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Consult with experienced labor & employment lawyers whenever you need advice, without worrying about legal fees!
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For more information about Wessels Sherman's unique Phone Consultation Program, check our web page by clicking on the below link; or contact Christine Beggan at (952) 746-1700, or email her
here.
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Did You Know?
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Wessels Sherman has well-staffed offices with experienced attorneys to assist with our readers' legal needs in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa too. Businesses with operations/matters in these states are encouraged to call any of our attorneys for assistance. Additionally, Wessels Sherman attorneys regularly work with other lawyers as a highly cost-effective and trusted co-counsel and local counsel. Referrals are always appreciated and respected.
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Minnesota Client Alert
Legal News for Minnesota Employers
December 2015
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 Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays From Wessels Sherman
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James B. Sherman
President/CEO |
On behalf of everyone at our Minnesota office, we wish all our clients, busines
s associates and readers the very best for their families, friends and organizations this holiday season! As 2015 comes to a close we at Wessels Sherman have much to be grateful for and we are extremely excited about the coming year.
One reason for our enthusiasm is that we just were notified that our firm has once again been named to LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell®'s 2016 list of America's Top Ranked Law Firms. This is the fourth straight year our firm has achieved this distinctive honor!
LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell
®
has been THE authoritative source for U.S. lawyers since 1868. Being selected for a fourth straight year as a top ranked firm out of all our competing law firms in America, is both humbling and immensely gratifying. This honor is shared by all of our firm's dedicated and experienced shareholders, associate lawyers and staff, each of whom devotes him or herself to meeting and exceeding the needs of our business clients throughout the Midwest in our concentrated field of labor and employment law.
Accolades aside, the most important reasons why we love what we do in our concentrated field of workplace law, are the close relationships we develop with the owners, managers and other professionals associated with the many companies we represent, old and new, in every industry. On a personal level, the story of one of my most rewarding experiences in the practice of law perhaps best explains why I do what I do. Here is a link to the story which was published recently in the Minnesota State Bar Association's "Voices" Blog:
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Employers Face Heavy Penalties for Improperly Using H1-Bs and Other Employment-Based Visas
By: Phoebe A. Taurick, Esq.
Employers often find they need to supplement their workforce with foreign workers, ranging from highly skilled and specialized workers to seasonal agricultural workers. There are several avenues available to employers to pursue needed workers, including temporary, non-immigrant visas such as H-1B visas, as well as permanent, immigrant visas such as EB-1 visas. These visas exist to allow employers to bring in workers from abroad, if qualified workers are not available, not to provide a source of cheap labor or workers who may be treated less favorably. Employers who have pursued visas for foreign workers in the past know the challenges involved with successfully obtaining a visa. The process may prove to be even more difficult in the coming year due to fears relating to terrorism. But the challenges of using foreign workers extend well beyond obtaining appropriate authorization and getting workers into the country legally. The U.S. Department of Justice is aggressively cracking down on employers who misuse or abuse foreign workers or the visas on which they rely to get workers into the country. Violating employers face stiff penalties and potentially even criminal prosecution.
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Employers use severance agreements hopefully to secure a clean parting of ways with employees who are let go. Paying a severance in exchange for a waiver and release of potential legal claims, can be a way to avoid costly litigation. However, any waiver/release that is not drafted properly can allow employees to take the severance package yet still sue the company! Nowhere are these concerns more acute than with severance agreements involving employees who are over the age of 40. This is because in order to effectively waive age discrimination claims available to workers 40 and older, a severance agreement must comply with nuanced requirements of the federal Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA). As a federal court case now pending in Minnesota illustrates, complying with the OWBPA can be easier said than done.
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As part of a pattern of federal agencies kowtowing to the interests of unions, the DOL is moving forward with its proposal to significantly narrow an exemption that allows attorneys to provide confidential advice to employers throughout the course of union organizing. The provision in question creates an "advice" exemption from employers' reporting requirements when hiring a consultant in connection with attempts to persuade employees about the right to organize and bargain collectively. If this
proposed rule becomes final in its present form, employers and consultants, including attorneys, hired to assist in countering union organizing would be required to publicly disclose their relationship, through the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act's (LMRDA) requirements to report any agreement or arrangement between an employer and a third party consultant, to persuade employees as to their collective bargaining rights or to obtain certain information concerning the activities of employees or a labor organization in connection with a labor dispute involving the employer. This disclosure requirement, when applied to attorneys, flies in the face of traditional notions of attorney-client privilege, and its goal of fostering free and open communication between attorneys and their clients.
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