For the first time in 25 years, on April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published final guidance on harassment in the workplace, updating the federal workplace guidelines to provide protections for transgender workers related to misgendering and the denial of bathroom access. This new guidance reflects the 2020 U.S Supreme Court’s … Continue Reading
On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, et al. that employees bringing whistleblower claims against their employer under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) need not prove that, in taking adverse action against them, their employer intended to retaliate against them due to their protected whistleblowing activity. The … Continue Reading
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced updates to the H-1B visa lottery process, availability of online H-1B filings, and increases to most U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) petition filing fees. The H-1B visa lottery and online filing changes will go into effect before the next lottery opens on March 6, 2024, and … Continue Reading
On January 12, 2024, the District of Columbia joined a growing list of jurisdictions with wage transparency laws after Mayor Muriel Bowser signed into law the Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act of 2023 (the “Act”). The Act amends parts of the Wage Transparency Act of 2014, as well as introduces several new employee-friendly requirements that … Continue Reading
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Generative Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has taken the world by storm, attracting over 100 million users for both personal and professional use in less than one year. Given the growing popularity of ChatGPT and similar AI tools, it is likely that they will soon infiltrate your workplaces, if … Continue Reading
One of the traditional shortcomings of conventional international employment law resources is that they are very good at what was and not bad on what is, but quite hopeless on what will be. So it takes a pretty special product to give you not just news of international employment law developments in the pipeline but … Continue Reading
I used to think that our Global Edge International Employment Law product was pretty slick. So did others, as we secured a Legal Business UK Award for Legal Technology Team of the year. But now we have Global Edge 2.0, updated, uprated, up-scaled and just generally upped, and that is a wholly new set of capabilities … Continue Reading
On 9 September 2019, the UK government announced changes to the Immigration Rules, which go on for nearly 100 pages. Read a summary of the key changes of most direct relevance to employers, sponsors and recruiters, and view the full Statement of Changes online. In addition to these changes, there has been another important and very … Continue Reading
The government yesterday published its Rights of EU Citizens in the UK Policy Paper Factsheet for workers and employers together with detailed proposals setting out its offer to EU nationals currently resident in the UK and those proposing to enter for the purpose of residency, pre-Brexit. Although there is a fair amount of detail to … Continue Reading
An employee of West Australian Newspapers Limited (WAN) who moonlighted for Uber was caught in the act when, one Saturday night, he picked up a WAN manager. Despite being well and truly busted, the employee (who worked night shifts as WAN’s newspaper machinist) denied having any affiliation with Uber, saying that his wife had the … Continue Reading
A recent decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal (QCA) has set the record straight in finding that an aged care provider was vicariously liable for the belittling and aggressive conduct of its manager, and awarding the worker $435,583.98 in damages for a psychiatric injury. Ms Eaton started work as an administrative assistant for an … Continue Reading
In the absence of any right at common law or under Australia’s Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), the general rule is that gardening leave must be conferred by an express power in an employment contract. In a remarkable decision by the Victorian Supreme Court in Australia it was held that the employer’s power to direct … Continue Reading
A recent decision by the Full Federal Court upheld a FIFO worker’s workers’ compensation claim, finding that a pub brawl outside the local tavern occurred in the “course of his employment”. Mr Westrupp worked a 2 week on/2 week off roster for BIS Industries Ltd (BIS) in Leinster, a remote mining town in Western Australia. … Continue Reading
While Facebook continues to produce evidentiary gold for employers seeking to prove employee wrongdoing, a recent New Zealand case demonstrates that privacy settings can’t be ignored. In a recent ruling, the New Zealand Human Rights Review Tribunal ordered an employer pay an ex-employee a hefty $168,000 after it wrongfully accessed her Facebook page and maliciously … Continue Reading
A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in Sydney, Australia has highlighted the risks of inter-office relationships, particularly between managers and their subordinates. The FWC upheld Westpac’s summary termination of a long-serving branch manager who had been romantically involved with one of his direct reports. The bank became aware of the relationship after … Continue Reading
There has been a long running battle in Australia about whether an employer, when testing for drug use, can ask employees to provide a urine sample. Many unions have resisted the introduction of urine testing, arguing that saliva testing is sufficient and, as such, the process of sampling urine is an unjustified invasion of privacy. … Continue Reading
There seem to have been a spate of cases in Australia in recent months surrounding discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy or child care responsibilities. Not all have gone in the employee’s favour, but the one that truly broke the mold was the case brought by a software engineer against her former employer, IBM, in … Continue Reading
You won’t be surprised to know that the word “poly” comes from the Greek word “polýs” which means ‘many’. But did you know that, earlier this year, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia in Bunning v Centacare [2015] FCCA 280 was faced with the question of whether an employee of a religious organisation could be … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of International Womens’ Day, the history books were once again re-written when the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal classified a pregnant worker’s severe morning sickness as a disability under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). Ms Bevilacqua was a full time Sales Consultant at a Telstra store up until October 2013 when … Continue Reading
Today is the day that the California Minimum Wage increases from $8 per hour to $9 per hour. In addition, because of this change the minimum monthly salary for employees in exempt executive, administrative and professional positions increases from $2,773.33 per month ($33,280 annually) to $3,120 per month ($37,440 annually). Check with your payroll folks … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court has issued a 5-4 decision in which it found that closely-held for-profit corporations can avoid the mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires the provision of birth control coverage to their employees. In reaching their decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, the justices determined … Continue Reading
Obviously when you hold a high judicial office in the UK you have to be very measured in the reports you can make about your function – no ranting tweets here about your boss/service-users/colleagues/coffee, thank you, or that’s your gong firmly down the drain. Which makes all the more laudable the very clear disgruntlement discernible … Continue Reading
Facebook reports 1.23 billion users, and I am “friends” with only about 38 of them. Statistics like that really keep any pretence of self-importance firmly in check as you mull over the sheer insignificance of your next wise or witty status update. As for the other 1.23 billion users, who really cares how bored you … Continue Reading
