Employment Issues

On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division released a final rule concerning overtime, effective January 1, 2020, that will increase the salary threshold, by approximately 50%, that so-called “white collar” employees must be paid in order to be classified as “exempt” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employees who do not meet the new heightened salary threshold of $684 per week (which equates to $35,568 per year) will be considered non-exempt and thus eligible for overtime pay. The DOL estimates that this change will impact approximately 1.3 million workers.

In an opinion letter issued on August 8, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour opined that parents attending school meetings concerning individualized education programs (IEPs) for children with serious health conditions triggers intermittent FMLA leave protection.

On September 5, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an official memorandum rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allowed certain individuals to receive deferred action from deportation and eligibility for temporary U.S. work permits. The change has impact across many U.S. employers, including school districts. This discussion offers a summary of the key aspects for employees covered by DACA and their employers.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Vance v. Ball State which further clarified what constitutes a “supervisor” under Title VII. In this case, the court held that an employer can be held vicariously liable under Title VII for the acts of its supervisors, i.e., those employees who are empowered to take “tangible employment actions: hire, fire, reassign and other actions resulting in substantive employment changes. However, the U.S. Supreme Court made equally clear that even if the employee does not have such power, courts are entitled to see the employee as a supervisor if the employer relies on the employee to make those substantive employment decisions. Read the case summary now to see how this decision may impact your school district.

Isolated incidents of offensive and boorish behavior that is not perpetrated because a hostility to race of gender will not support hostile work environment claims. In this case from The Federal Court of Appeals in New York, the court clearly establish the elements of a successful claim and describes the necessary elements of a retaliation claim. This case will help your school district to understand the elements of such a cause of action to derail such claims before they manifest.