For invitations to our events and updates on key legal issues and business concerns:
Please Click HerePosted on August 1, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created controversy a couple of years ago when it ruled that handbook policies maintained by T-Mobile USA requiring employees to maintain a positive work environment were illegal because they could be seen as having a chilling effect on employees’ unionizing and collective bargaining rights. Last week, the U.S. 5th […]
Posted on August 1, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Recent action taken by the Department of Labor has started to signal the likely “redo” of the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations regarding overtime pay and which employees are eligible for overtime pay. The Department of Labor issued a Request for Information document that asks employers to respond to a series of questions on overtime […]
Posted on July 19, 2017 by Christopher M. Seelen
A quick introduction for those of you who are not bankruptcy nerds. For certain types of collateral, Chapter 13 allows a Debtor to reduce a secured creditor’s claim down to the value of the collateral. This is called “cram down.” But, there are certain limits on the Debtor’s “cram down” powers. For example, the Debtor […]
Posted on July 17, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Without much fanfare, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Wisconsin Right-to-Work Law. The Right-to-Work Law passed in Wisconsin is similar to a law passed in Indiana and holds that a company may not enter into a labor agreement with a union representing company employees that requires the employees to join the union […]
Posted on July 13, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Wisconsin’s exclusive remedy of worker’s compensation has long been a bulwark against civil suits brought by employees (subject to a few narrow exceptions not applicable here). This bulwark has survived a creative attack in an asbestos case in Pecher v. Owens-Illinois, Inc. 859 F.3d 396 (2017), which was decided on June 6, 2017. The case […]
Posted on July 11, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
On its face the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Flug v. LIRC, 2017 WI 72 (decided on June 30, 2017), is a clear, important win for the employer side in common injuries that involve pre-existing degenerative conditions. The general circumstances presented in Flug are familiar. In that case, a forty-three year old retail […]
Posted on July 5, 2017 by Paul J. Mirr
We recently helped a client complete long-term tax-exempt bond financing of a portion of a mixed-use condominium. These projects raise interesting issues. Long story short, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you need to be very careful as to how you document costs and how you define each condominium element. Quick, simplified background: […]
Posted on June 29, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
In a unanimous and much-anticipated decision released today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a committee of school personnel formed to review materials for a high school course under a procedure set forth in school board rules is a “governmental body” subject to the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law. The case (Krueger v. Appleton Area School […]
Posted on June 28, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The health care market has recently seen a resurgence in narrow network products. To a significant degree, the resurgence of these products has been driven by the need for managed care plans looking for new avenues to help reduce the cost of care. Traditionally, health care plans have been able to manipulate risk through exclusion […]
Posted on June 27, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report summarizing activities of State Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs or Units) for fiscal year 2016. The OIG is the designated Federal agency for oversight of state MFCUs. The report found a total of 1,564 convictions of which approximately […]