The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was sued by six on-staff doctors and scientists after discovering the FDA accessed their personal email accounts (Gmail).
The Washington Post reported that government documents showed that the secret surveillance took place over a two-year period after the staffers complained to lawmakers in Congress that the FDA was approving
On January 25, 2012, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel issued a press release that a second report describing social media cases reviewed by the NLRB has been made available. The first NLRB social media report (PDF) was released in August 2011.
According to the NLRB’s press release, this second NLRB report (PDF) was needed
The Sixth Circuit recently resolved an issue of uncertainty for Michigan employees and employers when it comes to analyzing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) interference claims. Going forward, employees must satisfy the burden-shifting framework common to employment discrimination claims when evaluating FMLA interference claims.
The FMLA, 29 USC 2601 et seq., was originally
Michigan Companies were recently given a new tool for fighting back against trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition.
Specifically, in Actuator Specialties, Inc. v. Chinavare the Michigan Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court’s determination that Actuator Specialties established a threat of misappropriation against its former employee and his new employer. This threat entitled
On January 11, 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that Pepsi Beverages agreed to pay $3.13 million and provide job offers and training to resolve a charge of race discrimination. This EEOC charge is a reminder that employers considering or presently using criminal background checks in hiring must tailor the program to meet
Michigan home health care companies and the home health care industry are facing significant changes under the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule change to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) 1975 “companionship exemption.”
On December 27, 2011 the DOL published a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise the companionship
Yesterday the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) through Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce and Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon announced the appointment of Terry A. Morgan as Regional Director in the Detroit Regional Office (Region 7) with a satellite office in Grand Rapids, MI.
While the appointment of Ms. Morgan’s appointment is important for Michigan
Under both federal and Michigan law, employers may generally conduct comprehensive background checks on job applicants as long as the employer has obtained the appropriate waivers and does not discriminate in the equal enforcement of the policy. Going beyond this generality, employers and employees should also consider the following:
Festivus – as introduced by Seinfeld – is a holiday celebration that included the “Airing of Grievances,” i.e., public criticism and pronouncements as to how a particular person has been a disappointment in the past year.
The timing of holiday and year-end bonuses also often mark the beginning of a similar airing of
Nothing captures the meaning of the Holidays (it is surprising how many winter festivals/holidays one could choose from or – cynically speaking – could use to develop a religious discrimination claim) than the giving and receiving of gifts, especially tech gadgets. And this invariably means employers will ring in the new year with an influx of