By: Abby S. Busler, Gini L. Hendrickson and Laurie E. Meyer Late last night, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), an emergency relief package designed to assist employers and employees in the wake of the 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This signature is on the heels of the Senate which voted to accept...
By: Abby S. Busler and Laurie E. Meyer Recently, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter addressing whether an employee may take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to attend a meeting to discuss the Individualized Education Program (IEP) of the employee’s child. In the situation posed to the DOL, an...
By: Davis|Kuelthau's Labor and Employment Team On April 19, 2019, the IRS released new procedures for correcting qualified retirement plan errors under its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). In particular, Revenue Procedure 2019-19 expanded the types of mistakes that can be corrected by a plan sponsor on its own, thereby...
By: James M. Kalny On June 12, 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in the case of Richardson v. Chicago Transit Authority holding among other things, that obesity is not an impairment under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) absent the showing of an underlying physiological cause. As 32% of adults in Wisconsin are...
By: Laurie E. Meyer and Abby S. Busler A couple common scenarios: Your longtime employee, Karen, tells you that she wants to take leave to care for her sick husband—leave that would certainly constitute “qualifying leave” under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) as you are a “covered” employer under the FMLA and Karen is eligible for the...
By: Laurie E. Meyer On Thursday, March 7th, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its long-awaited proposed rule to change the minimum salary threshold for overtime eligibility. According to the DOL, this proposed rule would make more than a million more American workers eligible for overtime. First, a little bit of history. Under...
By: Bruce B. Deadman The “Blue Wave” many pundits predicted did not result in the flipping of both houses and a total shift in the political control of the Wisconsin and federal governments. Nonetheless, both the Wisconsin and Federal governments have divided control for the first time in many years. What, if anything, does that mean for state...
By: Davis|Kuelthau's Labor and Employment Team The IRS has released adjusted dollar limits for employer-sponsored retirement and welfare plans, as well as for individual retirement vehicles, effective as of January 1, 2019. Most of these limits have been increased for the coming calendar year. In addition, the Social Security Administration...
By: James M. Kalny Regardless of whether a company is unionized it is subject to Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) which guarantees employees the right: to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted...
By Bruce B. Deadman Reminder: It’s not too soon for sponsors of 403(b) plans to start the process of adopting IRS pre-approved plan documents. Under a new program, local governments, school districts and other tax-exempt entities that sponsor retirement plans under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) can for the first time...
