In 2017, the West Virginia (WV) Legislature proposed legislation eliminating the requirement for wage payment bonds for some employers. Instead, the Legislature passed a weakened WV Senate Bill 224, amending the Wage Payment and Collection Act to keep the wage bond requirement but shortening the period such bonds are required. 

Will the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allow the new overtime rule to go into effect? If it does, how long will it take for President-elect Trump and the Republican-led Congress to stop the rule? And what should employers do in the meantime?

On November 22nd, a federal judge in Texas issued a temporary injunction against the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL"). That injunction prohibits the DOL from enforcing the new overtime rule. As expected, the DOL has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals. A few days ago, the DOL also filed a motion with the appellate court seeking an expedited review of its appeal. This motion seeks to shorten the time for each side to file its written arguments with the court, so that the court can quickly proceed to consider the case and issue its ruling.

Do you remember Gilda Radner's portrayal of the Emily Litella character on Saturday Night Live? While in the midst of delivering an impassioned editorial, Emily would be informed that she had made a fundamental factual error. She would then end her tirade with a meek, "Never mind."

Those words seem appropriate this morning, in light of news from a federal district court in Texas. Late yesterday, the court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL"). This injunction forbids the DOL from implementing its new overtime rule.

Have you ever heard of a "business divorce"? Everyone knows that a traditional divorce is the official end of a marital relationship. However, the term "divorce" is also being applied to the end of the relationship between business owners in West Virginia (WV), sometimes called a WV business divorce.

Most employers in West Virginia (WV) would never imagine that they would be deemed to be the chargeable employer in a hearing loss claim for an employee who worked a mere four days. But that's exactly what happened in a recent workers' compensation appeal before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, Pioneer Pipe, Inc. v. Swain et al.