BW INSIGHTS

The U.S. Department of Labor Issues Guidance on Joint Employer Rule

By BrownWinick | 01.21.2020

The U.S. Department of Labor issued some much-needed guidance regarding the application of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s Joint Employer rule. The rule becomes effective on March 16, 2020. In the joint employer scenario where another person is benefitting from the employee's work, the Department is adopting a four-factor balancing test... Read More

2020 Legislative Session-Week 1

By BrownWinick | 01.17.2020

The first week of the 2020 Iowa legislative sessionstarted Monday with the swearing-in of a new House Republican leadership team. Rep. Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) was officially named Speaker of the House, while Rep. Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley) was sworn in as Majority Leader. Grassley listed workforce-related issues as his top concerns,... Read More

Waterloo Bans the Box - Other Employers Need to Think Outside It

By BrownWinick | 12.20.2019

On a final vote on November 4, 2019, the Waterloo City Council narrowly passed a city ordinance intended to help people with criminal histories find jobs by reducing the effect of the stigma of an arrest or conviction. The “Fair Chance Initiative” goes into effect on July 1, 2020. These types of measures, commonly called “ban the box” initiatives,... Read More

Another Final Rule from the DOL Regarding the FLSA - Effective January 15, 2020

By BrownWinick | 12.20.2019

Previously, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its Final Rule on September 24, 2019, updating the earnings requirements for exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Please see prior blog post. Now, the DOL has published another Final Rule (on 12/16/19) that may impact how overtime is determined for non-exempt (hourly)... Read More

The NLRB Bears Gifts for Employers - Just in Time for the Holidays

By BrownWinick | 12.19.2019

NLRB Rulings Shake Up Previous Standards On December 16, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued two decisions which overrule previous standards regarding workplace confidentiality and work email usage for personal communications. We expect employers will see these as welcome changes. Read on for more good cheer. Apogee Retail LLC d/b/a... Read More

Electronic H-1B Lottery for FY2021 Announced

By BrownWinick | 12.09.2019

In an effort to streamline processes, U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on December 6, 2019 that it will be implementing an electronic registration process for the lottery selection of H-1B cap subject petitions. Under the new process, employers seeking H-1B workers will complete a registration process to determine... Read More

HIPAA Fee Limitations for Record Requests

By Drew Larson | 11.21.2019

Health care providers and staff commonly receive medical record requests from current or former patients of their practice for a variety of reasons. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) allows for patients to request copies of their own records, with a few limitations, but notably, the regulations also limit... Read More

One Step Closer to Hemp Production in Iowa

By Joe Leo & Christopher R. Sackett | 10.31.2019

Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its interim final rule for nationwide legal hemp production. This is an important step toward hemp production in Iowa. Hemp production took a hiatus in the U.S. when, in the 1970s, it was classified as controlled substance. That all changed in the 2018 Farm Bill which legalized... Read More

Aircraft Dry Lease Checklist

By Brennan Block | 10.30.2019

There is no doubt about it: purchasing, owning, and operating an aircraft is an expensive endeavor. For this reason, we find our clients seeking out more cost effective private aircraft arrangements. Most often, an aircraft charter or lease arrangement more closely aligns with a client’s goals than outright aircraft ownership. Chartered air travel... Read More

Iowa Dental Board Phone Scam

By BrownWinick | 10.29.2019

The Iowa Dental Board has released an alert to warn dental providers of a phone scam targeting providers. The Dental Board received information that a caller is impersonating a Dental Board investigator, calling from a spoofed phone number that appears to be a Dental Board phone number. The Dental Board issued the following statement in response... Read More