Spring Break! Wooooooooo!
We’ll see you next week with another Wiley Reber Friday Update!
Employer Ends Longstanding Practice Without Negotiation; Union Grieves Change Three Years Later
If an employment practice exists that an employer finds unfavorable, it will usually do its best at the bargaining table to give notice to the employee group that the practice is no longer in effect. Sometimes this is referred to …
New Legislation Proposed to Flesh Out Minnesota’s ESST Law
Employers spent A LOT of time preparing for the new Earned Sick and Safe Time (“ESST”) law, which went into effect January 1, 2024. As with most new laws, the legislature has learned that there were some holes in the …
See Us at the MPELRA Winter Conference!
In Minnesota, you can always count on a few things every year: mosquitos, snow (oops), the Vikings being completely useless, and the Minnesota Public Employer Labor Relations Association (“MPELRA”) Winter Conference being a fantastic time! This year, we have an …
Court of Appeals Rules that Employer’s Insurance Payments Must Continue After Former Employee Fails to Pay His Share
We spent A LOT of time discussing the changes to Minnesota’s Duty Disability law this last year. The new program is in full swing, and while not everyone is clear on how the program is going to work when it …
Employee Waits Five Years to File a Grievance and Doesn’t Get Her Day in Court
Grievance procedures include timelines for a reason. Arbitration is supposed to be a quick alternative to the trial process, so that the parties may resolve their issues and continue their relationship. However, it is always a difficult proposition for employers …
After Failing City’s Physical Examination, Applicant’s Title VII Disparate Impact Appeal Dismissed by Seventh Circuit
The hiring process for many public employers has changed in recent years with the reduction in applicants available. However, back in the post-recession era, employers had giant lists of candidates from which they could choose and used competitive examinations for …
DOL Modifies 2021 Final Rule on Independent Contractors
Well, it took a while, but the U.S. Department of Labor has finally modified the “Final Rule” from January 2021, and returned to a “totality-of-the-circumstances” test. While this is simply a rule and not a regulation passed by Congress, it …
Employee Gets Place on Performance Improvement Plan After Complaints; First Amendment Claim Gets Thrown Out of Court
In employee performance management and discipline regarding employee speech, public employers must toe the line between regulating work performance and regulating employee speech on matters of public concern. In the case of Baker v. City of Woodbury, an employer was …
Vindicated? Employee’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Claims Dismissed at District Court
As we enter our fifth (yes, fifth) year of COVID-19 and its different variants, more and more case law has come out addressing the steps taken by employers throughout the pandemic. What the case law shows us is that the …