In a recent decision, the National Labor Relations Board gave unions greater access to sales agreements under the employer’s duty to provide relevant information so as to meaningfully engage in effects bargaining. The August...more
It’s never easy to make accurate predictions about what we might expect to see in the workplace in the coming year. After all:
- At the start of 2020, no one could have predicted COVID-19.
- None of us had heard the phrase...more
11/1/2022
/ Affirmative Action ,
Background Checks ,
Blockchain ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Relations ,
Leave of Absence ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Trade Secrets ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The National Labor Relations Board just ruled that employers must continue to collect union dues even after the collective bargaining agreement has expired, a decision that will require many businesses to alter their labor...more
This detailed set of Frequently Asked Questions, fully updated for 2022, addresses the workplace-related issues facing employers in the wake of hurricane-related disasters. In addition to legal obligations you need to...more
9/9/2022
/ Business Closures ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disaster Preparedness ,
Employee Assistance Programs ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Foreign Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hurricane Season ,
Labor Relations ,
Layoffs ,
Leave of Absence ,
Natural Disasters ,
Severe Weather ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Visas ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
The National Labor Relations Board is actively looking to modify the legal standards that for the past five years have provided a commonsense solution for evaluating the legality of commonplace workplace misconduct rules. And...more
The NLRB’s top prosecutor just issued a memo which seeks to bar employers from convening employee meetings on working time to address union representation unless they provide employees specific assurances that participation...more
Welcome to FP Forecast, a monthly outlook featuring Fisher Phillips thought leaders providing their insights into what employers can expect in 2022 and beyond. By following along each month, you’ll be in the best position to...more
3/16/2022
/ Biometric Information ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Relations ,
Mental Health ,
Metaverse ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Ransomware ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Privacy Laws ,
Trade Secrets ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions ,
Virtual Meetings
We were off by about 10 days. When we published An Employer’s Guide to the Baseball Lockout: Answering Your Questions About the First MLB Work Stoppage in Almost 30 Years way back at the beginning of December, we predicted...more
3/14/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Athletes ,
Baseball ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Lockouts ,
Minimum Salary ,
MLB ,
Sports ,
Uniforms ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In one of its final moves of the year, the National Labor Relations Board announced in late December that will reconsider the current legal standard for determining whether workers are independent contractors or employees....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 NLRB’s General Counsel recently released a guidance memorandum advising the Board to apply a stricter standard when evaluating if an employer’s support for union organizing activities violates the National Labor Relations...more
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
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
As more states legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis, many states are requiring that cannabis employers enter into a “labor peace agreement” with a union in order to obtain or maintain a license to grow, manufacture,...more
6/1/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions
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
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill that would tilt the scales of labor law unequivocally in favor of organized labor. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would bring about a radical shift in labor...more
2/11/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Rights ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gag Rule ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Pending Legislation ,
Persuader Rules ,
Presidential Veto ,
Protests ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Right to Strike ,
Right to Work ,
Secondary Boycott ,
Trump Administration ,
Union Elections ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
The National Labor Relations Board just ruled that employers may now require confidentiality from employees involved in open workplace investigations. Importantly, Tuesday’s decision in Apogee Retail LLC resolves conflicting...more
12/19/2019
/ Boeing ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Workplace Investigations
The National Labor Relations Board just decided that employers have the right to cease union dues collections once the relevant collective bargaining agreement expires, again restoring balance to the labor relations...more
The National Labor Relations Board took the latest step in the long-simmering debate over whether college teaching and research assistants could unionize when it released a proposed rule on Friday that would once again block...more
9/24/2019
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Colleges ,
Comment Period ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Graduate Students ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Student Employees ,
Teaching Assistants ,
Unions ,
Universities
The news that President Trump selected Eugene Scalia to take over as Labor Secretary late last week caught some employers by surprise; after all, it was just a week ago that we were analyzing the track record of the...more
7/22/2019
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Affirmative Action ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Labor Policies ,
Medical Leave ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD)
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
When the news broke Friday afternoon that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta would be resigning from his post, employers across the country began wondering what this transition would mean for them. You may have even heard...more
7/15/2019
/ Affirmative Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Joint Employers ,
OFCCP ,
OLMS ,
OSHA ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Resignation ,
Secretary of Labor ,
USCIS ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
With one final jolt to end the year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that the impractical joint employer test originally adopted by the Obama-era National Labor Relations Board in 2015 was properly enacted and therefore...more