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Summer State/Local Law Round-Up, Part 2 of 2 (US)

In our post earlier this week, we covered recent developments in state and local labor and employment laws in the states at the beginning of the alphabet. We now turn our attention to developments in the remaining states.… Continue Reading

New UK ethnicity pay reporting guidance – why should you bother?

Last week the government issued its first official guidance on ethnicity pay gap reporting.  Somewhat unusually among gov.uk workplace guidance, it is prospectively a very useful read. To its immediate credit, for example, it accepts right up front that there can be many legitimate reasons for disparities in average pay between ethnic minority groups.  “It … Continue Reading

Psychosocial hazards and poor organisational justice – necessary protection or a step too far for employers? (Australia)

There is a growing emphasis on the need to properly manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace that may create a risk to workers’ health and safety. But recent changes to safety laws indicate that psychosocial hazards include the potentially subjective concept of “poor organisational justice”. Have things gone too far, or is “poor organisational justice” … Continue Reading

The gender pay gap and what Belgian employers need to do about it (now and in the future)

The statistics Some uplifting news last week from Statbel, the Belgian Agency for Statistics. In 2021, there was no longer a pay gap for young women in Belgium. But as their age goes up, so opens up the pay gap with male colleagues. On average across all ages, women in Belgium earned 5% less per … Continue Reading

New GCC rules for employers, Part 1 (UAE)

A number of changes were introduced across the Gulf Cooperation Council states during the course of 2022 (several of which have now been implemented, while some are due to take effect later in 2023). In this article, the first of a short series covering those changes, we provide a brief summary of the key employment … Continue Reading

Impressing a Robot: EEOC Takes a Byte Out of AI Based Hiring (US)

Squire Patton Boggs Intern Ruzanna Mirzoyan discusses the EEOC’s focus on artificial employment tools in employment recruitment and hiring decisions. Job applicants might be surprised to learn that their resume may need to impress an artificial intelligence (“AI”) algorithm before they can score an interview. A significant (and growing) number of employers currently use AI … Continue Reading

Did you hear? The EEOC issues new guidance on auditory disabilities in the workplace. (US)

Hearing impairment probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about workplace discrimination. In fact, it’s probably not even in the top ten. With hearing impairment affecting about 15% of adults, however, this is a topic that has recently moved its way up the EEOC’s priority list.… Continue Reading

Increased liabilities under new draft Code on dismissal and re-engagement – evidence is all (UK)

Back in November 20201 we reported here on some new Acas guidance on changing terms of employment through dismissal and re-engagement, and in November last year on the Government’s intention to issue a new statutory Code on that practice here. A first draft of that Code has now landed and we can exclusively report that … Continue Reading

Wedded to The Law – striking marital discrimination failure explained (UK)

As the next in our occasional series of posts about The Law, here is a new Employment Appeal Tribunal decision so morally unjust that even the Judge himself didn’t want to make it. Mrs Bacon was married to the majority shareholder of their joint employer, Advanced Fire Solutions Limited.  She was also employee, director and … Continue Reading

State Law Roundup: 2022 Year-End Edition (US)

State and local legislatures were active throughout 2022 in passing laws and ordinances that will impact employers of all sizes and all industries in 2023. Click HERE for our summary of these laws and related developments, including important developments in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and elsewhere! If you haven’t already, you might also want … Continue Reading

For the sake of argument  – EAT reviews without prejudice rules (UK)

Christmas being a season of peace on Earth and goodwill to all men, so they say despite all the evidence, here is a quick festive look at just how confrontational things have to become in order to constitute a dispute at law. The question is a surprisingly important one, since on the existence of a … Continue Reading

Possible impact of Brexit on UK employment law – some informed guesses

So if in some parallel universe you had somehow acquired the ability to strike red lines through EU-derived employment legislation, where would you put them? That is a question I put well before the Brexit Referendum to countless HR audiences, the very people one might think would be straining at the leash to make changes … Continue Reading

In the market for worker status advice? – new Guidance fails to deliver (UK)

The thing about one-stop shops is that if they do not stock what you want, they become next best thing to useless.  Anyway, welcome to the government’s new Guidance on Employment Status, expressly billed in the accompanying press release as meeting all your worker status needs in one handy document. … Continue Reading

Keeping it real – the quest for reason in whistleblowing cases (UK)

In earlier posts on this blog you will find a handful of cases which consider the distinction between the fact of a protected whistle-blowing disclosure and the manner of it.  Accepted wisdom, thanks in part to the unimprovable words of then Mr Justice Underhill in Martin -v-Devonshires Solicitors here is that an employer can in … Continue Reading

UK government publishes its response to workplace menopause consultation – but is it right?

It certainly wasn’t the main talking point in Westminster in the middle of the country’s own meteorological hot flush earlier this month but on 19 July the government published its Response to Menopause and the workplace: how to enable fulfilling working lives, an independent report commissioned by the then Minister for Employment and published in … Continue Reading

Torres v. Texas Dept. of Public Safety: The Supreme Court Rules State Employers Are Not Immune from USERRA Lawsuits (US)

Squire Patton Boggs Summer Associate Clara Davis discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision interpreting the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). On June 29, 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled that state sovereign immunity does not bar state employers from lawsuits under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”). … Continue Reading

Animal magic – Assistance animals at work (UK)

So you’ve seen the news stories about the chap suing Sainsburys for not letting him in with his “assistance cat”, yes?  He suffers from severe autism and unless accompanied by his cat, finds the noise, lights and crowds within the store impossible to manage.  You would allow in a guide dog, he says, so what’s … Continue Reading

Summer State/Local Law Round-Up, Part 2 of 2: Ohio through West Virginia (US)

In our post earlier this week, we covered recent developments in state and local labor and employment laws in the states at the beginning at the alphabet. We now turn our attention to developments in the remaining states.… Continue Reading

Summer State/Local Law Round-Up, Part 1 of 2: California through New York (US)

Now that we’re almost half-way through 2022, it’s time again to cover all of the development in state and local labor and employment laws. It’s been a busy time in the state legislatures and city councils, with lots of new laws and amendments to existing laws. In fact, due to the large number of updates, … Continue Reading

Letters from America – risks of discrimination in AI-backed recruitment processes (UK)

So following our recent post on proposed new regulations it’s not just the EU which is looking askance at the potential risks of artificial intelligence in recruitment.  From across the pond comes news that the US Department of Justice has warned employers to take steps to ensure that the use of AI in recruitment does … Continue Reading

EEOC Issues Guidance on the Interplay between the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Employment Decisions and the ADA (US)

Many businesses use artificial intelligence (“AI”), algorithms, software, and other forms of technology to make employment-related decisions. Employers now have an array of computer-based tools at their disposal to assist them in hiring employees, monitoring job performance, determining pay or promotions, and establishing the terms and conditions of employment. As such, many employers rely on … Continue Reading

Proposed new EU regulatory regime for Artificial Intelligence – more relevant to HR than you might think (UK)

For the last year or so the EU Commission has been working on the world’s first serious attempt to create a regulatory framework around the use of AI, the Artificial Intelligence Act.  The Proposal itself runs to over 100 pages of dense type and no pictures, so is a fairly off-putting read at first look.  … Continue Reading

D&I reporting and quotas — practical concerns for employers (UK)

Here are two related questions from our What’s Next webinar of a fortnight ago, both arising out of government consultations in connection with possible further diversity reporting obligations. Since the webinar the government has issued a response to the consultation around ethnicity pay reporting which implies strongly that there won’t be any legislation on that … Continue Reading
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