US Supreme Court issued two nice Retaliation-related decisions on May 27, 2008
Here’s a quick summary of these two important pro-employee retaliation-related cases, along with links to the cases:
Oh, by the way, Here’s my general article about “retaliation”, to help you appreciate how important that subject is.
In Gomez-Perez v. Potter, the Court decided, once and for […]

Judge Romines’ promotion changed the way St. Louis County Court handles non-compete cases, creating new challenges
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a long time. Sorry for the delay.
In this article, I intend to discuss some changes to the way that St. Louis County Courts handle “Equity” cases. This issue affects Non-Compete cases mostly.
I […]

Missouri Legislature attempting to stifle civil cases in St. Louis by firing 6 judges, in order to clog up the court system.
I got an email alert from the Bar Association warning about our Legislature’s plan to clog up the St. Louis civil court system. By removing a bunch of judges, cases cannot get heard, and […]

Missouri Legislature is trying to weaken Employees’ legal rights in 2008
Two bills are being considered which threaten Employees’ rights, SB 1046 and HB 1858
The two bills are designed to make it more difficult for employees to win cases.
SB 1046 would weaken our whistleblower protections. In one part, it would take the “Exclusivity” standard of proof […]

FMLA news: The FMLA law is updated in 2008 to expand coverage related to care for military members, and the Dept of Labor is proposing changes to FMLA regulations
FYI - See also my main FMLA article.

See my separate article on FMLA 26 week Servicemember family leave.
ISSUE 1 - Effective January 28, 2008, FMLA now […]

FMLA and Returning to Work on Light Duty
See also my main FMLA article.

Big WARNING: You might not be eligible for FMLA protection ——- To be eligible for FMLA protection, all of the following must apply:

You have to work for a large employer of 50 or more people within 75 miles of your jobsite
and you […]

On October 15, 2007, we moved the office.
See the bottom of each page of the website for the new contact info.
The Directions and Virtual Tour pages have been updated. Check them out.
The old phone number will continue to work for a long time.
I regret any inconvenience for those of you who are accustomed to coming […]

Federal Minimum Wage Increases to $5.85 effective July 24, 2007
NOTE: Missouri has a different Minimum Wage. See Tim’s Missouri Minimum Wage page.
The minimum wage is a political football for some reason. The Democratic majority (since Nov 2006) in Congress got a Federal minimum wage increase passed. The last time the Federal minimum wage increased was […]

New Justices Alito and Roberts provide the majority votes to apply a narrow interpretation to the EEOC filing deadline.
Supreme Court clarifies that “acts of discrimination” - not merely “effects of discrimination” - must occur within the very short EEOC filing deadline period.
The case is Ledbetter v. Goodyear, decided by the US Supreme Court on […]

After many years of the minimum wage being $5.15, on November 7, 2006 Missouri voters voted to raise the minimum wage, and to keep adjusting it as needed.
Missouri Minimum wage history:

Before the November 2006 election —- $5.15.
2007 - $6.50, due to the election of November 2006.
2008 - $6.65, after the required calculation […]

In 2005 Missouri passed a major “tort reform” law, HB 393. Here’s a little bit about that law and its effect on employment law.
HB 393 was not a major overhaul of employment law, so I didn’t bother to write about it. But thanks to some notes I’ve received from readers of this website, […]

We know more about what an “adverse action” consists of now, in Retaliation cases, due to the US Supreme Court’s decision in Burlington Northern v. White (2006)
Here’s a link to the case of Burlington Northern v. White.
For more background about this “adverse action” stuff, see my article called Adverse Employment Action. In effect, you don’t […]

Tim’s Workers Comp-related Services — Practitioners in multiple areas of law assisting you together, for no extra charge
I’ve arranged with some well-respected lawyer colleagues to provide a level of service designed to stand out from the norm, for the same exact contingency fee percentage as just about everyone else charges, 25%.
The services described in […]

Municipal employment contracts must be approved by the Governing Board of the entity in the final form
Court of Appeals decided an employment contract between a municipal corporation (hospital) and its CFO was unenforceable because the Board did not specifically approve the final agreement.
The case is Langlois v. Pemiscot Memorial Hospital, No. 26851 (Mo. App. S.D., […]

Demystifying Missouri Unemployment Claim and Appeal Process
This article is a companion to my Missouri Unemployment Appeals Tips article.
Here is the flow of an Unemployment Claim, as it works its way through the intake process and then through the three types of Appeals
THE INITIAL CLAIM

START: Start your claim on the internet. Answer some basic questions on […]

It’s easy to get an idea of what Employment Related legislation is currently pending in Missouri
The mere fact that a bill is pending does NOT mean it will pass. The great majority of bills die. But here’s an easy way for you to quickly get a feel for what might be working it’s way through […]

A proposed 2006 Missouri House Bill, HB-1187, would make bullying or abusive behavior unlawful, and let the victim sue for damages - but this bill will probably die
Laws get proposed all the time. And the laws make the legislators look good, garner decent press coverage, and then die.
HB-1187 is dead as of 4-3-06. See […]