At yesterday’s labor & employment law seminar, we had both Heidi Lane, a Prinicipal Attorney with the Connecticut Department of Labor, and Jonathan Kreisberg, Regional Director of the NLRB’s Hartford Office, speak to attendees about the latest developments under both Connecticut and federal law.

But for those who couldn’t make it, here are five notable things they discussed:

1) Paid Sick Leave adoption appears to be going smoothly.  According to Lane, there have only been two complaints filed since the start of the year.  Neither case went very far, either because of merit, or settlement.  But for those expecting a big influx in complaints, we haven’t seen it.  Yet.

2) The Connecticut Department of Labor has, quietly to some, been conducting many more investigations of individuals who may be abusing the unemployment compensation system.   As a result of cutting down on fraud, it is hoped that more money can be kept in the system for those who need it the most and to keep employer expenses down.  I provided a link to a report of this last week

3) Social media has, and will continue to, dominate the NLRB’s agenda.  Kriesberg highlighted two new Board cases on the subject that I discussed on this blog earlier this week.  He said another is in the pipeline that could be the first Board case to find an employer’s firing of an employee because of his or her Facebook post was illegal. 

4) What’s still on the NLRB’s horizons? More cases challenging at-will disclaimers and confidentiality policies.    Again, if you’ve been following these issues, this won’t come as a surprise, but for those who think the NLRB is somehow going to back down, Kreisberg’s words indicate the opposite.  He also indicated that the issue of mandatory class action waivers continued to be a focus of the NLRB and that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the issue at the U.S. Supreme Court as well.  

5) Kreisberg had no news to share on whether the proposed consolidation of the Hartford and Boston regional offices was still going forward (though he hinted he would be in charge of such a combined office) but indicated that he believed people in Connecticut wouldn’t notice any issue. 

My sincere thanks to both of them for taking the time to speak to the attendees. 

If you’re interested in commentary like this, we will be conducting a replay of our presentation for the southern Connecticut audience on October 18th in Norwalk.  Be sure to sign up (it’s free) and remember that breakfast AND lunch are included.