The Progressive Lawyer: Decision-Making and the 'Metaphorical Bias Model'
February 29, 2016
Across the nation, by far the most common setting for deciding domestic relations cases is the bench trial, where the judge sits alone without a jury except in extraordinary circumstance; cases involving domestic torts, for example. In the final analysis, therefore, our judges are our audience. They are certainly more than a passive audience; they are participants in every sense.
Bankruptcy Code Section 1113 Trumps NLRA
February 29, 2016
A significant problem confronting many debtors seeking to reorganize through Chapter 11 involves the resolution of labor contract issues. A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will likely impact how that problem is solved by debtors teetering on the brink of, or already in, Chapter 11 where their operative collective bargaining agreement has or soon will expire.
Employers, Watch Out
January 31, 2016
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, employers have grappled with the law's web of rules and requirements. However, many employers are not as familiar with the Act's whistleblower protections ' an additional source of risk for the unwary.
Does Your Employee Handbook Help or Hurt You?
January 31, 2016
A handbook that was once the foundation of good employment practices may now violate federal law, and nothing has changed except how the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (the GC) interprets the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Preparing for the DOL's Final Rule on FSLA's 'White-Collar' Exemptions
January 31, 2016
The salary level proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register in July 2015 would more than double the current salary level for "white-collar" employees to be exempt from the FLSA's overtime requirements. Such an increase in the salary level would have wide-reaching implications for employers and employees alike.
When Is Mediation Appropriate Pursuant to Bankruptcy Code Section 327(a)?
January 31, 2016
With the utilization of mediation as a dispute resolution tool in bankruptcy cases becoming increasingly common, it is important that courts remain vigilant in protecting the integrity of the mediation process. As the Second Circuit once famously stated in another context, "[t]he conduct of bankruptcy proceedings not only should be right but must seem right."
Case Notes
January 25, 2016
U.S. Judge Tosses Qui Tam Action Against Lockheed Martin A federal judge has dismissed a qui tam case in which would-be whistleblowers raised allegations that aerospace giant Lockheed Martin billed the government for cost overruns and failed to disclose shoddy work. U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson of the Western District of Pennsylvania gave one of the two relators leave to file an amended complaint, leaving the door open for further action in the case. …
Problems with the New Test for Joint-Employer Status
December 31, 2015
This past summer, the NLRB reversed over 30 years of precedent and adopted a new, more expansive and ambiguous standard for determining joint employer status. The new standard promises to entangle businesses with only tenuous links to another employer's workforce in a morass of collective-bargaining obligations and unfair labor practice liability for workforces over which they exercise no actual control.
