On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, the House of Representatives passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. With the PRO Act, House and Senate Democrats seek to amend the National Labor Relations Act. Here, we outline a few key aspects of the legislation. If the PRO Act succeeds in the Senate, it will be […]
A recent survey conducted by the Society of Human Resource Managers revealed that one of the top employment issues businesses face today is how best to train supervisors to effectively manage a remote workforce. Close behind supervisory training is the need for a formal, written telework policy. The workplace strains brought about by the sudden […]
Employers may recall that, in the final days of the Trump Administration, the EEOC issued proposed regulations addressing incentives related to wellness programs and their lawfulness under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). Under the ADA and GINA, employers are generally permitted to request employee medical or genetic […]
Most federal and state employment discrimination laws prohibit any kind of adverse personnel action based upon any of the enumerated protected categories, e.g., race, sex, national origin, age, etc. Currently, only two federal discrimination laws go further and, not only prohibit discrimination, but also require covered employers to take affirmative steps to provide workers with […]
Employers with 100 or more employees nationally and at least one employee in California are required to submit a pay data report to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing no later than March 31, 2021. Similar to the Federal EEO-1 reporting requirements, in September 2020, California passed Senate Bill 973 which requires employers with […]
On February 4, 2021, USCIS announced that it was delaying the effective date of the final rule that would have altered the way H-1Bs were allocated in the lottery process. See here. Under the rule entitled “Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioner Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions”, USCIS would use a wage-based selection process […]
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) issues and proposed actions took center stage in the first week of the Biden Administration. The President called for greater enforcement by OSHA of more stringent worker safety standards. Central to this call is greater protection for workers regarding COVID-19 workplace exposures. To accomplish this, in part, OSHA would have […]
Today, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it concluded its two six-month conciliation and mediation pilot programs originally announced in July 2020. We addressed the mediation pilot program here. As part of the mediation pilot program, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the EEOC implemented virtual mediations, as opposed to audio-only […]
On January 14, 2021, the California Supreme Court ruled in Vazquez et al. v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Case no. S258191, that the Dynamex ABC Test, which makes it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors, applies retroactively, thus making businesses potentially liable for lawsuits filed years before the ABC Test existed. Click here to […]
A complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court earlier this week highlights a blind spot for many employers. When thinking about parental leave issues, employers often focus on their women. But men have the same rights as women when it comes to taking time off after the birth or placement of a child, or to care […]