The Internal Revenue Service has released the cost-of-living adjustments to the dollar limits under various employer-sponsored benefit plans for 2018. Several key limits (indicated in bold, below) have been increased for 2018. Employer-sponsors of benefit plans should update payroll and plan administration systems for the 2018 limits and ensure that any new limits are incorporated […]
In March 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed Right-to-Work legislation into law, which allowed workers covered by union representation to not pay union dues if they do not wish to. Since its passage, the law has been under legal fire, including a failed bid for preliminary injunction to halt the law and a state circuit […]
On January 31, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in early 2015. Many employers are wondering what impact a potential Justice Gorsuch would have on employment law […]
Wisconsin’s Right-to-Work law provides employees the ability to choose as to whether they want to become or remain members of a labor union. Intertwined with that decision is an employee’s right to decide not to pay union dues. In order for an employee to effectively exercise his or her right not to be a member […]
Within hours of being sworn in on Friday, January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order (the Order), that affirmed the administration’s policy of seeking “the prompt repeal” of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Order, however, neither specifically mentions employers nor has any immediate impact on employers’ obligations under the ACA. It is […]
Tuesday, November 8, 2016 is Election Day. While there is no federal law that requires employers to grant employees leave to vote, Wisconsin law does require voting leave. Wis. Stat. § 6.67. What Wisconsin employers need to know: All Wisconsin employers are required to give employees who are eligible to vote up to three consecutive […]
In Manitowoc Co. v. Lanning, 2015AP1530 (Aug. 17, 2016), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled—for the first time—that Wisconsin Statute § 103.465, which governs the enforceability of restrictive covenants in employment relationships, applies to employee non-solicitation provisions. In 2008, John Lanning, an employee at The Manitowoc Co., entered into an agreement that prohibited him, for a […]
This week, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals issued an important ruling on what “substantial fault” means in the context of unemployment compensation. In 2013, the Wisconsin legislature amended the unemployment insurance statutes to state that, in addition to discharge for misconduct and voluntary termination of work, employees would be denied unemployment benefits if they were […]
On March 9, 2015, Governor Scott Walker signed Act 1 (Wisconsin’s Right-to-Work legislation) into law, which allows workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement to not pay union dues if they choose not to do so (our previous blog on the law can be found here). Opponents of the law immediately went to work trying […]
Although federal administrative agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Department of Labor have recently pushed to expand the definition of “joint employer” under their respective laws, employers in Wisconsin can take some solace in recent legislation. Under Wisconsin Senate Bill 422, which became effective March […]
