Seyfarth Synopsis: In six months, the U.S. presidential election will take place and inevitably employee views on the elections and election issues will make their way into the workplace. In yesterday’s highly polarized...more
6/5/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Free Speech ,
Labor Regulations ,
Political Expression ,
Political Speech ,
Presidential Elections ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Elections ,
State Labor Laws ,
Voting Rights
California lawmakers have introduced legislation that would give employees the right to ignore communications from their employers that are received outside the contours of their “working hours,” which must first be agreed...more
A new piece of legislation introduced in Congress, if enacted, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to establish 32-hour workweek for non-exempt employees, with no loss in pay. While the bill is unlikely to gain steam, it...more
3/22/2024
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Seyfarth Synopsis: Now that the Legislature’s September 14, 2023 deadline to pass bills to the Governor has come and gone, we are providing an overview of which employment bills are before the Governor for consideration,...more
9/19/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Cal-OSHA ,
Cal-WARN ,
California ,
Civil Code ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
FEHA ,
Labor Code ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Remote Working ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence
After Lengthy Confirmation Fight, Brace For Intrusive EEOC Action. On July 13, the Senate finally confirmed attorney Kaplana Kotagal — whom we have had numerous occasion to discuss in this space — to join the Equal Employment...more
7/27/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Arbitration ,
Biden Administration ,
Cannabis Products ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
International Shoe Co v Washington ,
LGBTQ ,
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OSHA ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Transparency ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
A quick glance at the hearing schedules of the Senate HELP Committee and the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce should alert employers to one thing: Congress is interested in them. The Senate...more
Aaaaaand we're back! As we did around the same time last year, we would like the thank the readers for y’all’s patience during our summer hiatus to allow our authors to take a short break to get some Vitamin D and replenish....more
6/29/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Labor Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
That AI Is So Hot Right Now, But What Is It? As we noted in this podcast, the labor and employment community – nay, most of the world – is struggling to figure out the best way to reap the benefits of AI, while most...more
5/17/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
California ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Machine Learning ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Federal Salary Transparency Act. Much has been written recently regarding the various salary transparency and reporting laws that have sprouted from state Houses across the Nation (we spoke to California’s onerous...more
4/26/2023
/ California ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FEHA ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Policy Statement ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: When the Legislature reconvenes from Spring Break on April 10, 2023, it will resume consideration of the employment bills that were among the 2,600 introduced. Notable employment bills include those...more
4/13/2023
/ Criminal Records ,
Fair Chance Act ,
FEHA ,
Layoff Notices ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Legislatures ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft
More Fallout From The FTC Proposed Noncompete Rule. As Seyfarth summarized here, and we podcasted and summarized here, the FTC has published a proposed rule which would ban all non-compete agreements between employers and...more
#EmbraceEquity — International Women’s Day and Month. March of each year is designated as Women’s History Month, and March 08 as International Women’s Day. Seyfarth has its own tag dedicated to issues of pay equity and, in...more
Biden Officially Nominates Su To Replace Marty Walsh. This week, President Biden officially announced the nomination of Julie Su to replace Marty Walsh atop the Department of Labor. We have had numerous occasions to discuss...more
3/6/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Biden Administration ,
California ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc v Hewitt No 21-984 ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Severance Agreements ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Groundhog Day: Second Proposed Wage and Hour Boss Stuck By Senate HELP. After the Senate voted down a cloture motion to advance the nomination of Dr. David Weil to return as U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”)...more
Labor Agencies Beware: Congressional Oversight To Kick Up In 2023. Shortly after Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) ascension to the speakership, the House of Representatives reinstalled Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) as chair of the Committee...more
Labor Employment Policy Highlights of 2022. This past term saw more legislation pass through congressional chambers at a more efficient clip than we have seen in quite some time. That does not mean that federal agencies were...more
1/16/2023
/ #MeToo ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Wage and Hour
New ESG Final Rule, Finally. About a year ago, in this very space, we discussed the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to permit managers of employee benefits plans under ERISA to consider environmental, social, and...more
Midterm Dust Finally Settles (For The Most Part). What do we know as of the publication of this newsletter? First, the results were not close to as red as most historians ventured, but republicans were still able to flip...more
More Of The Great Loosening. Joe Biden surprised — and irked — many of his constituents when he announced during a 60 Minutes interview that the pandemic is essentially over. The World Health Organization would disagree on...more
Seyfarth Hosts Government Relations Policy Summit. Aaand we are back to our regular scheduled programming. On September 30 2022, Seyfarth hosted an in-person policy summit that included four panels and a keynote...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Today the U.S. Department of Labor issued its draft new interpretive regulation (or NPRM) attempting to define employee versus independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The NPRM...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Taking it down to the wire, Governor Newsom approved the vast majority of labor and employment bills that ran the legislative gauntlet, including bills that will expand pay data reporting and pay scale...more
10/4/2022
/ Bereavement Leave ,
Cal-OSHA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Marijuana ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Pay Transparency ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
NLRB Proposes New Rulemaking On Joint Employment. The standard for determining joint employment for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act is primed to increase exposure for employers, especially employers with...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Having run the legislative gauntlet, the fate of California’s 2022 employment bills now lie with Governor Newsom’s pen, including bills that would expand pay data reporting and pay scale requirements,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: SB 1162, which may soon be signed into law, will require employers to report even more pay data to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD, formerly DFEH), including median and mean pay gap information....more