Q: Are there any risks to using AI to enhance diversity in the workplace? ...more
8/2/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Innovative Technology ,
Job Applicants ,
Machine Learning
Who Needs to Know -
Employers who are reopening (or have already reopened) by bringing employees back to their workplaces.
Why It Matters -
Bringing a workforce back to the workplace, whether from teleworking,...more
9/25/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Savings ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Furloughs ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Remote Working ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Q. I understand that the United States Supreme Court came out with a new decision extending Title VII protections. What are the details? ...more
6/17/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton are producing a series of podcasts to discuss employee benefits, executive compensation, and labor and employment issues that employers are confronting in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,...more
Three California cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose — have recently enacted paid sick leave laws in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These laws are meant to fill the gaps left by the Families First Coronavirus...more
In response to the financial pressures of the COVID-19 crisis, many employers are considering pay reductions as an alternative to furloughs or layoffs. Most states require advance notice of these changes, and some states have...more
On Wednesday, April 15, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, in conjunction with the state’s Department of Health, announced a new Order requiring businesses to implement new safety measures in response to the coronavirus...more
Businesses have begun to feel the pinch as state orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the shutdown of facilities across the country. As a result, many companies are being forced to make difficult decisions...more
As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to present challenges to employers worldwide, we have created this frequently asked questions document to answer some of the most common questions we have been hearing from clients,...more
3/16/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Layoffs ,
Leave of Absence ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Safety
With more than 90,000 cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) across 65 countries, it is only a matter of time before the disease has an impact on normal business operations. However, as the virus continues its march around the...more
3/11/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Business Operations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Leave of Absence ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Sick Leave ,
Traveling Employee ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On September 11, the California Assembly passed AB 5, a bill that codifies and expands the application of the strict independent contractor test (the “ABC test”) set forth in last year’s decision of the California Supreme...more
9/18/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Recently, both the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued documents supporting independent contractor status, evidencing the more pro-employer stance of the Trump administration as...more
6/6/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Opinion Letter ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Service Professionals ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
On Jan. 25, 2019, the Republican-led National Labor Relations Board affirmed the acting regional director’s decision that drivers of a shared airport ride service were independent contractors, not employees, and therefore not...more
A year ago, sexual assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein rocked the entertainment industry and quickly led to the rise of the #MeToo movement, sparking an upsurge of reports and claims of sexual harassment...more
11/29/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Liability ,
D&O Insurance ,
Derivative Suit ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Practices Liability Coverage ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Popular ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sexual Harassment
On September 14, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed a new regulation that would make it more challenging to establish joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act....more
9/21/2018
/ Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Deregulation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Franchises ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Employers increasingly maintain timekeeping systems that require employees to clock in and out of work using their fingerprints to reduce the risk of coworkers clocking in for each other (so-called “buddy punching”) and to...more
6/29/2018
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Transfers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fingerprints ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
State and Local Government
On April 30, the California Supreme Court adopted a new and more onerous test (the ABC test) for determining whether individuals are employees or independent contractors. In its decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v....more
5/10/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In an en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided on February 26 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Zarda v....more
4/18/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender Neutral ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On April 11, Judge Michael Baylson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania became the first judge to grant summary judgment on the issue of whether UberBLACK drivers are employees or independent...more
4/18/2018
/ Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Mobile Apps ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Sharing Economy ,
Summary Judgment ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wage and Hour
On February 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit joined the Seventh Circuit in holding that sexual orientation discrimination is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Zarda v....more
3/6/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender Neutral ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Protected Class ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On February 26, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided unanimously to vacate its decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd., 365 NLRB No. 156 (2017) (vacated at 366 NLRB No. 26). ...more
The gig economy — companies that hire workers for specific projects or “gigs” — is on the rise. Gig companies use technology to provide goods and services to consumers on demand. The companies hire workers who access and...more
2/15/2018
/ Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
On-Demand Services ,
Sharing Economy ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
As the weather continues to get colder and the days get darker, some people may notice that they feel more tired, experience weight gain, or struggle to get out of bed in the morning. For most, these symptoms begin in the...more
The Third Circuit’s decision should cause companies to review their relationships with temporary workers, assess the risk of their being viewed as joint employers and, if appropriate, restructure the relationships to minimize...more
Just six weeks after the EEOC sued Orion Energy Systems, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin claiming that Orion’s wellness program violates the Americans with Disabilities Act...more