The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

I came across a lot of good articles this week but was able to narrow down the list a bit.  One of the better articles that I read was about the lost revenue that employees and employers alike deal with as a result of a delay in employees filling out time sheets.  It is one of the more logical problems in the employment setting, but one that I do not stumble across very often. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Employees Delayed in Filling Out Time Sheets? Say Goodbye to Lost Revenue . We have all been there at one point or another, most likely:  your employer requires you to fill out a time sheet for your work.  Whether it be working in a factory, doing clerical work, or hourly billing at a law firm, recording time worked on a time sheet is vital to getting paid (not just for employees, but also for employers who bill others for the work done).  This article has a good insight into the tremendous amount of money lost...

A few months ago, I wrote a note about a court in California which held that, under California Labor Code Section 2802, employees who must use personal cell phones for work are entitled to reimbursement for "some reasonable percentage" of the personal cell phone bill.  ( Employers Required to Reimburse Employees for Cell Phone Bills - Blog ) Late last year, the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review filed by Schwan's (the losing party at the Court of Appeal level) to review the appellate court's decision and also denied Schwan's request to depublish the Court of Appeal decision.  Unsurprisingly, the petition had wide support by employers who questioned the broad holding from the appellate court. At this point, now that the Schwan decision will not be overturned, it is interesting to see whether any other California court will follow the same line of reasoning by this Court of Appeal.  Employers would be wise to implement or update any mob...

Note, there are two recent cases that deal with similar issues in regard to employees not being entitled to compensation when required to monitor work radios while on break.  As a result, I am posting both of these side by side so readers can follow the two cases more closely.  This is Part 2. Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc. - California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division One Facts :  The plaintiffs, former security guards employed by ABM, sued ABM on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly situated individuals on the grounds that ABM failed to provide rest periods as required by law.  Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that ABM failed to relieve security guards of all duties during rest breaks and instead required its guards to remain on call during breaks.  After a class was certified, the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment on the grounds that undisputed evidence showed that the guards were required to keep...

Note, there are two recent cases that deal with similar issues in regard to employees not being entitled to compensation when required to monitor work radios while on break.  As a result, I am posting both of these side by side so readers can follow the two cases more closely.  This is Part 1. Ruffin v. MotorCity Casino - Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Facts :  The plaintiffs in the case were current and former security guards at MotorCity Casino.  Under the parties' collective bargaining agreement, a guard who worked an eight hour shift was entitled to a paid, thirty minute meal period.  There was no dispute that the guards were free to do whatever they wanted during their break, though they were not allowed to leave the casino property, have food delivered, or receive visitors.  As a result, the guards spent their meal time in a large cafeteria or smaller break rooms.  While the guards were not "working" during this meal period, they we...

Each state has a host of new employment and labor related laws that take effect in 2015.  This series focuses on several new laws from around the country that are of particular interest.   Earlier this month, the outgoing Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, signed a bill into law that will establish parental leave in the state for both female and male employees.  This amendment to the Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act ("MMLA") is groundbreaking in that prior to this amendment, the MMLA provided eight weeks of protected leave for only female employees for the birth or adoption of a child.  As a result of this amendment, however, the law is now "gender neutral", in a sense, as it grants male employees the same leave that female employees in the state have previously enjoyed.  Also of note, the new law applies to employers in the state with 6 or more employees.  (Contrast this Massachusetts law with the federal Family and Medical Leave...

Late last month, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation that excluded public college and university athletes in Michigan from the definition of "public employees" entitled to collectively bargain under Michigan law.  The bill, H.B. 6074, in effect bars college athletes from unionizing.   Note that the legislation stated that the purpose of the bill was to ensure "that college athletes are students, first and foremost, and should not be treated as employees by their schools."  Interesting way to phrase it, though it is probably spot on. For those that have been keeping up, we are still awaiting word from the National Labor Relations Board on whether the football players at Northwestern University can unionize.  It is important to remember that a similar bill in Illinois would likely not have had any impact on the events at Northwestern University, as that is a private university.  The bill passed in Michigan last month impacts only publi...

Even though I often see a lot of articles on smartphones in the workplace, I came across a very good article recently that I wanted to highlight.  Remember employers, you cannot have it both ways.  You cannot require (explicitly or not) that nonexempt employees check their smartphones for work related activities off the clock and then assume these employees are potentially not entitled to compensation for this extra time worked. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Employers: Regroup for the New Year on Union Avoidance Strategies Even though we are already a few weeks into 2015, it is never too late for employers to re-examine their union avoidance strategies (especially in light of the recent NLRB rulings that allow access to employer e-mail systems for union organization as well as the new "quickie election" rules).   This is one of the better written articles that I have seen on union avoidance recently and one that employers sh...