Atlanta Employment Lawyer Blog

In order to be able to take an unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you have to have worked 1250 hours over the previous year. Seems simple enough, right?

Not so fast. Figuring in overtime, flex time, commute time, home office time, and everything else can make for a complicated formula. A recent 3rd Circuit decision brings up some very interesting questions about how to calculate that hourly mark.

Continue reading "FMLA’s 1250- Hour Requirement and Pre- Leave Retaliation" »

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Posted In: FMLA

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Have you been told that you have to take a lie detector test as either a part of getting a job or keeping the job that you have? Your employer, whether in Georgia or anywhere else, probably can’t do that, and, even if you take the test, probably can’t use the test to affect your job.

Under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, passed in 1998, formerly administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration until it was abolished in November, now administered directly by the Secretary of Labor, employers engaged in interstate commerce are generally prevented from using lie detector tests either for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exemptions.

Continue reading "Employment Polygraphs" »

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Posted In: Employment Polygraphs

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently won a victory in the Second Circuit that will significantly increase its ability to investigate employer practices on a nationwide basis. Although the case does currently have limited precedent in Georgia employment law, we will have to keep an eye on the Eleventh Circuit to see if that court will follow suit.

The case, EEOC v. UPS, Inc., No. 08-5348, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 25395 (2d Cir. Nov. 19, 2009), overturned a lower court order that denied an EEOC subpoena which had sought national records from a company in which the case had only one Charging Party. That lower case had been relied on by a number of other employers to try to limit the EEOC’s subpoena power under those circumstances.

Continue reading "EEOC Gets a Boost in Subpoena Power" »

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Posted In: EEOC

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Georgia employees with 401(K)’s may be able to get more information on what they have in their accounts, if a bill introduced on December 4th in the U.S. Senate passes.

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), joined by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), and Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), have just introduced legislation that would require defined contribution plan sponsors to inform plan participants of the projected monthly income they could expect at retirement, based on their current account balance.

Continue reading "Lifetime Income Disclosure Act" »

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Posted In: ERISA

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Work for the Transportation Safety Administration at Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport? There may be some bad news for you if you want to pursue an overtime case here in Georgia.

The U.S. Federal Court of Claims recently ruled that a Memphis TSA screener was not entitled to overtime under the FLSA. Jones v. United States, Fed. Cl., No. 08-645, (9/14/09).

Continue reading "Airport Security Workers Decision" »

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Posted In: TSA Screeners

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There are some employers who, if you don’t watch them, will go in and change your hours worked on your time clock. This can run afoul of Georgia employment law as well as federal regulations.

This may be based on the principle of “rounding up,” where an employment rule may be that employees are allowed to clock in our out within certain times before and after a scheduled shift starts without penalty.

Or, there may be a phrase in an employee manual that seems to indicate that non- scheduled time is non- compensable, and the employee’s time clock is adjusted to the actual scheduled shift times.

But under United State Department of Labor regulations, every minute that you actually worked has to be compensated, regardless of whether or not your time was “on the clock.”

Continue reading "Work Time" »

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Getting your wages garnished is an embarrassing situation, often made worse but at least a perceived threat of losing your job. While most employers know that they can’t threaten job loss if an employee’s wages are being garnished, that doesn’t stop many of them from making the garnishee’s life uncomfortable about the whole thing.

In fact, you cannot be fired from a job because someone has garnished your wages, although multiple garnishments may be a different story. You are protected by Title Three of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA).

Continue reading "Wage Garnishment FAQ" »

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Posted In: General

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Many summer jobs, particularly in agriculture and construction, require employees to drive various vehicles as a part of the job. Small companies, especially, may be tempted to put young people in positions of responsibility in general, and have them driving in particular, without really knowing what the rules about teenage driving on the job are.

There are very strict federal rules about teenagers driving on the job.

Continue reading "Teenage Work Driving Rules" »

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Posted In: Summer Youth Jobs

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The U.S. Supreme Court, in a June 18, 2009 decision, has limited a claimant’s ability to prove an age discrimination case in court. The case, Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. (08-441), decided by a 5-4 margin, decided a burden of proof issue that had never been completely resolved since the passage of the ADEA in 1967.

The question involved what happens in “mixed motive” cases, where there may have been some “legitimate” (i.e., non-discriminatory) factor, in addition to age, that played a part in the employer’s action. In Gross, for example, the plaintiff was demoted as part of a restructuring, but there was evidence age bias played a part in the decision.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Narrows Ability to Prove Age Discrimination" »

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Posted In: Age Discrimination

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You got laid off or fired. You’re over the age of 50, or even 40. Younger people, some of whom you’ve trained, get to keep their jobs. Is it good business or age discrimination?

ABC News is tracking this issue, and reports a great increase in age discrimination filings with the EEOC. It may be that companies are using the economy as an excuse to get rid of workers that they couldn’t fire under more normal economic circumstances.

Continue reading "Layoffs and Age Discrimination" »

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Very few states have as close a relationship to the military as Georgia does. In a struggling economy, where every job is precious, veterans have a great many rights that they may not be aware of under federal employment law. There are enough of these rights that returning veterans and reservists may think about consulting with an employment law attorney before setting off on a job search.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (called USERRA and passed in 1994) gives veterans certain job rights that are not enjoyed by non- veterans. Among those are protections for disabled veterans, federal employees, vets seeking to go back to their old jobs, and rights into the continuation of military health care.

A few details:

Continue reading "Veterans Employment Rights" »

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Most seasonal agricultural workers in Georgia and the rest of the country are covered under two separate labor laws—the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). This post will cover the latter; and this post covers the former.

The two laws always need to be read together, as well as in conjunction with state laws, by a qualified employment lawyer, to determine the rights of any agricultural workers.

Even though agricultural workers are covered under the FLSA, the MSPA, which was passed in 1983, is considered to be the primary federal labor law covering migrant workers. Like the FLSA, this law is administered by the Wage and Hour division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Continue reading "Agricultural Workers Under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act" »

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Posted In: Agricultutral Workers

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