Todd Lebowitz

NLRB: Nurses Entitled to Union Representation at Peer Review Meeting

By Robert M. Wolin and Todd Lebowitz on September 17, 2015 Posted in Uncategorized

The NLRB, in an August 27, 2015, decision, held that two nurses who were requested to voluntarily appear before a hospital’s Nursing Peer Review Committee were entitled to have their union representatives attend the peer review meeting because the nurses could reasonably expect that discipline could result from their appearances before the committee. The hospital contended … Continue Reading

NLRB Blows Up Staffing Agency Model: Rewrites Joint-Employer Test

By Todd Lebowitz on September 15, 2015 Posted in Uncategorized

Boom! In a 3-2 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) spontaneously redefined joint employment in a way that threatens to turn almost every healthcare provider that works with a management company or staffing agency into a joint employer for collective bargaining purposes. Read more on BakerHostetler’s Employment Law Spotlight blog >>… Continue Reading

Washington, D.C., Joins the Ban-the-Box Movement for Private Employers

By Todd Lebowitz on September 8, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on BakerHostetler’s Employment Law Spotlight blog. The District of Columbia has passed one of the most stringent ban-the-box laws in the nation. The D.C. law includes the typical prohibition on asking questions about criminal background during the application process, but it also adds a requirement, similar to New York … Continue Reading

Background Check Questions: Illinois Joins Ban-the-Box States; New Jersey May Be Next

By Todd Lebowitz and Melissa Siebert on August 4, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on BakerHostetler’s Employment Law Spotlight blog. Illinois Criminal background questions on employment applications will no longer be permitted in Illinois, effective January 1, 2015. On July 19, Governor Quinn signed the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act, making Illinois the fifth state to prohibit private employers from asking criminal … Continue Reading

Joint Employment Finding Leads to Unexpected $3 Million Liability in Hospital Malpractice Case

By Todd Lebowitz on July 29, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on BakerHostetler’s Employment Law Spotlight blog. When Washington Hospital obtained an insurance policy in 2003 to cover medical claims arising from acts by its employees, its insurer probably did not consider whether hospital employees included workers supplied by a staffing agency. It should have. The issue of whether a … Continue Reading

Illinois Supreme Court Upholds One of the Nation’s Strictest Worker Misclassification Laws; Employers May Face Millions of Dollars in Penalties

By Todd Lebowitz on March 5, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on BakerHostetler’s Employment Law Spotlight blog. Worker misclassification is now a bet-the-company issue. On February 21, 2004, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to Illinois’s Employee Classification Act (the ECA), a law that defines most individuals who perform construction-related services as employees of the company that retains … Continue Reading

Background Check Policies Exposing Employers to Legal Liability

By Todd Lebowitz on August 22, 2013 Posted in Uncategorized

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues to challenge employers’ seemingly legitimate reliance on background checks as part of the hiring process. Recent developments indicate that the heat is intensifying both on employers and the EEOC. On August 9, 2013, a Maryland federal court dealt the EEOC a significant loss in a class action case … Continue Reading