An unpublished decision issued yesterday by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Tomczik raises a couple of interesting and uncommon issues that are worth noting. Tomczik worked as an insurance agent for Farmers for 31 years. In 2006, Farmers noticed a drop in the number of automobile policies that he [...]
Classification of exempt employee upheld under FLSA
As any employment lawyer will tell you, wage-and-hour litigation has been a hot area for the last several years. A recent opinion by U.S. District Judge Michael Davis provides a useful overview of the elements of one type of such a claim – the claimed misclassification of a non-exempt employee. John Berscheid worked as [...]
Non-competes and preliminary injunctions
The medical device industry is well-known for the competition between companies for good sales talent. Judge Susan Richards Nelson has penned a textbook example of how to analyze a motion for a preliminary injunction in a non-competition case in her decision earlier this month in Boston Scientific Corp. v. Kean and St. Jude Medical [...]
EEOC issues regulations for ADA
The EEOC has just issued the final regulations implementing the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are 202 pages long: have fun!
Charlie Sheen v. Chuck Lorrie
I’m rushing to get out of town for spring break, but as a public service I felt compelled to make Charlie Sheen’s 30-page Complaint available to you. Parts of it read as though Charlie himself wrote it! Enjoy.
Criminal background checks for nursing home employees
The Inspector General of the federal Department of Health and Human Services issued a report yesterday which reports that more than 90 percent of all nursing homes in the U.S. have at least one employee with a criminal record, and five percent of all nursing home employees have at least one conviction. The report [...]
Certified Labor and Employment Law Specialist
I have joined the ranks of the MSBA Board Certified Labor and Employment Law Specialists. According to the MSBA, the designation is earned by attorneys who have completed a rigorous approval process, including an examination in the specialty area, peer review, and documented experience. Certified attorneys have demonstrated superior knowledge, skill and integrity in their [...]
Don’t Miss the Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute
The best employment law conference in the country will be at the St. Paul RiverCentre on May 23 and 24, 2011. All of the details are here. I will be speaking on Proportionality in Electronic Discovery with my friend Sean Gallagher from Denver during the very prestigious 4:00 to 5:00 slot on Monday. Luckily, there [...]
Guest Post: More scrutiny of service animals coming
Calhoun here. T.J.’s been pretty busy this week, so he’s asked me to guest post. As I was reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday, I saw the perfect item: an article on how people abuse the concept of service animals to take their pets (Iguanas!) with them, and efforts by the disability community to [...]
