It’s summertime and many businesses are taking advantage of unpaid interns, mostly college students fulfilling academic requirements or looking for real-world experience to bolster their resumes. Unpaid internships are a win-win for both the employer and the student, right?  Not so fast. Joining a growing trend of lawsuits filed by unpaid interns, two of Fox...Read More

In May, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a new law allowing individuals arrested or convicted of certain crimes, after a certain number of years from the conviction, to petition the court and request that the record of their conviction be expunged from the court’s files and from the files of the Department of Corrections and...Read More

A recently-released OSHA Interpretive Letter raises concern for non-union workplaces by opining that workers at a non-union facility may designate a union representative as their representative during an OSHA inspection. Currently, in a facility with a union, that union may designate an individual to accompany an OSHA inspector around the facility during an inspection.  As...Read More

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] In January 2012, President Obama made a series of controversial appointments to the NLRB, purportedly while the Senate was in recess. Opponents to the appointments argued that the Senate was meeting on a pro forma basis at the time of the appointments and, therefore, was not technically in recess.  Proponents pointed to the fact...Read More

A recent Indiana Court of Appeals case has codified that, under the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Act, an injury arises out of employment when a causal connection exists between the injury sustained and the duties or services performed by the injured employee.  The connection is established when a reasonably prudent person considers the injury to be...Read More

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On March 29, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana held that an employee who makes a pre-eligibility request for post-eligibility FMLA leave is protected from retaliation from the employer. In Morkoetter v. Sonoco Products Co., Lozano, R., the employee, alleged that he informed his employer of his disability and plans...Read More

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently released a revised Form I-9 and employers should begin using it right away. Form I-9 must be completed by all employers to confirm the identity of newly-hired employees and verify the employee’s eligibility to work in the United States.  The revised Form I-9 has expanded from one...Read More

You may have missed it, but the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, turned 20 years old last month. Although the purpose of the FMLA may be a noble one — providing employees unpaid leave from work for treatment of their own serious health condition, or to care for and comfort family members who...Read More

Is telecommuting right for your business? Yahoo and Best Buy recently reconsidered the answer to this question, resulting in a media uproar supporting telecommuting employees. But what legal issues do employers face with telecommuting? Following are five key issues employers should consider: Wage and hour compliance. Employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act must...Read More

The NLRB continues to be very active in evaluating employee handbook provisions that may impact the rights of union and non-union employees to engage in protected, concerted activity under Section 7 of the NLRA. A three member panel recently issued its decision in DirectTV U.S. DirecTV Holdings LLC and struck down several of the company’s...Read More