In arguably the most far-reaching move of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration announced Thursday that federal workplace safety officials will soon issue a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more...more
It’s been said that from crisis comes opportunity. And given that the COVID-19 pandemic has handed us the greatest collective crisis in our lifetimes, it should stand to reason that we should now be in the perfect position to...more
5/3/2021
/ Business Operations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Gig Economy ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Labor Relations ,
Legal Operations ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
As we recently forecasted, the House of Representatives has reintroduced a bill designed to radically transform the labor relations landscape, substantially tilting the playing field towards organized labor. The “Protecting...more
2/9/2021
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Relations ,
Micro-Unions ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Posting Requirements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Protests ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Secondary Boycott ,
Union Elections ,
Union Membership ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
The Food and Drug Administration has now approved two different mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to be distributed in the U.S. for use in persons 18 years of age...more
When the House of Representatives passed the PRO Act last year with the aim of overhauling federal labor law for the benefit of organized labor, we predicted the legislation would stall in the face of the Republican Senate...more
1/18/2021
/ Employee Rights ,
Employer Rights ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRA ,
Section 7 ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
The NLRB recently issued a pair of advice memos governing the obligation of parties to engage in remote collective bargaining and to negotiate over the concept of hazard pay in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. These...more
It appears to be official: unless the election results can be overturned in several states, Joe Biden will soon be our nation’s 46th president. Now the work begins to forecast what the next four years will bring. We’ve spent...more
11/9/2020
/ Affirmative Action ,
Biden Administration ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Political Campaigns ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/10/2020
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Medical Leave ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Telecommuting ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wrongful Death
This article addresses many employment-related issues facing employers in the wake of hurricane-related disasters; consequently, in addition to federal laws, we also focus on certain state laws, especially those in the areas...more
8/21/2020
/ Business Closures ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Charitable Donations ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Data Privacy ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
H-1B ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hurricane Season ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Relations ,
Medical Leave ,
Military Leave ,
Military Service Members ,
Natural Disasters ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Unemployment Compensation System ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
USERRA ,
Visa Applications ,
Visas ,
Volunteers ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
Addressing the issue for the first time since the pandemic, the National Labor Relations Board recently released a series of advice memoranda instructing its Regional offices to dismiss various COVID-19 related charges...more
8/19/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Business Closures ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Duty to Bargain ,
Employer Rights ,
Hazard Pay ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lay-Offs ,
New Guidance ,
NLRB ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The National Labor Relations Board took the opportunity last week to double down on its recent reversal of the Purple Communications doctrine, holding that T-Mobile USA did not violate federal labor law by implementing a rule...more
6/2/2020
/ Electronic Communications ,
Email ,
Email Policies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Information Technology ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Purple Communications ,
Reversal ,
Section 7 ,
T-Mobile ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
On the eve of their scheduled implementation date, a federal court judge in Washington, D.C. struck down significant portions of the National Labor Relation’s Board new union representation procedures – handing a significant...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) continues to update its guidance document on implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), and the latest update caught many employers by surprise. The updated document...more
Although the new Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT) contains important help for businesses, it also presents potentially significant labor issues for any mid-size company (500 to 10,000 employees)...more
The Fisher Phillips COVID-19 Taskforce has assembled this guidance document, containing answers to a series of Frequently Asked Questions, especially designed for unionized employers. The Taskforce also maintains a...more
3/23/2020
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Information Requests ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules ,
Workplace Safety
Fisher Phillips has assembled a cross-disciplinary taskforce of attorneys across the country to address the many employment-related issues facing employers in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus – especially now that the...more
3/3/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Foreign Workers ,
Global Workforce ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Relations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Traveling Employee ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Safety
The National Labor Relations Board just published a final rule that will soon fundamentally alter the definition of joint employment, making it more difficult for businesses to be held legally responsible for alleged labor...more
2/26/2020
/ Burden of Proof ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Franchises ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Wage and Hour
Thanks to a constitutional provision that requires Florida to adjust its minimum wage each year to match inflation, employers in the Sunshine State must now pay their employees at least $8.56 per hour. The 10-cent increase...more
At the end stages of lone Democrat Board Member McFerran’s term, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Friday, December 13th, issued the first of what may be a number of rulings in the form of a procedural regulation...more
Joint employment took center stage yesterday during the release of the Fall Regulatory Agenda, as three separate federal agencies announced plans to move forward with revised joint employment rules in December. While the...more
Labor Board Further Tightens Union Access To Employer Property -
In yet another ruling that levels the labor relations playing field, the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Friday that employers could rightfully...more
9/10/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Private Property ,
Property Access ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatened to start to carry out a series of immigration raids this weekend seeking to identify and apprehend undocumented individuals – with some potentially occurring at the...more
7/16/2019
/ Audits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form I-9 ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
NLRA ,
Raids ,
Search Warrant ,
Undocumented Immigrants
The U.S. Department of Labor just became the latest federal agency to propose a rule to limit the scope of joint employment liability, this time for wage and hour matters. If the rule released earlier yesterday is adopted in...more
4/2/2019
/ Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
NLRB ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In a significant ruling which will benefit companies, the National Labor Relations Board on January 25th, revised the test it uses for determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors by making it easier...more
As of Saturday, the current federal government shutdown became the longest in our nation’s history—and employers are starting to feel the sting. While the peculiarities of the federal budget process meant that this shutdown...more
1/14/2019
/ Anti-Deficiency Act ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-Verify ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Contractors ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Government Agencies ,
Government Shutdown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Visas ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety