As anticipated, President Joe Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“the Act”) today. Effective immediately, the Act amends the Federal Arbitration Act and limits the...more
The majority of U.S. employers have elected to adopt the use of mandatory arbitration agreements, requiring that all employment-related claims be arbitrated and not litigated. Pursuant to a series of landmark United States...more
California has a long history of animosity towards the arbitration, rather than litigation, of disputes arising in both the employment and consumer context. The most recent effort by the California State Legislature to...more
At the conclusion of the EEOC’s administrative process, if a discrimination Charge has not otherwise been resolved, the Agency issues an administrative decision finding either merit to the Charge or not. If the Agency...more
Most federal and state employment discrimination laws prohibit any kind of adverse personnel action based upon any of the enumerated protected categories, e.g., race, sex, national origin, age, etc. Currently, only two...more
Many employers have opened for business and now hope for much-needed smooth sailing. As they chart their course for open and calm waters, however, employers would be well-served to keep their spyglasses focused on the...more
7/15/2020
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Furloughs ,
Layoffs ,
OSHA ,
OWBPA ,
Release Agreements ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act
There has been much publicity recently regarding a series of states enacting state statutes intended to restrict or prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context. The most recent such endeavor to be...more
This past week, the EEOC withdrew its 1997 policy statement regarding mandatory binding arbitration agreements. In that policy statement, the EEOC took the position that the use of mandatory binding arbitration agreements as...more
Approximately one year ago, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 548 U.S. ___ (2018), holding that class action waivers contained in arbitration agreements, including...more
5/1/2019
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Consent ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Motion to Compel ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS
As most practitioners are aware, pursuant to the Older Worker Benefit Protection Act (“OWBPA”), in order for a release obtained in connection with a reduction-in-force (“RIF”) or severance program to be enforceable with...more
Could a single, nationwide paid sick leave law become a reality and cure a multi-jurisdictional employer’s woes? Maybe.
One proposal, H.R. 4219 (known as the “Workflex in the 21st Century Act”), was introduced by three...more
Many employers have implemented mandatory arbitration policies requiring that all employment related disputes be resolved through final and binding arbitration rather than in traditional court proceedings. Generally speaking,...more
We have alerted you on two prior occasions regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposing substantial fines and other penalties based solely on “boilerplate” language commonly found in corporate severance...more
One of the most common and problematic issues confronting employers in every industry today is the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. Such misclassifications are a key enforcement target of both federal...more
In August 2016, we highlighted that companies may want to review the content of their standard severance agreements, settlement agreements, confidentiality agreements and similar documents in light of an unprecedented...more
1/6/2017
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Contract ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Waiver of Rights ,
Whistleblower Awards
Beginning in approximately 2012, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) adopted the position that any class action waiver contained in an employment arbitration policy or agreement violates the right of employees to...more
Many employers offer severance agreements to departing employees which, at least in part, are designed to protect the employer from disclosures of confidential information and from any future claims or recovery by the...more
8/22/2016
/ Cease and Desist ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Health Net ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Severance Agreements ,
Waivers ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
Sixteen Arizona and Utah companies accused of misclassifying more than 1,000 construction workers agreed to pay $700,000 in back wages and penalties after a multi-year, multi-agency investigation led to consent judgments,...more