As OG+S’s attorney licensed in Minnesota and on the heels of last week’s post about the FTC proposed rule related to non-compete clauses, I figured I should cover recent changes in Minnesota law related to non-compete agreements. If you are looking for some helpful context about non-competes, Collin’s post provides helpful context. For agreements entered into on or after July 1, 2023, Minnesota law deems non-compete clauses generally void and unenforceable. This generally includes any agreement between an “employer”
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Proposed FTC Rule on Non-Competition Clauses
Introduction: If you’re a small business owner, you’ve likely heard about the proposed rule by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban non-compete clauses. You might be wondering what this means for your business and what you should do if the rule becomes law. Let’s break it down.
Understanding Non-Compete Clauses: Non-compete clauses are those provisions in employment agreements that seek to prevent employees from working for a competitor or starting a similar business after leaving your company. This
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Update: September 2023
Those keeping an eye on the Wisconsin Supreme Court know that it’s been in the news a bit over the last month. But in this column, we look past the internal politics of the court and review the civil cases currently pending before it, paying special attention to those affecting civil practitioners in Wisconsin. The court kicks off its 2023–24 term with a relatively light September oral argument calendar, featuring just two civil cases. Constitutional rights and tax
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Worker’s Compensation in the Work-from-Home Era
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many employees around Wisconsin transitioned from a traditional office setting to working remotely from home. Since then, new questions have been raised by workers regarding which at-home injuries might be covered under the Worker’s Compensation Act.
The short answer is that most at-home injuries suffered in the course of an employee’s job duties are covered under the Worker’s Compensation Act. However, workers’ compensation insurers can be quick to deny at-home
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NLRB Adopts New Framework for Union Representation Proceedings
The National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) has changed the dynamic in union organizing efforts by shifting responsibility to the employer to seek a representation election if the Union provides the employer with representation cards from a majority of the employees. In a recent decision, the Board created a new dynamic for organizing. Rather than requiring the Union to file for an election if the employer doubts the majority of the employees desire a union, now it is the responsibility
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NLRB Makes It Easier to Unionize Your Business
In its August 25, 2023, decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) paved the way for a union to represent employees without a formal vote. Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130.
The case involved Cemex, a multinational construction materials company, and the Teamsters, who were seeking to organize a bargaining unit consisting of Cemex’s ready-mix drivers. A majority of Cemex’s ready-mix drivers signed authorization cards signaling their desire for the Teamsters to serve as
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Court Clarifies When Employer Accommodation Obligation Occurs
This article was originally published in
Boardman Clark’s labor and employment blog, “Head’s Up,” and is published here with permission. The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees based on disability. Failing or refusing to reasonably accommodate an individual with a known disability is a form of disability discrimination. Disabilities are not always obvious, and it can be tricky to recognize when employees are making requests for accommodations. Employees are not required to use
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Dust Off Those Handbooks: The NLRB Has Changed Its Rules (Again)
Because the incumbent President appoints members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the NLRB’s decisions often reflect the policy choices of that President’s political party. Generally, when a Democrat holds office, the NLRB’s decisions are more employee and union-friendly, and when a Republican holds office, the NLRB’s decisions are more management-friendly. An issue that the NLRB has consistently gone back and forth on, depending on the incumbent President, is the standard for evaluating employee handbooks and establishing what
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PUA documentation notice is legally defective
In Colleen Koch, PUA Hearing No. 21603562MD (28 Jan. 2022), the Labor and Industry Review Commission held that the Department of Workforce
Development’s notice for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) documentation requirement is legally defective, as the notice lacked notice language for filing the documentation late with good cause. The Department, however, has never corrected its PUA documentation notice. Accordingly, the deadline for satisfying the PUA documentation requirement has been extended indefinitely, since all notices of this requirement
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New Food Delivery Service Regulation on the Horizon?
Last year, we wrote about a bi-partisan group of state senators and members of the state assembly introducing legislation to regulate third-party food delivery services in Wisconsin. Although that legislation stalled, an expanded group of state legislators has re-introduced a similar bill with some slight modifications.
The 2023 proposed legislation seeks to create three requirements for third-party food delivery services:
First, third-party food delivery services must provide a “publicly accessible process” for restaurants to remove themselves from being listed
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Workplace Discrimination: When Two or More Protected Classes are Involved
For nearly 60 years, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has firmly controlled and governed claims of workplace discrimination for millions of Americans. The formula is quite simple:
The easiest case to make is one that is straightforward, when a single individual has a single protected characteristic that the
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Employers: Form I-9 COVID Flexibilities Have Ended
As of July 31, 2023, the COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, no longer apply. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that employers must complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely during the temporary flexibilities by Aug. 30, 2023. Employers who previously utilized the flexibility provisions to conduct remote I-9 document review must now plan to verify, in person, the identity and employment eligibility documentation for those employees.
Samantha
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No primary income test for PUA benefits in Wisconsin
Unique among the states, Wisconsin implemented PUA benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic with specific restrictions that did NOT match any actual statutory or regulatory requirements. One of these was a primary income test to deny PUA benefits to part-time workers who had other sources of income outside of their pandemic-related job losses.
The Commission’s argument was that the “primary income” of 20 CFR § 625.2(n) is not the same as the “principal income” in 20 CFR § 625.2(s) and
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Changes to I-9 Forms – Make Sure You Are In Compliance
The New Form:
On July 21, 2023 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new Form I-9. The new Form I-9 became available for employers to use on August 1, 2023. The old Form I-9 can continue to be used through October 31, 2023, but all employers must be using the new Form I-9 by November 1, 2023.
A copy of the new Form I-9 can be found here.
Notably, some of the changes include:
- Making
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Worker-Friendly NLRB Changes Employer Work Rule Standard
On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board adopted a new standard for analyzing the legality of facially neutral work rules that do not expressly restrict employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). In Stericycle Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113, the Board overruled the legal framework established by the Board in Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017), later clarified in LA Specialty Produce Co., 368 NLRB
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Fee Shifting Cases Can Be a Minefield For Both Plaintiffs & Defendants
Defendants and their counsel normally fear fee shifting cases. But plaintiffs and their counsel can get trapped as well.
Ellis v. Whitewater Auto, Inc.,[1] and the nearly 3 ½ years from case filing to the damages award, illustrates this. The Plaintiff was awarded $4,999 in lost overtime wages and liquidated damages, and for not having received payment for the last two days of work.
This Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case is fee shifting for a prevailing plaintiff,
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