Seyfarth Synopsis: With the myriad claims for religious accommodation that came out of mandatory COVID vaccination policies, employers have become familiar how to handle requests for religious accommodation in the workplace. ...more
9/10/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Duty to Accommodate ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OCR ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Title VII
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Aug. 19, 2024, DHS posted for public inspection a Federal Register notice implementing the “Keeping Families Together” process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. “Keeping...more
8/22/2024
/ Citizenship ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
National Security ,
Spouses ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
USCIS
Seyfarth Synopsis: New regulations effective August 6, 2024 restore and expand scope of civil rights protections under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act....more
5/15/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
LGBTQ ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
OCR
Just days before Labor Day, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) unveiled its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”), aimed at revising the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and...more
8/31/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Over-Time ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
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
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
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
If Current Polling Holds, Expect Additional Executive Action In 2023 And 2024. This newsletter has often had occasion to discuss the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the context of addressing rules...more
Inflation Reduction Act Of 2022. After the so-called “vote-a-rama,” that lasted all night and into the morning last Saturday / Sunday, the Senate finally voted to pass the Act through reconciliation, by a 51-50 vote margin...more
8/16/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor DeSantis ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Public Schools ,
Stop Woke Act ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Sens. Schumer and Manchin Finally Agree On Contours Of Next Reconciliation Package. We have been following, and reporting on, the saga surrounding the next democrat only package, originally designated the Build Back Better...more
Annnnd We're Back: Legislative Update. We appreciate this audience bearing with us as this newsletter has been on a short hiatus in light of some scheduling issues. During that brief respite numerous different pieces of...more
7/19/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
DFEH ,
EEO-1 ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Heat Exposure ,
Independent Contractors ,
Innovation ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Stop Woke Act ,
Vaccinations ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana ,
Wage and Hour ,
Ways and Means Committee ,
West Virginia v EPA ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced an important policy change that will benefit noncitizens holding Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The new policy permits USCIS to issue a new...more
RISE and SHINE Act. It is just a discussion draft, so need to get too excited at the prospect of more bi-partisanship (maybe this author is alone in his excitement over that potential), but recently, Chair Patty Murray and...more
DOL’s 2023 Priorities, Per Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Additional personnel topped Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s wish list for 2023 as he laid out next year’s proposed budget at a hearing in front of the Subcommittee on...more
Uniting for Ukraine. While, currently, there is more than enough political news to support the 24 hours news cycle, the ongoing crises in Ukraine continues to be one of the top beats. The U.S. has been in lockstep with its...more