The top prosecutor for the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) warned employers that they have 60 days to redo or eliminate contracts containing “stay-or-pay” provisions, which require employees to continue working or...more
Beginning January 1, 2026, Illinois employers must notify workers when using artificial intelligence (“AI”) to make employment-related decisions and could face regulatory enforcement and civil lawsuits if the deployment of AI...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to focus on preventing workplace violence in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings, where employees are five...more
7/25/2024
/ Citations ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
General Duty Clause ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Nursing Homes ,
OSHA ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence ,
Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
The U.S. Department of Labor recently changed how it assesses civil money penalties against employers for violating federal child labor laws, which could significantly increase fines for hiring underage children to perform...more
The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced a new program that U.S. employers could use to hire up to 30,000 workers each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, dwarfing programs that employers currently...more
The Trump-era National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) “made multiple overlapping errors” in determining that Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. (“BFI”) does not have a duty to bargain with the...more
8/4/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Right to Control ,
Teamsters ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions
The chief lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) wants to ban mandatory meetings called by employers during worktime to dissuade employees from joining unions, calling them an “unlawful threat” to...more
The independent contractor test developed by the Republican-majority National Labor Relations Board under President Trump actually resulted in a higher rate of workers being classified as employees protected by federal labor...more
The Democrat-majority National Labor Relations Board readied for 2022 by announcing plans to confront two President Trump-era legal tests - one that determines whether an independent contractor is actually an employee...more
1/10/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Definition ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Employers covered under OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus (“ETS”) have a duty to bargain with unions representing employees over certain aspects of the ETS, according to Jennifer Abruzzo,...more
11/12/2021
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Masks ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
With a newly minted Democratic majority on the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), the General Counsel of the NLRB, who directs enforcement of federal labor law, has ordered her staff to seek broad remedies - many of...more
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would overhaul federal labor law with the express purpose of making it easier for unions to organize workers and more difficult for employers to classify them as independent...more
3/12/2021
/ Collective Actions ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Rights ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Pending Legislation ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
President Joe Biden has nominated Jennifer Abruzzo, a lawyer for the Communication Workers of America union, to be general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) after forcing out Peter Robb as the head...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued new guidance restricting when the government can seek liquidated damages, which double the amount owed by employers, to settle overtime and minimum wage investigations prior to...more
A California bill prompted by the #MeToo movement to prohibit employers from requiring workers to sign arbitration or nondisclosure agreements as a condition of employment is headed to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown for final...more
A federal judge in Texas has invalidated a Department of Labor rule that would have made more than 4 million “white collar” workers eligible for overtime pay, holding that the agency overstepped its authority by adopting a...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) plans to revise its pending overtime rule, which would have more than doubled the minimum annual salary for workers in “white collar” executive, administrative and professional positions...more
The U.S. Justice Department has abruptly reversed course in a U.S. Supreme Court case concerning an employment agreement that restricts employees from participating in class and collective lawsuits, arguing that a mandatory...more
6/20/2017
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
Obama Administration ,
Persuader Rules ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration
Ohio’s counties and cities would have the ability to decide whether they want to pay state-mandated prevailing wages on taxpayer-funded projects, or allow contractors to bid on projects without such requirements, under a bill...more
With 2015 almost wrapped up, it is a good time to highlight the cases and administrative guidance that packed the biggest punch in the workplace over the last year. Some of this year’s biggest decisions carried a common...more
Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez has sworn to continue the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (“OSHA) stepped up enforcement campaign in the construction and oil and gas industries after newly released data...more
In Browning-Ferris, Businesses Lose as the Board Crafts a Solution in Search of a Problem.
Marking a sea change in labor law and a departure from decades of settled precedent, the National Labor Relations Board...more
Most workers should be classified as employees, and not independent contractors, and be paid minimum wage and overtime pay, the U.S. Department of Labor said in an Administrator’s Interpretation issued July 15. The...more
President Barack Obama’s new immigration policy contains a number of measures designed to make it easier for U.S. businesses to hire and retain highly skilled foreign-born workers while also permitting those workers to...more
12/1/2014
/ Barack Obama ,
DACA ,
DAPA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Deportation ,
Executive Orders ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Popular ,
USCIS
Tensions are high concerning the potential spread of the Ebola virus disease in the U.S., fueled by the confirmation of new infections, around-the-clock news reports on potential calamities and our natural, and seemingly...more