Latest California court decision is another example of judicial hostility to employment arbitration agreements. California employers and their employees frequently agree to resolve disputes through binding private arbitration, rather than the more time-consuming and costly process of litigating claims in court. However, to require arbitration, California employers are required to pay all fees unique to … Continue Reading
I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed in the morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be … Continue Reading
On August 30, 2023, the US Department of Labor announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that could significantly change the “white collar exemptions” to the overtime compensation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under current law, by default all employees covered by the FLSA are entitled to overtime pay at the rate … 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
In a much anticipated (yet thoroughly unsurprising) decision, on August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) again reversed precedent, crafting a what’s-old-is-new-again standard for evaluating – and easily invalidating – employer work rules. The long and short of the Board’s decision in Stericycle, Inc. is that employers can now expect, much … Continue Reading
The I-9 employment verification process is taking a giant step into the 21st Century making onboarding remote hires a wee bit easier for many U.S. employers. This new alternative process will take effect on August 1, 2023, in conjunction with the implementation of a new version of the I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification form. Form I-9 … Continue Reading
Did you see the latest viral TikTok, in which the TikToker complains that she was disrespected by a potential employer during an interview when she inquired about available accommodations for “time blindness” – a term apparently intended to describe her difficulty being on time? As of the writing of this blog, nearly 27,000 comments have … Continue Reading
New York State (NYS) and New York City (NYC) have been characteristically busy – enacting, amending and clarifying employment legislation.[1] This blog post discusses two significant changes: (1) amendments to the New York State WARN Act (NY WARN) regulations, which impacts New York employers state-wide, and (2) agency guidance clarifying employers’ compliance obligations with respect … Continue Reading
Ohio Court of Appeals Disagrees, Confirming That Employees Cannot Succeed on Free Speech Violation Claims Against Private Employers (US) Rita Hall worked for Kosei St. Marys Corporation (“KSM”) as a line supervisor. In June 2020, Ms. Hall posted an offensive image on her public Facebook page comparing a group of monkeys to a group of … Continue Reading
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its unanimous opinion in Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174, 600 U.S. __ (2023), a long-awaited decision explaining employers’ obligations under Title VII to reasonably accommodate employees’ religious beliefs, observances and practices. Groff, the first Supreme Court decision in nearly 50 years to consider what employers must … Continue Reading
We previously reported on the enactment of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (“EFAA”), a law that amended the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to preclude mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and sexual assault cases. After the EFAA, employers utilizing mandatory arbitration programs must carve out sexual harassment and … Continue Reading
Employers take note: most of you will need to take significant action to update and/or correct your Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, in the coming weeks due to sunsetting temporary COVID-19 flexibilities relating to physical inspection of employee documents. Failure to take timely action could result in significant monetary and other penalties. The Department of … Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs Labor & Employment Partner Laura Lawless and Summer Associate Esther Gold cover a recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressing the extent to which sexually offensive music played in the workplace may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “These tunes are … Continue Reading
Squire Patton Boggs Summer Associate Tess Chaffee summarizes a recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit holding that an adverse employment action is required for a failure to accommodate claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Most employers are familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which prohibits … Continue Reading
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
Now that we’re almost half-way through 2023, it’s time again to review the developments in state and local labor and employment laws. State legislatures and city councils continue to be very busy making new laws and amending existing laws. In fact, due to the large number of updates, we are splitting our post into two parts. … Continue Reading
California employers enthusiastically received the decision by the United States Supreme Court in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, 142 S. Ct. 1906 (2022). That case held the Federal Arbitration Act allows employers to compel employees to arbitrate the individual part of their claim under the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). Some employers hoped … Continue Reading
In yet another chapter of the saga involving California and its treatment of employment arbitration agreements, a Court of Appeals recently issued two decisions examining the state’s legal standard for determining unconscionable arbitration clauses. Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, Inc., — Cal. Rptr. 3d. —, No. B314490, April 21, 2023, 2023 WL 3029968 (Apr. 21, 2023) … Continue Reading
On May 1, 2023, the White House announced that the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for nonimmigrant international air travelers will end as of the end of the day on May 11, 2023. Implemented in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the mandate required all nonimmigrant travelers arriving in the US by air to … Continue Reading
Since approximately mid-2021, unions have been aggressively seeking to reassert their relevance in the US workplace. Extensive media coverage of high-profile union organizing campaigns at Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, and other well-known large companies has chronicled those efforts, but unions have been hard at work seeking to organize employees at employers of all sizes … Continue Reading
As we previously reported, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB,” or “the Board”) decided last month in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58, that an employer commits an unfair labor practice (“ULP”) when it presents a non-supervisory employee with a severance agreement containing broad confidentiality and/or non-disparagement provisions. The Board reasoned that even proffering an … Continue Reading
The global economic downturn means that we are likely to see more restructuring and reorganization measures during 2023. Employers need to be aware of compliance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the federal “WARN” Act), which requires advance notification in the case of plant closings and mass layoffs. Some states have also … Continue Reading
In a first of its kind opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (which hears appeals from the federal district courts in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) ruled that an employer does not violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it deducts time from FLSA-exempt employees’ paid time off (PTO) banks … Continue Reading
On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) decided in McLaren Macomb that an employer commits an unfair labor practice when it presents a non-supervisory employee with a proposed severance agreement containing broad confidentiality or non-disparagement provisions. Reversing two earlier decisions by the previous Republican-majority NLRB in 2020, a majority … Continue Reading
