Labor & Employment Developments Blog

We have posted an alert regarding Ohio's new military leave law, which takes effect on July 2, 2010. An initial question that the new law raises is how it compares to and interacts with the FMLA’s provisions for military leave. At present, the answer is not clear but there are a couple of points worth noting.

Most people have heard the news by now. Gen. Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his command of international forces in Afghanistan after his disparaging remarks about the Obama administration were published in Rolling Stone.  I had not intended to comment on this story, but so many people have asked me my opinion (offline) that I decided to blog about it.  Upon reflection, the story does have some application to labor and employment law issues.  In fact, I have decided to coin a new term for use in the employment law context — a “McChrystal.”

Have you ever received a request to recommend someone on LinkedIn? If you’re on LinkedIn, I’m guessing the answer is yes. I have seen marketing and HR blogs lamenting the fact that some people ask for recommendations from people they don’t even know. While that is rude, what about the requests from people you do know? How do you respond?

Executive Order 13496, signed in January 2009, requires all federal contractors and subcontractors to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including their right to join and support unions. The key take away is that federal contractors with $100,000 or more in federal contracts and subcontractors with $10,000 or more must post a notice in the workplace in paper form where other such notices are posted.

Have you heard about the non-solicit suit involving communications on LinkedIn? Well, it seems that an employer in Minnesota is suing former employees and their new employer over violations of the employees’ non-solicitation agreements. The twist is that one of the employees allegedly did her solicitation through her LinkedIn page, communicating with several former colleagues after going to work for a competitor.