With little fanfare or explanation, US Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced on June 7, 2017 the withdrawal of the US Department of Labor’s 2015 and 2016 informal guidance on joint employment and independent contractors.
Following a recent trend that started in Massachusetts and the City of Philadelphia, New York City has become the latest jurisdiction to ban employers from inquiring about salary history for applicants.
On May 30, 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law Bill 1387-A, which prohibits covered retail employers from engaging in so-called “on-call scheduling,” a practice that is very common and in many cases critical to the industry.
The increase in activism in the last year has led to questions from employers about what their rights are when employees are absent from work to attend protests or engage in other political activities.
Partner Robert Carrol was recently interviewed by Human Resource Executive following the National Labor Relations Board’s recent ruling that Verizon Wireless Inc. maintained numerous handbook rules that were too restrictive on employee communications and behavior.
On February 16, 2017, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the Fair Credit in Employment Amendment Act of 2016, which amends the DC Human Rights Act of 1977 to prohibit employers from discriminating against employees and applicants based on their credit information.
On January 31, 2017, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board released an official memorandum declaring that scholarship football players at some of the most elite college programs are employees under the National Labor Relations Act.
In an important decision clarifying California’s rest period requirements, the California Supreme Court has held that nearly all employees subject to the state’s rest periods rules cannot be subject to on-duty or on-call rest periods.
On December 29, 2016, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously vacated two citations levied against Delek Refining Ltd. by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
On December 31, 2016, at 12:01am (i.e. not January 1, 2017), the New York State Department of Labor will implement regulations increasing the salary threshold exempting employees from overtime-pay requirements for most private employers.
On December 20, 2016, the Council of the District of Columbia voted 9-4 to approve the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016, a landmark piece of legislation that would create one of the most generous paid family and medical leave programs in the nation.
Yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a “resource document” to provide information to applicants and employees who suffer from mental health conditions.
The standard, which was sponsored by several labor unions, will require covered healthcare providers to develop workplace violence prevention plans, training programs, and recordkeeping procedures to track certain incidents of workplace violence.
On November 21, 2016, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its updated enforcement guidance on national origin discrimination to replace its 2002 compliance manual section on that subject.
In the wake of the legalization of cannabis in the state of California following last week’s election, it is important for businesses to take stock of several legal issues as opportunities within this burgeoning market continue to grow.
The US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania recently sided with the EEOC in holding that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, even though the Act does not expressly state that.