Seyfarth Synopsis: In six months, the U.S. presidential election will take place and inevitably employee views on the elections and election issues will make their way into the workplace. In yesterday’s highly polarized...more
6/5/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Free Speech ,
Labor Regulations ,
Political Expression ,
Political Speech ,
Presidential Elections ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Elections ,
State Labor Laws ,
Voting Rights
California lawmakers have introduced legislation that would give employees the right to ignore communications from their employers that are received outside the contours of their “working hours,” which must first be agreed...more
A new piece of legislation introduced in Congress, if enacted, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to establish 32-hour workweek for non-exempt employees, with no loss in pay. While the bill is unlikely to gain steam, it...more
3/22/2024
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
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
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
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 Synopsis: Today the U.S. Department of Labor issued its draft new interpretive regulation (or NPRM) attempting to define employee versus independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The NPRM...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Taking it down to the wire, Governor Newsom approved the vast majority of labor and employment bills that ran the legislative gauntlet, including bills that will expand pay data reporting and pay scale...more
10/4/2022
/ Bereavement Leave ,
Cal-OSHA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Marijuana ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Pay Transparency ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: SB 1162, which may soon be signed into law, will require employers to report even more pay data to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD, formerly DFEH), including median and mean pay gap information....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: SB 1162, which may soon be signed into law, will require employers to report even more pay data to the California Civil Rights Department (f/k/a the Department of Fair Employment and Housing until July 1,...more
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
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
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 30, 2022, 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”) Administrator. This public rebuke – made possible...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: SB 62, which became effective January 1, 2022, makes those involved in the chain of garment manufacturing jointly and severally liable for certain labor law violations, and eliminates piece-rate...more
Build Back…Sometime? Despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s repeated assurances that the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) would pass the Senate before the holidays, many Democratic Senators have now conceded that BBBA...more
On Friday, November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit extended its initial stay regarding OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The Fifth Circuit made clear how...more
OSHA: From The Back Page To The Headlines. If asked in January of 2020 what exactly OSHA is and what it does within the Department of Labor, we would venture that the majority of PMN readers would not have a completely...more
President Biden Calls On Congress To Eliminate Subminimum Pay For Disabled Workers. The White House has called on Congress to eliminate a program under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allows employers to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Monday, September 27, Governor Newsom signed a number of employment-related bills, including bills aimed at combatting wage theft and wage/hour violations by garment manufacturers, all of which go into...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Headlining the number of employment-related bills California legislators introduced by the February 19th deadline are those that would extend COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave and provide other leaves...more
3/8/2021
/ ABC Test ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paid Leave ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sick Leave ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft
Oh Happy Day! Stimulus Is Finally (Almost) Live. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on a $900 billion pandemic relief package along with a $1.4 trillion measure to fund the government through September 30, 2021. ...more
12/22/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
FRCP 30(b)(6) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Relief Measures ,
Vaccinations
Seyfarth Synopsis: September 30 was Governor Newsom’s last day to sign or veto bills the Legislature passed by its August 31 deadline. Some new laws—including COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave and workers’ compensation...more
10/2/2020
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Governor Newsom ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Code ,
New Legislation ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the most contentious election of our lifetimes fast approaching, we might expect employees to engage in political conduct and share strong, controversial opinions while off duty, especially on social...more
9/28/2020
/ At-Will Employment ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Political Expression ,
Political Speech ,
Protests ,
Social Media ,
State Labor Laws ,
Viewpoint Discrimination
Seyfarth Synopsis: Businesses operating in California have had all of eight months to adapt since Assembly Bill 5, a landmark piece of legislation governing their relationships with independent contractors, took effect on...more
9/9/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Music Industry ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Writers