Department of Labor Expands FMLA for Same-Sex Parents
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on June 22, 2010, clarified the definition of "son and daughter" under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to ensure that an employee who assumes the role of caring for a child receives parental rights to family leave regardless of the legal or biological relationship. The DOL interpretation applies to nontraditional families, including unmarried partners and families in the lesbian-gay community. The DOL explains that its intent is to assist employees and employers in understanding "how the FMLA applies when there is no legal or biological parent-child relationship."
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Grandfathered Health Care Plan Regulations Released
On June 17, 2010, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued interim final rules relating to "grandfathered" health care plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). A "grandfathered health plan" is any group health plan or individual coverage that was in effect on March 23, 2010, the date of the new law's enactment.
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Supreme Court Rules Public Employee's
Text Messages Not Private
On June 17th, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public employer did not violate an employee's constitutional privacy rights by searching his personal text messages that were sent and received on his employer-issued pager.

The Supreme Court held that the search was reasonable and permissible because it was motivated by a legitimate work-related purpose and wasn't excessive in scope.
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Social Networking - Is a policy needed?
According to the U.S Census Bureau, the number of active users on Facebook is 309,448,262. In comparison, Facebook announced in June that the number of active users worldwide is over 400,000,000. The fastest growing demographic of Facebook users are age 35 and older. So, do you know how many of your employees are social networking?
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Interns – Paid or Unpaid
Question: Can I hire an unpaid intern?

Answer: The short answer is yes as long as the individual is truly an intern.

Continuing to face a slow economy, many small businesses have tightened their budgets while many students (as well as individuals considering new careers) may look towards internships to gain experience for little or no pay. The Department of Labor (DOL), however, has been increasing its wage and hour enforcement efforts and is expected to do more so this summer.
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