The U.S. Department of Labor’s ongoing efforts to adjust the salary thresholds for the “white collar exemptions” under the Fair Labor Standards Act have created significant uncertainty for employers. Following the now-vacated 2024 Final Rule and subsequent legal...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division recently issued Opinion Letter FLSA2026-5 (May 28, 2026), offering important clarity on a common workforce practice: allowing exempt employees to perform additional, non-exempt work on an hourly basis. For HR...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reaffirmed the standards governing when an employee’s release of claims is considered “knowing and voluntary.” The decision, Nakisha West v. Dow Chemical Company, provides useful guidance for employers relying...
A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit may cut short the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recent approach to union recognition and bargaining orders following representation elections. In Brown-Forman Corp. v. NLRB, decided March...
The debate over the scope of the National Labor Relations Board’s (the “Board”) remedial authority under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) continues to intensify, and the Sixth Circuit has now added its voice to the growing chorus of courts rejecting the...
On October 14, 2025, Cuyahoga County became the first county in Ohio to pass its own version of the CROWN Act, expanding local anti-discrimination protections to include natural hairstyles. The ordinance prohibits discrimination based on hair texture and protective...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reaffirmed that temporal proximity, the closeness in time between an employee’s protected activity and an adverse employment action, is not, by itself, enough to prove unlawful discrimination or retaliation. Two...
The Sixth Circuit recently emphasized the importance of how supervisors manage pregnancy-related accommodations and workplace communications. Background Jackilyn Bunnell, a hospital ultrasonographer, told her supervisor that she was pregnant and requested certain...
The Sixth Circuit in Bivens v. Zep, Inc. brushed aside the EEOC’s and several circuit court positions with respect to the standard to be used when determining an employer’s liability under Title VII for sexual harassment of its employee by a customer and instituted a...
In a recent decision that reinforces the importance of consistent policy enforcement, the Sixth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an age discrimination lawsuit filed by a nurse terminated from the Cincinnati VA Medical Center (the “VA Hospital”), against the Secretary...