Featured Articles

4th Circuit Decides Employee Polygraph Protection Act Case

Eric Welter
January 02, 2009 16:01

In a rare decision under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (”EPPA”), the Fourth Circuit decided several unresolved issues of statutory interpretation in a published opinion dated November 24, 2008.  The opinion in Worden vs. Sun Trust Banks, Inc., can be found here.  More after the...

Recent Articles

4th Circuit Issues Borrowed Servant Decision

Eric Welter
July 17, 2009 14:48

In Ladd v. Research Triangle Inst., the Fourth Circuit addressed the borrowed servant doctrine under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHCWA).  More after the break. In this appeal, Fred Ladd, a civilian water and sewer engineer, was hired by the Research Triangle Institute...

Tidbits

Eric Welter
July 15, 2009 17:33

Some labor & employment law tidbits after the break. The National Law Journal has a short piece on last term’s Supreme Court employment decisions. The D.C. Circuit has issued a decision reviewing the NLRB’s Register Guard decision involving employee use of email.  Workplace Prof...

4th Circuit Affirms Jury Award To Warden

Eric Welter
July 14, 2009 14:28

In Anthony v. Ward, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a jury award of $510,000 to plaintiff Calvin Anthony, former warden of Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina.  The judgment by the federal district court found defendants Robert Ward and Charles Sheppard, officials of the South Carolina...

Administration Announces Support For E-Verify

Eric Welter
July 10, 2009 13:50

According to a DHS press release: “Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today strengthened employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administration’s support for a regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to...

Minimum Wage Increase

Eric Welter
July 09, 2009 16:35

Effective July 24, 2009, the Federal minimum wage will increase to $7.25 from $6.55. (Hat tip to Fair Labor Standards Act Law Blog.  As they point out, the DOL has a chart of state minimum wages here.) Contributed by Eric A. Welter.Effective July 24, 2009, the Federal minimum wage will increase to...

4th Circuit Affirms Injunction Requiring Offers Of Employment To Union Workers

Eric Welter
July 06, 2009 21:37

In Gary Muffley v. Spartan Mining Company, et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed an order of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia requiring the defendant employer to offer employment to persons it refused to hire because of union affiliation...

Recent Jury Verdicts and Settlements

Eric Welter
July 03, 2009 13:28

Our latest update after the break.  Happy Independence Day! TX — Nuclear plant ordered to pay overtime to misclassified employees after bench trial in federal court. FL — Jury awards $3.73 million to three VA Hospital employees in retaliation lawsuit in Tampa.  They return to work next...

Maryland Amends Flexible Leave Law

Eric Welter
July 01, 2009 14:57

In 2008, Maryland adopted legislation that required employers (with 15 or more employees) to allow their employees to use accrued, paid leave to care for an ill, immediate family member.  The law, however, was unclear in its definitions of immediate family member, employer, employees, and leave...

Tidbits

Eric Welter
June 29, 2009 21:35

Here are some tidbits we found interesting: The Unfair Business Practices blog has a post here about an interesting Virginia federal court decision involving the theft of computer data and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (”CFAA”). A post with an update on revisions to the Maryland...