Human Resources Counseling
Human Resource professionals are expected to be up-to-date on employment laws and how they apply to their workforce. Plus, any task performed by HR carries some amount of legal risk.
With as often as rules change and as varied as employee needs and issues can be, HR professionals need a trusted partner. Ruder Ware’s employment attorneys are often considered an extension of a company’s internal HR department. Our attorneys are up-to-date on currently state and federal employment laws and have walked seasoned HR professionals through incredibly tense employee issues and have emerged with practical solutions and sound advice.
Our attorneys provide counsel on:
- Disability accommodation & leave management
- Wage and Hour
- Drug and alcohol testing
- Employee privacy
- Nondiscrimination
- Workforce Restructuring & Reductions in Force
- FMLA/ADA Solutions
- International Employment
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Workplace Harassment
- Background investigations and pre-employment screening
- Workplace investigations into employee misconduct
- Training for executives, managers and employees (including harassment prevention and social media)
- Employee handbooks and policies
- Employment contracts and arbitration agreements
- Protection of trade secrets and confidential information, and drafting non-disclosure and non-competition agreements
- Severance agreements
While our attorneys are skilled at proactive measures, issues such as accidents, missteps, or claims against the company are still a possibility. Ruder Ware’s team of litigators are prepared to provide counsel at that next level – whether through mediation or litigation.
Founded in 1920, Ruder Ware provides business, employment, estate planning, and litigation services through its offices in Wausau, Eau Claire, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. A full-service law firm, over 40 attorneys provide clients with a one-stop approach to their legal needs. Ruder Ware, Business Attorneys for Business Success.
Posted on October 8, 2021 by Sara J. Ackermann and Nicole L. Stangl
The Magic Language: The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council (FAR Council) was charged with drafting contractual language to require compliance with the guidance from the SAFER Task Force (Guidance). For a more in-depth discussion of the Guidance, see our blog post from September 24, BREAKING NEWS! Guidance Issued on Biden’s Contractor Vaccine Mandate! The FAR Council […]
Posted on September 24, 2021 by Sara J. Ackermann and Nicole L. Stangl
On Friday, September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) issued its COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors (Guidance) as directed by President Biden in an executive order (EO) on September 9, 2021. Click here to see the full Guidance (a helpful FAQ starts on page nine of the Guidance.) […]
Posted on September 10, 2021 by Sara J. Ackermann and Nicole L. Stangl
On Thursday, September 9, 2021, President Biden announced his new COVID-19 plan entitled “Path out of the Pandemic” (Plan). While this Plan includes several provisions, this e-alert highlights a few of those of most interest to employers: OSHA was directed to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). This ETS will require private sector employers with […]
Posted on August 17, 2021 by Nicole L. Stangl and Robert J. Reinertson
On August 13, 2021, OSHA updated Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace (Guidance) related to the COVID-19 vaccine and masking. The Guidance now incorporates the new CDC recommendations including: Wearing a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission; Choosing to wear a […]
Posted on August 16, 2021 by Robert J. Reinertson and Nicole L. Stangl
The newly-appointed General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Jennifer Abruzzo, has issued a memorandum to NLRB regional offices saying that she intends to “reexamine” positions taken by her predecessors and the Trump Era Board. During the Trump Administration, the NLRB overruled a number of legal precedents while taking a more employer-friendly stance. […]
Posted on August 10, 2021 by Nicole L. Stangl
OSHA issued a COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on June 10, 2021 that applied to the healthcare sector. Included in the ETS is an exemption from the masking, distancing, and barrier requirements for employees who are fully vaccinated when in a well-defined area where there is no reasonable expectation that any person with suspected or […]
Posted on August 3, 2021 by Nicole L. Stangl
After many months of mostly virtual enforcement, OSHA is back to in-person site inspections and OSHA enforcement has become a priority for the Administration. As such, businesses should be aware of rights they have and how to best respond when OSHA comes knocking OSHA Just Showed Up, What Can I Do? With some exceptions, OSHA’s […]
Posted on July 28, 2021 by Sara J. Ackermann
Yesterday the CDC issued new guidance recommending Americans to “wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.” The site includes a link so individuals can search their particular county to find out if transmission is low, moderate, substantial, or high. As of the date of this […]
Posted on June 23, 2021 by Sara J. Ackermann
It was about this time last summer when the U.S. Supreme Court extended Title VII protections to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status. Now the federal agency tasked with enforcing these new protections has clarified just what the new protections mean for employers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission […]
Posted on May 26, 2021 by Robert J. Reinertson and Nicole L. Stangl
OSHA has changed course and is now advising employers they do not need to record employees’ adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines on their OSHA logs. A month ago, OSHA’s position was adverse vaccine reactions had to be recorded as illnesses if an employer required its employees to be vaccinated. The new guidance now relieves employers […]
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