by Josh Scharff | Dec 22, 2016 | Employment Law, Family Leave
We recently reported that Washington, DC had made significant progress towards passing one of the most generous paid family leave laws in the country. Two days ago, DC took an enormous leap forward when the City Council passed the Universal Paid Leave Act by a 9-4...
by Josh Scharff | Nov 29, 2016 | Employment Law, Family Leave
The District of Columbia is one step closer to passing one of the most generous paid family leave laws in the country, the most-recent version of which includes up to eleven weeks for the birth or adoption of a child. The full draft of the Universal Paid Leave Act is...
by Josh Scharff | Oct 13, 2016 | Clergy Employment Issues, Employment Law, Title VII
Music is a vital part of worship for many religions. But at what point should a musician be considered a religious minister? The answer to this question has legal ramifications for musicians who work at congregations, schools, and/or other religious institutions....
by Josh Scharff | Nov 13, 2014 | Clergy Employment Issues
Earlier today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated the Western District of Wisconsin’s decision in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Lew and ordered the case to be dismissed. This case was before the Seventh Circuit after Federal...
by Josh Scharff | Jul 31, 2014 | Clergy Employment Issues, Employment Law
Employees of certain religious institutions, which can include religious schools, congregations, and faith-based nonprofit organizations, are sometimes confronted with a “morals clause” in their employment agreements. In the context of a religious employer-employee...
by Josh Scharff | Nov 26, 2013 | Clergy Employment Issues, Employment Law, Supreme Court, Title VII
The Supreme Court Does Not Further Define “Religious Institution” in Hosanna-Tabor In it’s 2012 Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church & School v. EEOC decision, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the validity of the “ministerial exception,” a common law...
by Josh Scharff | Oct 16, 2013 | Employment Law, Social Media
State lawmakers have had an active year enacting laws that prohibit employers from accessing applicants’ and employees’ private social media sites. As we reported earlier, Nevada recently joined the growing list of states with such protections. This past...
by Josh Scharff | Sep 12, 2013 | Employment Law, Social Media
The list of states that have enacted laws prohibiting employers from accessing applicants’ and employees’ private social media sites keeps growing, and Nevada is the latest addition. This past summer, Governor Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 181 into law. Section...
by Josh Scharff | Mar 21, 2013 | Clergy Employment Issues, Unemployment
Employees laid off or terminated from a position with a religious congregation may be in for an additional unpleasant surprise – they may be legally precluded from collecting unemployment benefits. While the purpose of unemployment insurance is to provide a safety net...
by Mark Gisler | Jul 13, 2012 | Employment Law, Physician Employment Issues
Recent economic reorganization of health care is making more physicians into employees of medical groups, managed care organizations and hospitals. For both newly graduated and established physicians, there are a wide variety of legal and other considerations when...
