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Recent Article Roundup

The recent weeks have been busy ones in the world of employment law. In this post, we highlight some of the most interesting cases that have surfaced over the past weeks. We check in on how the Affordable Care Act has impacted small business and firms as well as a case being brought against Jimmy John’s (yes, the sandwich company) for attempting to bind it’s low-wage workers to a non-compete contract.

 

Small Firms Start to Drop Health Plans: Many View the Health Law’s Marketplace as Inviting and Affordable

Small companies are starting to turn away from offering health plans as they seek to reduce costs and increasingly view the health law’s marketplaces as an inviting and affordable option for workers.

In the latest sign of a possible shift, WellPoint Inc. said recently its small-business-plan membership is shrinking faster than expected and it has lost about 300,000 people since the start of the year, leaving a total of 1.56 million in small-group coverage.

 

Jimmy John’s under fire for worker contracts

It’s one thing for a high paid exec to be prohibited from working at a competitor. But Jimmy Johns actually imposes non compete clauses on its low-wage workers.

Now, lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the sandwich chain’s policy of making workers sign contracts that bar them from working for its competition.

Calling the practice a form of intimidation, House members Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Linda Sánchez have drafted a letter calling on the Labor Department and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate “disturbing reports” of the chain’s contracts which are “inconsistent with trade and labor laws.”

 

Wal-Mart Stores East Will Pay $72,500 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P., will pay $72,500 and provide significant equitable relief to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced recently.

According to the EEOC’s suit, an assistant store manager at the Walmart store in Cockeysville, Md., offered Laura Jones a job as an evening sales associate, contingent on Jones passing a urinalysis test for illegal drugs. After Jones advised that she cannot produce urine because she has end-stage renal disease, the assistant store manager told her to ask the designated drug testing company about alternate tests, the EEOC said. According to the complaint, Jones went to the drug testing facility the same day and learned that the facility could do other drug tests if the employer requested it. Jones relayed this information to the Walmart assistant store manager, but management refused to order an alternative drug test. Jones’s application was closed for failing to take a urinalysis within 24 hours.

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