More than three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, many healthcare institutions continue to have difficulty fully staffing all their facilities. In response, both the Oregon and Washington legislatures enacted new laws...more
Today, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers, known as the Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”), which we wrote about here. The Court held that the federal agency...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In a decision released late in the day on Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit lifted a stay against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) rule requiring employers with 100+...more
12/21/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health and Safety ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In response to recent developments displaying the difficulties in enforcing Governor Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home Stay Healthy” order (“SHSH”), the state Department of Labor & Industries has acted. Now a violation of SHSH will be...more
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) announced yesterday that all currently scheduled representation elections – including vote-by-mail elections—have been postponed until at least April 3, 2020 because of the ongoing...more
Washington has not gone as far as California, which generally bars all forms of noncompetition agreements. However, after several years of unsuccessful attempts, the Washington legislature has just passed Engrossed Substitute...more
In yet another blow to agricultural employers, grab your stopwatches. In Carranza v. Dovex Fruit Co., the Washington Supreme Court has just held that agricultural employers are required to compensate piece-rate workers on a...more
In the recently concluded session, Washington legislators enacted numerous laws that will adversely affect employers of all sizes across the State. With so many changes, it is key that employers stay up to date and understand...more
4/18/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Domestic Violence ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Service Animals ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Legislatures ,
Wage and Hour
It might appear that on some years, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) issues a series of decisions just as the year comes to a close, but it is not because the Board wants to give out holiday presents (or, from...more
The Washington Paid Sick Leave law (WPSL) goes into effect January 1, 2018. The new law requires all employers, regardless of size, to provide non-exempt employees 1 hour of sick leave for every 40 hours of work. The new law...more
An employer who unfairly and inaccurately is slammed by a former employee (or maybe even a current employee!) on a job-posting or employer-rating website will often look to its lawyer for help. Surely the law protects...more
Last week, representatives of the business community and employee groups completed negotiations to create a paid family and medical leave insurance program in Washington. Many details need to be worked out, the actual...more
Employers are probably aware that OSHA’s new drug testing and anti-retaliation rule is now in effect. (See our post here discussing the rule.) However, as we blogged previously, many states have their own reporting...more
Most employers have been frantically preparing for the new overtime regulations issued by the Department of Labor. Due to go into effect on December 1, those regulations would have doubled the required salary for the...more
In the wake of the election results, the question on everyone’s mind now is: What impact will President-Elect Trump have on employers? Trump has thus far given few details on his thoughts on labor and employment. But with...more
11/21/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Barack Obama ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Contractors ,
Individual Mandate ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Pay Transparency ,
Preexisting Conditions ,
Presidential Elections ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Repeal ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Sick Leave ,
Summary of Benefits and Coverage ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
Waiting Periods ,
White-Collar Exemptions ,
Workplace Communication
As previously reported, OSHA’s latest revisions for covered employers will dramatically impact routine post-accident drug testing programs. The new rules are available for review here, but here’s what you need to know...more
As we have previously reported, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) new rules governing union representation elections go into effect today, April 14, 2015. Congress passed a resolution disapproving the new...more
In recent years the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has aggressively sought to emphasize that its reach extends beyond solely unionized workforces. On March 18, 2015, NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin released a...more
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision earlier this week in Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, held that time spent by warehouse employees at Amazon.com warehouses waiting to go through security checks at the...more
Employers in Washington should take note of last week’s decision from the Washington State Supreme Court holding that state law allows a claim for failure to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious practices. That...more
Last week's decision by the Washington Supreme Court in Youngs v. PeaceHealth has significant implications for health care providers that employ physicians (or other health care practitioners) and the attorneys who represent...more
1/28/2014
Earlier this week, a three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its long-awaited decision in DR Horton Inc. v. NLRB. As expected by most labor lawyers, including us, the Fifth Circuit (with one judge...more