August, 2015 - HospitalityLawyer.com®

Employers Hit with Background Check Lawsuits

by Kenneth Remson in Human Resources, Legal. Posted August 6, 2015

Employees and job applicants are filing class action lawsuits against employers alleging that they are using invalid forms to obtain consent for background checks as part of their hiring process. The lawsuits allege violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq. (“FCRA”), which provides for statutory damages of up to $1,000 for ...

Top Ways to Run Your Legal Department Like a Business – Part I

by Patrick Johnson in Legal. Posted August 6, 2015

Law school famously teaches students to ‘think’ like a lawyer. But one thing many law schools do not teach their students is how to run, or succeed in, a business. Law firms have famously struggled with marrying the business of law with the practice of law, but less talked about is how in-house legal departments, ...

EEOC Proposed Rule on Wellness and the Americans with Disabilities Act – What Employers Need to Know

by Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP in Human Resources, Legal. Posted August 6, 2015

The employer community has been waiting for years to receive guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on wellness programs and how an employer’s obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act intersect with its rights and obligations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (as amended by the Affordable Care Act). The EEOC finally ...

Foreign Trip Travel Insurance and Evacuations

by Scott West in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Travel. Posted August 6, 2015

One of my clients recently requested foreign trip travel insurance to Kurdistan through a major insurance company. While discussing the proposal with the underwriter, I asked if Kurdistan was on a no-travel list. Her response: “Oh, it should be fine!” Somewhat perplexed by her reaction, I politely informed her that Kurdistan is a province in ...

Ebola and Terrorism Threaten African Tourism

by David Pratt in Insurance & Loss Prevention, Safety & Security, Travel. Posted August 6, 2015

African tourism was severely impacted by the global recession that started around 2008. In 2013 we started seeing signs of a recovery, with the number of tourists increasing by over 5%, or three million, over 2012. This increase created a positive anticipation that 2014 would be the year in which normality returned to the tourism ...

Limiting Off-Duty Access To The Hotel

by L. Brent Garrett in Human Resources, Lodging. Posted August 6, 2015

Many hospitality employers are surprised to learn that employees have a right under federal labor law to access the exterior, nonworking areas of the hotel property in their off-duty hours for union or other protected concerted activities. Hospitality employers are also surprised to learn that handbook rules prohibiting any off-duty employee access or conditioning off-duty ...

Mark Your Calendars: The New York City Earned Sick Time Act Will Go Into Effect on April 1, 2014

by Stephanie Aranyos in Human Resources. Posted August 6, 2015

Originally published in Ogletree Deakins’s eAuthority newsletter. As we previously reported in our June 2013 issue, New York City recently became the largest municipality in the country requiring employers to provide sick time to employees under the “Earned Sick Time Act.” However, in order to become effective, the Act contains a unique provision that ties its ...

What The Bleep?

by C.R. Wright in Human Resources, Legal. Posted August 6, 2015

There was a time when cursing at work seemed to be the norm in many businesses. Whether in a shop, an office, a hospital or other work environment, swearing and cursing can still occur. One research study out of London published in a 2007 issue of the Leadership and Organization Development Journal suggested that swearing ...

Will the New E-Verify Security Enhancement Help or Hurt?

by Andrew Merills in Safety & Security, Technology. Posted August 6, 2015

Co-authored by Justin S. Coffey and Nicole Brooks. “E-Verify” is an internet-based system, operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Used in conjunction with Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, it allows employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of new employees. In light of widespread criticism that ...

Comparison of the Discovery Process in Civil Litigation in the U.S. and Germany – An Introduction

by Murchison & Cumming in Legal. Posted August 6, 2015

Co-Authored By: Claudia Borsutzki, Attorney admitted in California and Germany and Hagen Weiss, Attorney admitted in Germany. In light of the growth of border-crossing commerce and rapid development of international business relations, international law is becoming a more and more important part of the structure of our growing global society. This article focuses on the law ...

Monthly Archives: August 2015 ( Page 3 )