By: Kristofor L. Hanson The Wisconsin Legislature has passed a bill that will eliminate compensatory and punitive damages under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (“WFEA”). Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill in the near future. Once signed, the law will eliminate the availability of compensatory and punitive damages for all future cases […]
By: Kristofor L. Hanson The National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) has once again postponed the effective date of its employee rights notice-posting rule at the request of the federal court in Washington, D.C., hearing a legal challenge regarding the rule. We alerted you to this rule and its initial postponement in previous E-Alerts of October […]
By: Kristofor L. Hanson In an effort to push through significant changes to representation election procedures before losing a quorum, on Tuesday, December 20, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) issued a final rule on what has become known in some circles as the “quickie” election rule. The final rule, set to take effect on […]
By: Laurie A. Petersen and Kristofor L. Hanson On December 9, 2011, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which if implemented, would impose significant changes on companies doing business with the federal government with respect to their hiring of persons with disabilities. The rule […]
By: Alan M. Levy On November 4, 2011, Wisconsin ceased requiring that employers withhold state income tax on the imputed cost of their employees’ health insurance premiums for children who were dependents as defined by federal, but not by state law. Last year’s federal health care legislation provided that the children of employees participating in […]
By: Alan M. Levy Long-awaited final rules for providing investment advice to participants and beneficiaries of 401(k) plans and other retirement programs which utilize participant-directed individual accounts were issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) on October 25, 2011. They will be effective December 27, 2011. A by-product of defined contribution plans supplanting defined […]
By: John E. Murray On November 1, 2011, Wisconsin will become the 49th state to have a concealed carry statute of some sort. The new law may lead to policy changes for some Wisconsin employers. However, the experiences of states with similar laws suggest that the new law is unlikely to represent a seismic change […]
By: John E. Murray On October 5, 2011, the NLRB delayed the effective date of its new posting rule. The rule had been scheduled to take effect on November 14, 2011. The effective date has now been postponed to January 31, 2012. Once the rule takes effect, most private employers will be required to post […]
By: Kristofor L. Hanson The Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board have announced proposed rule changes that will significantly alter union-election procedures and reporting requirements for employers and their labor consultants. These changes, in large part, are designed to implement by administrative rule many of the measures of the failed Employee Free […]
By: Alan M. Levy On May 26, 2011, by a 3-1 majority, the National Labor Relations Board members appointed by the current administration ruled that a union could place a 16-feet tall, 12-feet wide inflatable rat outside a hospital with a sign saying that a non-union subcontractor on the premises was a “rat employer.” They […]