The United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Obergefell v Hodges striking down state law prohibitions of same sex marriage and requiring states to recognize such marriages from other states will have some immediate impact in the workplace. That is particularly true for employers in states such as Tennessee where ...

My final post in this 3 part series addresses non-competes from the employee's perspective. I am regularly retained to review noncompetition agreements (“noncompetes”) by employees who were fired or resigned to accept another job. Unfortunately for many of them, they were not familiar with and sometimes even aware of the ...

In my last post I discussed the differences between the various types of employment agreements designed to restrict an employee's post-employment activities and identified the factors Tennessee courts analyze when determining whether to enforce a non-competition agreement (“non-compete”). The threshold test, however, is whether the employer has a legitimate "protectable ...

This post is the first of a multi-part series discussing employee non-competition agreements ("non-competes"). This installment describes the different forms of contractual limitations employers often use in an effort to protect their business interests following a key employee's departure and the factors Tennessee courts analyze when asked to enforce non-competes ...

I am often asked by employers if they can deduct from an employee's paycheck money owed the employer for payroll advances, personal loans or for lost or damaged company property issued to the employee. Another common question is whether an employer may deduct from an employee's final paycheck amounts previously ...

I was recently asked by a client to explain federal wage and hour regulations addressing work travel by non-exempt employees (employees who are paid based on an hourly wage rate and entitled to overtime pay). In the course of this exercise, I quickly remembered how certain forms of travel can ...

Most employers and their legal counsel pay little attention to the actions of the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB). They assume that the NLRB only concerns itself with employers whose employees are members of a union. In many instances that is correct but in fact, the NLRB has jurisdiction over ...

Several weeks ago I reported on the United States Department of Labor's final rule amending the definition of "spouse" under the FMLA to specifically include spouses in same sex marriages; even for employees working in states that do not currently recognize such marriages. That change was to become effective March ...

The United States Department of Labor recently published a final rule that amends the definition of "spouse" under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to specifically include spouses in same sex marriages. More significantly, however, the new rule provides that the legality of a marriage is to be determined ...

The United State Department of Labor (DOL) has partnered with almost 20 States to pursue employers that engage in misclassification of employees as independent contractors and collect unpaid overtime, payroll taxes, benefits and penalties that may be due. The financial incentive to treat persons who perform services as independent contractors ...