Many of our clients have asked recently about their legal obligations to individuals who have left their employment to serve in the military. As a general matter, an individual’s right to take a leave of absence for military service and, among other things, to return to work at their service’s conclusion, is protected by the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”).

For the eighth consecutive year, unions won more than 50% of the elections held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). However, during the same period of time, the number of union elections declined from over 3,000 to less than 2,500 per year. The decline in the number of elections reflects, in part, the plan adopted by the AFL-CIO in 1996 to concentrate on larger bargaining units with “bigger and better campaigns”. It also reflects the fact that certain unions, such as the UAW and Unite, have focused in part on the use of the card check process to gain recognition rather than the NLRB representation process.

While “blogs” (short for “weblogs,” a simple way of publishing on the Internet) have been around for several years, general awareness of them is rising. Blogs can be maintained by individuals, groups and corporations. In fact, many marketers promote the use of corporate blogs as an inexpensive way to promote a business, product or service. But with any new “technology” comes dire warnings about the potential legal consequences of employee use (or misuse) of that technology. In the case of blogs, are the warnings hype or real? If they are real, what steps can employers take to protect themselves?

Employers should be cautious when approving requests for leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA requires that employers reinstate employees to the same or equivalent position upon their return to work after approved FMLA leave. A recent federal court of appeals decision suggests that, if the employer initially approves FMLA leave and, later, for whatever reason, elects not to reinstate the employee, the employer may be estopped from asserting that the employee was ineligible for the leave in the first place.

Elarbee Thompson is pleased to announce the addition of Associates Suzanne K. Lehman and Clay C. Mingus to our firm. For more information about our attorneys, please visit our website: http://www.elarbeethompson.com.