WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

As more states legalize marijuana and CBD products become extremely popular, employers are having difficulty enforcing a drug and alcohol-free work policy.  Imagine that one of your star employees fails a random drug testing, but he denies using any illegal substances.  He claims that his doctor recommended using CBD oil to ease his arthritis-induced wrist pain. If you want to maintain your zero-tolerance policy, do you fire him?

The passage of the Farm Bill in 2018 federally legalized the cultivation of

Boeing’s recently-fired CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, is leaving the company with no severance compensation or annual bonus due to the 737 Max tragedies, but will still receive $80.7 million in pension payments, Boeing stock, and other deferred contributions. Boeing claims that Muilenburg’s leaving settlement only consists of pre-existing and contractually owed compensation.  He was withheld $15 million in potential bonus pay and severance.

 Muilenburg has been critiqued for his poor management of two deadly 737 Max crashes which killed 346 people.  In

In the past several years, Oscars season has come with a wave of controversy. Many critics argue that nominations don’t accurately reflect the diversity in the entertainment industry. One actress at the center of this controversy in 2020 is Jennifer Lopez, who starred in Hustlers. In the film, Lopez portrayed an experienced stripper. Following the film’s release, Lopez received praise for her performance, and many expected her to be recognized at this year’s Oscars. However, Lopez was not nominated. Critics

Qualified employees must earn time and a half for their usual hourly rate for every hour worked over 40 in a given workweek. It is illegal for employers to not pay employees their rightful overtime wages. If you are working over 40 hours a week and not receiving an overtime pay rate, you may have a legal claim. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) classifies which workers are overtime-eligible. Keep reading to find out if you may qualify for increased

Lisa Vanderpump, a star on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Vanderpump Rules,” is faced with a class-action lawsuit from her former employees. Vanderpump employs a number of workers at the restaurants she owns in West Hollywood, including SUR, Villa Blanca, Tom Tom, and Pump. She and her husband have owned a total of 36 restaurants, clubs, and bars in London and California. She has been accused of not paying wages or providing meal breaks to the restaurant workers.

Most companies are reluctant to reduce benefits or pay during the holiday season because it gives them a negative reputation. Thus, it surprised many that Pinterest decided to cut-back benefits for the company’s most vulnerable workers, contractors, in the month of December. Pinterest has typically given both full-time employees and contractors the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as paid time off.  This is the first year that Pinterest changed that policy for its contractors who are primarily the

The following statements are recent testimonials from a federal judge on the high-quality work of the Law Office of Christopher Q. Davis:

“You have an extremely high rate of contacting the class members and only one person opted
out, so that seems very positive.”
“And, you know, here the monies are quite substantial in light of the best possible recovery. You know, in a FLSA case, 75 cents on the dollar of your best estimate is a very good recovery for plaintiff when

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees that certain employees have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every year with no threat of job loss in the event that they or their immediate family member is diagnosed with a specific medical condition. For example, some situations in which employees are eligible include the birth or adoption of a child; the need to care for one’s spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition; the need to receive medical

Being a law student is a difficult undertaking for anyone, let alone someone who is pregnant. Unfortunately, four law students are claiming that their university is making this situation even more difficult by committing pregnancy discrimination. They claim that their law school, the Belmont University College of Law, refused to make reasonable accommodations to their attendance policy for pregnant students. Generally, eligible employers must make reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees, similar to those granted for an employee with a temporary

2,300 Google contractors in the San Francisco Bay Area including Google’s Mountain View headquarters voted to unionize last month after a two-year organization effort.  This is one of the most significant examples of union activity in the tech industry and Google. Challenged by escalating labor unrest, Google has become notoriously anti-union. Google was accused of attempting to cancel an employee-led unionization meeting in its largest European office this past October.  In November, Google hired IRI consultants, an anti-union consulting firm,