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What I've Been Reading This Week


I intentionally do not focus on employment and labor law matters outside of the U.S. for the simple reason that although many developments in other countries are often quite intriguing, they more often than not do not have much applicability to developments here in the U.S.  With that being said, a week or so ago I highlighted the labor reforms that French President Emmanuel Macron is attempting to implement.  And now this week, we have a development out of Europe in regard to e-mail privacy of employees in the workplace.  At this rate, international employment and labor law developments might just deserve their own dedicated post...

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Are You a Worker in Europe? If So, Your Employer Is Now Required to Notify You If They Monitor Your E-mail

This past Tuesday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision in which it held that companies in Europe can monitor their employees' e-mails if the employees are notified in advance.  This 11 - 6 ruling in favor of protecting an employees' privacy comes about after a Romanian employee used Yahoo Messenger at work to discuss personal matters and was subsequently fired a few weeks after he was confronted by his employer.  I question whether employees in the U.S. would be entitled to the same "protections" that employees in Europe are now afforded...but perhaps some cities (such as San Francisco, Seattle, or New York City) which have adopted pro-employee policies in the past would approve a similar measure.


A Followup On the Case That "Ended" the Viability of the Proposed New Overtime Rule

Lexology has a brief, albeit clear cut, analysis of State of Nevada et. al. v. United States Department of Labor et. al. which is the case which effectively tabled the proposed new overtime rule.   While this note does not include an update in regard to the likelihood that the decision will not be appealed, this gives readers a good insight into the case and what the impact of the ruling means for workers across the country that would have potentially benefited from the new overtime rule.

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