New Family and Medical Leave Act Guidance for Families of Adult Children with Disabilities

Families now have clarification on when parents may use leave to care for an adult child with a mental or physical disability.

On January 14, 2013, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor issued additional guidance to help employers determine eligibility of employees to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when the employee has an adult child with a mental or physical disability incapable of self-care due to a serious health condition.

Generally,  entitlement to FMLA leave ends when a child is 18 years old. “Incapable of self-care” means that the individual requires active assistance or supervision to provide daily self-care in three or more of the “activities of daily living” or “instrumental activities of daily living.” Continue reading »

Missouri Court Holds Great Recession Not Sufficient Basis for Commercial Frustration Defense

Parties to contracts, such as banks or contractors, have often been covered by what is known as the “commercial frustration doctrine.”  The doctrine can excuse a party to a contract from his or her performance when a happening, unforeseen by the contracting parties, destroys or nearly destroys the contract’s purpose or the value of such performance – provided the parties did not cause the happening and were unable to avoid its consequences.

However, as seen in a recent Missouri case in which a party attempted to assert the doctrine and avoid payment on a promissory note by claiming the “Great Recession” was an “unforeseen happening,” the doctrine may not be applicable to merely encountering financial difficulties (even if significant).

In Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity v. Commercial Woodworking & Contracting, Inc., et al, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri held that the recession was not the type of unanticipated, unforeseen event which qualified for a commercial frustration defense. 2012 WL 1025203 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 26, 2012).

Between April 26, 2004 and May 21, 2007, the Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity (“Carpenters Union”) made three loans to Commercial Woodworking & Contracting, Inc. and several individuals related to the corporation (“Commercial Woodworking”). The terms of the loan and its repayment were set forth in three promissory notes. Commercial Woodworking failed to repay upon the promissory notes. The Carpenters Union brought suit against Commercial Woodworking for repayment of the amounts remaining on the notes. Continue reading »

Employers and the Health Reform Law

On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”), more commonly known as the health reform law, including the highly controversial individual mandate. While the Court limited the Act’s planned expansion of Medicaid, the decision was overwhelmingly a “win” for President Obama.

Now that President Obama has been elected to a second term, those who resisted implementing the first set of provisions (waiting for the Court to rule) will have to begin earnestly working to comply with both provisions already in effect and forthcoming provisions, including key provisions which require compliance in 2014: the individual mandate and the employer mandate.

Provisions currently in effect include:

• No lifetime limits on coverage.
• Restrictions on annual limits.
• No “rescissions,” meaning health plans cannot cancel coverage once you are sick unless you committed fraud when you applied for coverage.
• Dependent care coverage is provided up to age 26 for adult children without employer-sponsored coverage.
• Federal small business tax credits have also been available for employers who provide coverage, with credits differing depending on the size of the company and increasing to 50 percent in 2014.
•  Many consumer employees have already experienced not having to pay out-of-pocket costs for certain preventative services, such as breast cancer screenings and cholesterol tests, and the disqualification of over-the-counter drugs as medical expenses for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
• Insurers will have to provide rebates to consumers if they spend less than 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care.

The impact of both the individual mandate and the employer mandate will not be fully known until closer to 2014; however, there has been great speculation about who will be most impacted. Continue reading »

Two-year, Non-solicitation Activity Covenant Upheld in Illinois for Seasonal Tax Employee

An Illinois appellate court recently upheld a two-year, non-solicitation activity covenant and one-year anti-raiding covenant between a tax preparation service and its employee, despite the employee’s seasonal employment of just three months. Zabaneh Franchises, LLC v. Walker, 972 N.E. 2d 344 (Ill. App. 2012).

In July of 2010, Zabaneh Franchises, LLC, an income tax preparation service based in Quincy, Ill., purchased an existing H&R Block, Inc. franchise. The sale included an assignment of employment agreements with H&R Block’s employees, including that with Terri Walker. Walker had signed an employment agreement in November 2009, as she did annually beginning in 2003. Pursuant to this agreement, Walker agreed to work during the 2010 “tax season,” from January 2 through April 15, 2010. Walker completed this tax season employment without incident.

In February 2011, Zabaneh filed suit against Walker alleging that within a few months of leaving Zabaneh in April 2010, Walker started her own tax preparation business, solicited clients, and hired employees of H&R Block in violation of her employment agreement. Zabaneh’s complaint sought a temporary restraining order against Walker to bar her from engaging further in such activities. The trial court found Walker’s employment agreement to constitute a “contract of adhesion” (a “take it or leave it” imbalanced agreement favoring one party) and denied Zabaneh’s request for a temporary restraining order. The case was subsequently dismissed with prejudice.

On appeal, the appellate court was asked to consider whether Walker’s employment agreement was reasonable and enforceable. In doing so, the court noted that the Illinois Supreme Court had recently addressed the proper standard for analyzing the enforceability of restricted covenants in an employment agreement in Reliable Fire Equipment Co. v. Arredondo, 965 N.E.2d 393 (Ill. 2012). Continue reading »

Lawsuit Challenges Missouri Cell Phone Tracking Law

The day before Missouri’s new cell phone tracking law was to take effect, Bolivar resident Mary Hopwood filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri seeking to have the new law declared unconstitutional. As I recently discussed, the new law requires phone companies to cooperate with police by tracking cell phone signals of 911 callers and/or by tracking a cell phone’s location when there is a danger of death or serious physical injury.

Hopwood’s lawsuit seeks to declare the new law as unconstitutional, alleging that it violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. The Supremacy Clause prohibits states from enacting state statutes that conflict with federal law. Hopwood claims the Missouri law conflicts with several federal statutes, collectively known as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The ECPA governs the disclosure of the information stored by communications companies.

According to the lawsuit, one of the alleged conflicts involves Missouri’s elimination of phone companies’ discretion in responding to and possible denial of frivolous requests by law enforcement. Another conflict concerns the law’s complete denial of civil causes of action against the companies for wrongfully disclosing information. Federal law currently provides phone companies such discretion and provides for the possibility of civil relief against the companies for various wrongful actions. Continue reading »

Legislative Update: Gov. Nixon Signs Cell Phone Tracking Bill

As recently reported by the New York Times, across America demands by law enforcement agencies for cell phone records and data are skyrocketing. In fact, records released by the top five cell phone carriers indicated that 1.3 million requests for cell phone location/tracking and other data were granted to law enforcement agencies in 2011 alone.

Originally utilized only by federal agents, much of the recent increase has resulted from smaller and local law enforcement agencies utilizing such requests in their regular law enforcement practices. As with almost all technological advances, the technology of modern cell phones and capabilities of tracking same have outpaced governmental regulation, which has allowed many law enforcement agencies to utilize this practice with little to no legislative or judicial oversight. Recently, as the practice has grown and attracted more attention, advocates on both sides of the issue have brought this issue into public debate.

Civil liberties advocates argue the increased usage of cellular surveillance and tracking raises certain constitutional questions as the legal standards for obtaining this cell phone data are generally lower and less clear than the traditional standards applied in circumstances where law enforcement attempts to wiretap or monitor traditional phone lines and conversations. Advocates are concerned these lower and less clear standards invite troublesome discretion and surreptitious usage amongst law enforcement agencies.

Additionally, privacy advocates have expressed concern in the fact that modern cell phones can provide incredibly detailed pictures of the user’s life, including information related to the user’s health, political affiliations, finances and other sensitive data. Continue reading »

Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and Disabled Crime Modified to Include Undue Influence

Senior citizens and the disabled in Missouri will soon have additional protection from financial exploitation.

On July 11, 2012, Missouri SB 689 was signed by Governor Jay Nixon. SB 689 modifies the crime of financial exploitation of the elderly to include “undue influence.”

“Undue influence” is defined under the bill as:

“… influence by a person who has authority over the elderly or disabled person in order to take unfair advantage of the person’s vulnerable state of mind, neediness, pain, or agony. It includes improper use of various types of fiduciary authority.”

Under the bill, the Department of Social Services may now release the income and asset information of an individual in a licensed nursing home facility to the prosecuting attorney for purposes of investigation or prosecution of financial exploitation.

Continue reading »

The Impact of Electronic Storage on Mental Health Care Records

The looming clash over the privacy of mental health care records as they are increasingly being stored electronically was revealed in “As Records Go Online, Clash over Mental Care Privacy,” an article in the June 21, 2012 issue of the Boston Globe.

The Globe article highlighted the case of a patient who attended weekly therapy sessions and, as is typical, revealed her most private secrets, including depression and childhood sexual abuse.  Her psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital would then type a summary into her computerized medical record.  With that, more than 200 pages of sensitive notes became available to any doctor who cared for her within the sprawling Partners HealthCare system.  She discovered this only when a doctor later referenced the notes.

On one hand, Partners (the hospital system) argues that doctors must have a complete picture to make accurate diagnoses and having different rules for psychiatric records contributes to the stigma of mental illness.

On the other hand, this article highlights the delicate privacy issues that are surfacing as electronic medical records become widespread.  Providers in separate networks are preparing to share patients’ records more widely online — to better coordinate care and cut wasteful spending.  This will probably intensify the debate about what should and should not be shared, as well as fears about the unauthorized release of patient information.

As Dr. David Blumenthal, Partners’ chief health information and innovation officer and former national coordinator for health information technology for the Obama administration, said: Continue reading »

Breastfeeding in Public: Mother Sues Sheriff’s Deputy

A mother is suing a sheriff’s deputy in Cook County, Illinois for violation of the state’s Right to Breastfeed Act. The mother, who was at the courthouse to apply for food-assistance benefits, was breastfeeding her seven-week-old daughter in the lobby of the courthouse. The mother and her daughter were covered by a blanket at the time of the feeding. The deputy demanded that the mother move from the courthouse lobby to a public bathroom to breastfeed the baby. Because the mother feared she would disrupt the application process for her benefits if she were kicked out of the courthouse, she quit feeding her daughter instead of moving.

Right to Breastfeed in Illinois

In 2004 the General Assembly of Illinois passed the Right to Breastfeed Act. The stated purpose being:

“The General Assembly finds that breast milk offers better nutrition, immunity, and digestion, and may raise a baby’s IQ, and that breastfeeding offers other benefits such as improved mother-baby bonding, and its encouragement has been established as a major goal of this decade by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund. The General Assembly finds and declares that the Surgeon General of the United States recommends that babies be fed breast milk, unless medically contraindicated, in order to attain an optimal healthy start.”

Continue reading »

Hold the Scissors – Telling Employee to Cut Hair Can Lead to Your Company Suffering a Haircut

We have all seen hairstyles that made us ask the question, “What were they thinking?” But when employees show up with such hairstyles in our place of business, do we have the right to restrict hairstyles? Does it make a difference if the hairstyle – or even a head covering – is due to the employee’s religious beliefs?

Recent federal court decisions have made it clear that an employer must tread carefully when addressing an employee’s choice of hairstyle or head dress. Otherwise, it could be the employer being subject to a “haircut,” rather than the employee.

Accommodating Religious Beliefs

Of particular concern are cases where an employee’s choice of hairstyle or head dress may have a religious basis. In such cases, an employer has a duty under Title VII of the federal civil rights act (and in most states under state law, as well) to reasonably accommodate the employee’s religious beliefs. Failure to do so could result in the employer being found liable for religious discrimination, and being required to pay actual and punitive damages, as well as the employee’s legal fees.

In one recent case, reported in an EEOC press release issued April 27, 2012, the owner of a chain of Taco Bell restaurants agreed to pay $27,000 to resolve a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC because the owner had fired an employee who refused to cut his hair. The employee was a practicing Nazirite, who, in accordance with his religious beliefs, had not cut his hair in 15 years. After being employed at one of the owner’s restaurants for six years, the employee was told he would have to cut his hair if he wanted to retain his job. Even though he explained that his religion forbade him from cutting his hair, the employer insisted he had to do so if he wanted to keep his job. As the EEOC attorney handling the case, Lynette Barnes, explained in the press release, “No person should be forced to choose between his religion and his job when the company can provide an accommodation without suffering an undue hardship.” In addition to paying the $27,000, the employer agreed to institute a formal religious accommodation policy.

Continue reading »