“Humblebrag” (n) (inf) – an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud (UK)

By David Whincup on October 4, 2021 Posted in General

Blowing Trumpets Unless as part of a band, I always think that blowing your own trumpet is rather poor form, but any such scruples which many lawyers usually have around such things are dumped in a heartbeat when the latest legal directory rankings are released. LinkedIn lights up instantly with more humblebragging than Oscars Night, though without the social-justice messages, inappropriate shoes or interminable weeping.

Not on this blog. I won’t say that I went without a mention, but far more important are the comments made in last week’s latest Legal 500 edition about the wider Squires UK Labour and Employment team and some of its leading lights, almost none of whom will forgive me for rehearsing them here. But because we are very proud of them and because very occasionally (to paraphrase Winston Churchill on Clement Attlee), modesty is for those with much to be modest about, here we go:

Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: White House Clarifies New Vaccination and Safety Requirements (US)

By William Kishman on September 27, 2021 Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Executive Order, Federal Contractors, Health & Safety, OSHA, Vaccine and Vaccination

The White House has clarified the requirements of one of the new federal measures that will require employers to ensure employees are vaccinated against COVID-19. Specifically, the White House has issued binding Guidance confirming the requirements of President Biden’s September 7 Executive Order concerning COVID safety for federal contractors and subcontractors. Although this Guidance leaves some questions unanswered – including questions about the separate and forthcoming OSHA emergency temporary standard and CMS/CDC requirements – it nevertheless clarifies several key details for federal contractors and subcontractors so that they can prepare to satisfy their obligations. Continue Reading

New UK flexible working consultation – the good, the bad and the ugly

By David Whincup on September 24, 2021 Posted in Discrimination, Dismissal, Flexible Working

Working From Home

If ever a government consultation was overtaken by events, it is this week’s offering on Making Flexible Working the Default. For many employers this is now pushing at a door which is not just open but blown clean off its hinges by the pandemic and the WFH experience of the last 18 months.

The Consultation document represents an early failure by the government under the surely-imminent Coronavirus (Prevention of Irritating Clichés) Regulations 2021 – someone has weeded out most of the “unprecedenteds” and “new normals”, but there are still seven of Boris’s “build back betters” in the first 11 pages alone, and the usual repetition of chunks of the Foreword (“freeing employees and employers….from the default 9 to 5 model in order to recruit and retain the talent we need“) in the Introduction (“an opportunity for employers and employees to free themselves from the default 9 to 5 in order to recruit and retain the talent that we need…”).

COVID-19: what next for UK employers, Part 4

By David Whincup on September 23, 2021 Posted in Discrimination, Guidance, Redundancy, Unfair dismissal

In deciding whether to allow an employee’s request to continue a full or partial remote working schedule, what account should be taken of the reasons for that request?

In our ‘What next’ webinar last week, I indicated that in most cases the safest answer to this question is “none”, and that the employee’s reasons for the request are broadly irrelevant to the question of whether the WFH arrangement proposed will work for the business and therefore of whether it should be granted.

One participant suggested that this proposition was “somewhat bold” and I do agree that it sounds superficially a little uncaring, but there is good reason behind that position.

US Federal Labor Viewpoints – Week of September 13, 2021

By Daniel Pasternak on September 22, 2021 Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, Department of Labor, Executive Order, Federal Contractors, Health & Safety, Minimum Wage, OSHA, Vaccine and Vaccination

From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of September 13, 2021.

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This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week.

In this issue, we cover:

Reconciliation Package Updates
COVID-19 Updates
Federal Contract Workers’ Minimum Wage Update
Registered Apprenticeship Funding Announced
Upcoming Congressional Hearing

COVID-19: what next for UK employers, Part 3

By David Whincup on September 21, 2021 Posted in Employment Tribunal, Redundancy, Unfair dismissal

We made an employee redundant before the furlough scheme ended – will his unfair dismissal claim succeed?

The basic argument here is an easy one to understand – you made me redundant when you did not have to because my salary was being borne by the CJRS. In circumstances where employers are duty-bound to consider alternatives to redundancy, leaving me on furlough at someone else’s expense must surely be such an alternative.

After that, it gets a little more complicated. Continue Reading

COVID-19 Travel Bans To Be Rescinded and Replaced with Vaccination Requirements (US)

By Gregory A. Wald on September 21, 2021 Posted in Business Immigration, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Immigration, News, Vaccine and Vaccination

Fast track traveller After much anticipation, the White House announced plans to rescind the geographic COVID-19 travel bans and modify restrictions on all international travelers to focus on proof of vaccination. In place of the travel bans and beginning in early November, international travelers will be required to prove they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days of boarding a U.S. bound flight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will issue guidance as to which vaccinations will be accepted. Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit Panel Reinstates Restrictions on California Employment Arbitration Agreements (US)

By Karen Wentzel and Michael Kelly on September 20, 2021 Posted in Arbitration, California

In October 2019, California enacted a new law, AB 51, that on its face prohibits mandatory arbitration clauses in employment contracts. As expected, the law was immediately challenged in federal court. In the latest installment of the law’s journey through the courts, a split Ninth Circuit panel vacated a 2020 preliminary injunction that had forestalled implementation of the bill. If the decision stands, California employers will no longer be able to require their employees or new hires to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. Continue Reading

COVID-19: what next for UK employers, Part 2

By David Whincup on September 17, 2021 Posted in Discrimination, Guidance, Redundancy, Unfair dismissal

What Next? Part 2 There has been surprisingly little in the press around what is going to happen when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends on 30 September. Will there be the jobs Armageddon that some have forecast, or will roles for the million or so people still on furlough at the end of August reappear in time to avoid that? And at a more granular level on the same topic, here is the next question from our What Next webinar earlier this week:

Do you have to send all those who are on furlough a letter to say that the CJRS is coming to an end?

US Federal Labor Viewpoints – Week of September 6, 2021

By Daniel Pasternak on September 16, 2021 Posted in Collective Bargaining, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Department of Labor, OSHA, Unemployment, Unions, Vaccine and Vaccination

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This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week.

In this issue, we cover:

Reconciliation Package Updates
COVID-19 Updates
Teacher Unions Press the Administration
TSA Employees Seek Greater Bargaining Rights
U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue Resumes