Human Resources and Employment Law

• DOL Announces Rule Increasing Minimum Salary Level

  September 25, 2019

  On September 24, 2019, the U.S Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final rule updating the minimum salary level required to be paid to employees classified as executive, administrative or professional employees. The rule updates the salary level of $23,660 that had been in effect since 2004 to a new level of $35,568 per year […]

• Michigan Employers Face Potential Return of Wage and Salary Increases

  March 11, 2019

  Two recent developments have resurrected wage and salary increases that Michigan employers thought were dead. These developments will force them to be cautious when determining the cost of labor for purposes of their operations and the cost at which they can sell their goods. News from Washington Regarding Potential Salary Increase While salaries paid to […]

• Preparing Your Workplace for Legalized Marijuana

  November 15, 2018

  Seeing through the Smoke: Preparing Your Workplace for Legalized Marijuana On November 6, 2018, Michigan became the tenth state in the nation and the first state in the Midwest to legalize the use of recreational marijuana. This approval has left employers across the state questioning what this means for their workplace. The new law called […]

• Should You Require Employees to Sign an Arbitration Agreement?

  June 26, 2018

  In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of employers to require and enforce pre-dispute class and collective action waivers as part of individual arbitration agreements.  Many employers have elected to require employees to agree at the time of hire or as a condition of continuing employment that any employment disputes be dealt with […]

• Michigan Legislature Repeals Prevailing Wage Act

  June 13, 2018

  On Wednesday, June 6, 2018, the Michigan Legislature repealed the State’s Prevailing Wage Act, which required the State to pay workers union-level wages under state construction contracts. The Legislature chose to repeal the Prevailing Wage Act after Michigan residents sponsored an initiative and amassed nearly 383,000 signatures, more than enough to place the measure on […]

• Employment Discrimination in Michigan

  May 24, 2018

  The Times, They Are a Changing… Or Are They? On Monday, May 21st, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (the “Department”) announced that it is joining the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in interpreting sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While federal law has been interpreted this way for some time, Michigan […]

• Resetting the Table

  June 8, 2017

  The Removal of Uninvited Guests In October 2016, we informed you of two Obama-era Department of Labor Guidance Memos (2015 and 2016) which opened up many employers to a host of employment issues for individuals hired as independent contractors or under some degree of contractual control.  We suggested, only partially tongue-in-cheek, that employers should consider […]

• Pay Deductions for Salaried Employees: You Ask, We Answer

  March 7, 2017

  Q: Do I need to pay a salaried-exempt employee for time off if they already exhausted all of their PTO? A: It is important for employers to be cautious when considering whether or not to take deductions from a salaried-exempt employee’s pay. One wrong move could result in a misclassification claim for not only the employee subject […]

• New Healthcare Coverage Option for Small Employers

  December 9, 2016

  (December 9, 2016) The big news from Washington this week – aside from whatever latest Tweet has issued regarding the incoming administration – is the nearly unanimous bi-partisan passage of the 21st Century Cures Act.  The bill, which now goes to President Obama for his expected signature, is chock-full of significant provisions that will impact […]

• Department of Labor Refuses to Concede Overtime Battle

  December 2, 2016

  (December 2, 2016) We recently wrote about a Texas federal judge’s November 22, 2016 injunction preventing implementation of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules that would have raised the minimum salary for overtime exempt employees from $23,660 annually to $47,476 annually. The ruling of the lower Court came just days before employers nationwide were […]