We would be remiss not to observe on this blog the untimely passing of our friend, colleague, mentor, and leader, Doug Stanley. He was 57 and had been battling cancer.

He accomplished much in his shortened career and lifetime. He was the managing partner of our law firm, was widely recognized as a leading labor and employment lawyer, and served in many community leadership roles. He also had a wonderful family, including Sheryl, his wife of 34 years, and their 5 children.

He leaves a strong personal and professional legacy, but is gone far too soon and will be greatly missed.

Today's Wichita Eagle has an extended obituary (here).

Foulston Siefkin LLP's annual employment law seminar will be held on May 7 in Wichita, and on May 14 in Overland Park. This highly informative and entertaining full-day seminar provides an update of the key laws and issues related to employment law, giving you what you need to know to implement best practices and keep your organization in legal compliance. This program has been submitted for credit hours toward PHR, GPHR, and SPHR recertification.

Last year over 600 business owners, human resources professionals, and managers attended this seminar.  So register now, as space is limited.  For registration information, visit www.foulston.com/employmentseminar or call 1.800.267.6371. 

Foulston Siefkin LLP has been named Kansas Law Firm of the Year by Benchmark Litigation. The award is based on the significance of the firm's litigation matters during 2012, including potential precedent-setting cases and cases with notably high dollar amounts at stake.

Wishing all our readers a joyous holiday season and a prosperous new year.

The HR Box Lunch Fall Series concludes with the November 28th session titled Key Considerations in the Hiring Process.  The session will cover key hiring related processes like background checks, employment authorization, and the I-9 process.  Click here for more information. 

We will also be hosting a Workplace Policies Workshop on December 14th.  Click here for more information on the workshop.

We hope to see you at one of these sessions in the coming weeks.

Federal wage-and-hour lawsuits have been increasing steadily over the past decade. The number of cases has gone up almost every year since 2000.  Nationally, the number of cases filed in 2011 is over 380% higher than the number filed in 2000. The trend is similar in Kansas, with a nearly 350% increase in cases filed in 2011 compared to 2001. 

Why? The poor job market is at least partly to blame. When employees get laid off and cannot find other work, they are more likely to look for ways to get money out of their former employer. In addition, several high-profile cases and aggressive Internet marketing by lawyers have made workers more aware of their rights under wage-and-hour law. These cases are attractive to lawyers who represent employees for several reasons: there is no requirement to prove intent or unlawful motive--either the employer followed the technical requirements of the law or it didn't; they are relatively easy to bring as group actions on behalf of all similarly situated employees; and the law provides for recovery of attorneys' fees if the employee prevails. 

The Wichita Eagle ran a feature story about the increase in wage-and-hour claims in its Sunday Business section. Kansas Employment Law Blog author Boyd Byers, who was quoted in the story, explained that most wage-and-hour cases fit in one of three categories:

• "Misclassification" cases, where the issue is whether the employer misclassified non-exempt employees as being exempt from the law's overtime requirements;
• "Off-the-clock" cases, in which employees allege they were not properly paid for all of their time spent performing work; and 
• "Overtime-rate-miscalculation" cases, where      Continue Reading...

Kansas Employment Law Blog author Jason Lacey has joined EBIA - the Employee Benefits Institute of America - as a contributing author for its new book, Self-Insured Health Plans. The book, which will be released September 30, 2012, and updated quarterly, covers all aspects of establishing and administering self-insured health plans. It will be a valuable resource for lawyers, actuaries, accountants, TPAs, brokers, employers, HR professionals, and anyone else who works regularly with self-insured health plans.

EBIA (www.ebia.com) is a leading national provider of educational and information services for employee-benefit professionals. In addition to producing numerous in-person and web-based seminars each year on current topics in employee benefits, EBIA publishes key print resources on employee-benefit topics, including detailed manuals covering Cafeteria Plans, COBRA, HIPAA, Health Care Reform, and 401(k) Plans.

Chambers USA, a national research publication, recently released its rankings of law firms in Kansas. Foulston Siefkin LLP was ranked first-tier in the key practice areas of Labor & Employment, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions, General Commercial Litigation, and Real Estate. The firm's Labor & Employment team was "noted for its extremely timely, focused and effective service, particularly in regards to employment litigation and counseling, but also on the traditional labor side."  Eight of the firm's attorneys were recognized as leading lawyers in the Labor & Employment field: Don Berner; Boyd Byers; Jay Rector; Doug Stanley; Doug Hanisch; Jeff Hurt; Trish Thelen; and Wyatt Wright.  Chambers USA rates lawyers and law firms based on exhaustive research, including interviews with practicing attorneys, their clients, and other industry leaders familiar with the legal market.