District of Columbia and nationwide need to ensure that testing and selection procedures used to screen job applicants or existing employees for advancement or other opportunities do not have a discriminatory impact on the basis of race, sex, age, disability or other protected category. In recent years, testing and selection criteria have been a prime target of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) enforcement efforts. For example, in November 2006, the Eighth Circuit affirmed a $3 million judgment in EEOC v. Dial Corp resulting from a strength test that appeared to have excluded women from entry-level jobs. In 2007, Ford Motor Company, two of its affiliates, and the UAW entered into a $1.6 million settlement stemming from cognitive apprenticeship tests that appeared to have excluded African Americans. That settlement came on the heels of an $8.5 million settlement in a related case.

In the wake of these multi-million dollar judgments and settlements, the EEOC issued a fact sheet to assist employers in understanding how to avoid employment discrimination claims based on tests and other selection criteria.

Continue reading "EEOC Best Practices: How to Test Employees Without Violating Discrimination Laws" »