Employment Blog

Unions are something that most Americans have heard about. In the past, the media covered unions like the Major League Baseball Players Union. During the Great Recession and the auto bankruptcies, there was much coverage of the Auto Workers Union. The airlines consistently negotiate with unions representing pilots and mechanics.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that every health insurance plan, including plans provided by employers, offer preventive health services with no cost sharing. For the purposes of the new law, the Department of Health and Human Services defined appropriate preventive benefits for women to include the entire range of

Amazon has been in the headlines a lot lately. First, it announced its intent to hire nearly 70,000 holiday employees, many of whom could become full-time after the holiday season. Now Amazon has made a deal with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide its customers with Sunday deliveries.

As previously discussed on this blog, Washington, D.C. lawmakers had approved a bill that would require large retailers to pay their employees a living wage of at least $12.50 per hour, as opposed to the usual D.C. minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. The bill, called the Large Retailer Accountability

There was a time when people could expect to retire at 65 and feel that their employer’s pension or retirement package would be enough to make retirement comfortable. There was a time when retirees would move to warm climates and golf daily. That was then, now retirement has become something

Many employers believe they can expect employees to prepare for a shift and/or wind down from a shift on unpaid time. For example it is common for employers to require set up or meetings before employees clock in, or break down of equipment or clean up after clocking out. Under

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization composed of United State federal and state legislators, foundations, and corporations. ALEC members work to create so-called model policies for legislators to introduce as bills in their respective states. These bills generally focus on limited government and federalism at the state

  In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court that an ERISA plan’s specific procedure for designating beneficiaries controls over other instruments that may conflict with it.  In the case, Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for the DuPont Savings & Investment Plan, an employee designated his wife as the beneficiary for

  A new law quietly passed as part of the recent economic bailout package that requires insurance coverage to be equal for mental and physical illnesses.  Health plans commonly provide less, or different, coverage for mental illness and addiction disorders than for physical illnesses.  In particular, health plans have regularly

  There has been a great deal of discussion recently on the need to address the widely-perceived problem of executive overcompensation.  The recent financial meltdown on Wall Street has intensified this discussion.  The federal government recently indicated that banks that accept cash infusions as part of the current financial bailout

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral argument in the MetLife v. Glenn case.  This is an important case that could affect all future lawsuits to collect benefits under an employee benefit plan.  Where an employee benefits lawsuit is governed by ERISA, the lawyers in nearly every case argue over

We reported on the decision by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Dewitt v. Proctor Hospital in which the court allowed a claim by a plaintiff who contended that she was fired because of her husband’s high medical bills.  In a similar case decided this week, the 8th Circuit

Boeing this week added itself to the list of companies that are phasing out defined benefit pension plans.  In negotiations with its unions, Boeing is proposing that all new employees be enrolled in a 401(k) type plan supplemented with contributions by Boeing.  The proposal is not surprising.  Many companies are

Recent court cases have highlighted the thorny issues that arise when a benefit plan enforces its subrogation rights or seeks reimbursement of overpaid employee benefits.  Plan administrators have faced uncertainty about subrogation and reimbursement claims in the wake of the Supreme Court rulings in Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services,

As noted below, on February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a remedy issue under ERISA.  Employees can sue under ERISA Section 502(a)(2) for fiduciary breaches that impair the value of assets in a 401(k) account.  Last week, the Supreme Court signaled that it may now address the issue of

ERISA disability benefit plans commonly require objective medical evidence of disability.  This can be a difficult hurdle for claimants who believe they are disabled by conditions that cannot be evaluated by objective evidence.  In one recent case, for example, the employee argued that she was disabled because of severe debilitating

I wrote a few words below about non-compete agreements and their proliferation.  Now comes a story about a company that must pay $4 Million for denying compensation to an executive who refused to sign a non-compete agreement.  In this particular situation, the employer (H&R Block) attempted to force its Chief

Today the Supreme Court said that a 401(k) participant can sue for losses when a plan fiduciary fails to follow investment directions.   In the case, James LaRue of Southlake,Texas, contends that his stock market holdings plunged $150,000 because administrators of his 401(k) retirement plan failed to follow his instructions to

Those following employee benefits litigation know that there have been hundreds of cases filed over the trend by companies to convert their traditional, defined benefit pension plans to cash balance plans.  Another ruling was issued late last week in a class action case involving a plan conversion by CIGNA.  The

The Department of Labor has issued an interesting advisory opinion holding that a Kentucky wage deduction withholding statute is preempted by ERISA to the extent it limits placement of employees into default health care plans.  In this situation, employees who fail to choose a plan are placed into one by

On April 23, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in MetLife v. Glenn.  This is an important case that may affect all future lawsuits to collect benefits under an employee benefit plan.  Where a benefits case is subject to ERISA, the lawyers in nearly every case argue over