The first time someone told me that a claim had been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) against a non-unionized company, my reaction was, “But the National Labor Relations Act doesn’t apply to a non-union shop.” While that may be true for many provisions of the NLRA, most private-sector employers – union or […]
Federal Court Confirms Unpaid Internships Are Illegal
In a ruling last week, a federal judge in New York confirmed what has long been predicted on this website (see here and here): that unpaid internships that are not provided for educational course credit, and that are not otherwise designed primarily to benefit the intern, are illegal. Thus, production assistants who worked as unpaid […]
EEOC Sues Over Criminal Background Checks
In a previous post here, I noted that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, had begun to focus on criminal background checks by employers. The thinking is that requiring criminal background checks can constitute illegal discrimination on the basis of race because a higher percentage of African Americans than Caucasians have criminal convictions. Thus, […]
Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Independent Cause of Action for Inevitable Disclosure of Trade Secrets
During the past 15 years or so, courts around the country have considered whether a person can be barred, or enjoined, from engaging in certain types of competitive behavior purely on the theory that the behavior will inevitably result in the disclosure of trade secrets. The Georgia Supreme Court seems to have rejected this sort […]
Supreme Court Rules that a Wage & Hour Collective Action Can Be Mooted by an Offer to Pay the Lead Plaintiff in Full
In Genesis Healthcare v. Symczyk, decided April 16, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a group, or collective, action to recover unpaid wages can be mooted by an employer’s offer to have judgment entered against it for the full amount of the lead plaintiff’s unpaid wages and reasonable attorney’s fees, if the court overseeing […]
When Can a Party Win Attorney’s Fees?
Clients often ask me whether they can recover their attorney’s fees associated with resolving a dispute. I hear this question both from clients that are trying to pursue a claim and from clients that are defending against a claim that has been made against them. The American Rule is that each party to a dispute […]
