In Syeed v. Bloomberg L.P. 2023 WL 350565, the New York Court of Appeals recently accepted certification of a question on state law put to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, namely: Whether a nonresident plaintiff not yet employed in New York City or State satisfies the impact requirement … Continue reading
On January 31, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public hearing entitled “Navigating Employment Discrimination in AI and Automated Systems: A New Civil Rights Frontier”.[1] During the hearing, the EEOC explored the potential benefits and harms associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and other automated systems in the context of employment-related decisions, … Continue reading
The U.S. Department of Labor has recently unveiled proposed revisions to Wage and Hour Division regulations regarding employee and independent contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The stated intention of this change is to be more consistent with judicial precedent and practical implementation. The proposed change was announced on October 13, 2022 … Continue reading
On October 31, 2022 the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board released a memo urging the Board to adopt a “new framework” for protecting employees from “intrusive or abusive” forms of electronic monitoring and automated management technologies that interfere with employee rights to self-organize and to engage in collective bargaining under Section 7 … Continue reading
The National Labor Relations Board is proposing to rescind its current rule that allows: Representation elections to proceed even when there are pending unfair labor practice charges alleging employee free choice has been compromised; Challenges to the representative status of a voluntarily recognized before there has been a reasonable period for collective bargaining; and, Election … Continue reading
A worldwide effort was launched by 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit associated with the University of Oxford, that helps companies execute and measure the impact of a four-day workweek. The nonprofit calls this a 100-80-100 model, wherein workers receive 100% of their pay for 80% of the time, while maintaining 100% productivity. In California, … Continue reading
In a recent decision, Everport Terminal Services, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted petitions for review and vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ruling that an employer had committed an unfair labor practice by favoring one mechanics’ union over another. Everport … Continue reading
On September 22, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) completed the last of three public sessions it conducted to solicit input on a forthcoming Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). In the past, the SEP has established substantive area priorities for the EEOC and set out strategies to integrate components of the EEOC’s private, public, and … Continue reading
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) recently said that it will take another look at California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), a state law affecting mandatory employment-related arbitration agreements.[1] AB 51 prohibits employers from requiring that employees enter into mandatory arbitration agreements for disputes arising under the California Fair Employment … Continue reading
On September 16, 2022, The Governor and Attorney General of the State of Florida filed a Notice of Appeal challenging the decision by U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker to issue a preliminary injunction blocking part of Florida’s House Bill (H.B.) 7, known as the Individual Freedom Act (IFA) or, as the Governor has referred … Continue reading
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is contemplating several, and extensive, changes to its existing Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, and will be seeking public comments. Broadly speaking, the PSM standard requires employers to implement safety programs that identify, evaluate and control highly hazardous chemicals. Contemplated changes to the current PSM … Continue reading
Several jurisdictions are in the process of passing, or have already passed, pay transparency legislation, including California, Colorado, Maryland, New York State, New York City, Rhode Island, and Washington, with some new legislation potentially coming into force in early 2023. While specifics vary based on the jurisdiction, below are some of the key emerging employer … Continue reading
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has embarked upon notice and comment rulemaking to replace the final rule concerning joint employer status that has been in place since April 2020. Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (Act) generally provides that the term “employee” under the Act is not limited to an employee of … Continue reading
In a recent decision, Trevor Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considered section 1514A of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which protects employees of publicly traded companies from adverse employment actions that “discriminate against an employee . . . because of” any lawful whistleblowing act. On appeal, … Continue reading
Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (Act) gives employees the right to form unions, bargain collectively and to “engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of … mutual aid or protection”. Speaking out about conditions of employment on behalf of a group of employees would fall within this protection. And, section 8 … Continue reading
In a recent decision, Nazarie Anderson v. Emory Healthcare Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Emory Healthcare Inc. (Emory), who had defended against a former employee’s retaliation claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 … Continue reading
The National Labor Relations Act (Act) states that it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to refuse to bargain collectively with its employee representatives (i.e. a union). Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit confirmed that when this happens, an employer may have to reimburse its union the legal … Continue reading
The State of New York is looking to strengthen its existing laws concerning the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. To do so, the Department of Labor (DOL) is calling on New Yorkers to submit their feedback, which may be provided online before September 20, 2022. Currently, employers in New York are required to … Continue reading
A recent National Labor Relations Board decision, General Aire Systems, Inc. (371 NLRB No. 120), reminds employers of some pitfalls they may face when handling a union’s request for information, and steps that may be taken to minimize associated legal risks. By way of background, when a union has a collective bargaining relationship with an … Continue reading
A New York State bill, “Carlos’ Law”, is currently before Governor Hochul for signing, after having been passed both by the Senate and Assembly. The bill’s Sponsor Memo states that its purpose is “to protect workers from corporations and their agents that fail to comply with safety protocols. . .” and recalls that more than … Continue reading
This is the 17th paper in our Transforming Workplace series. In our earlier article, we explored why employees’ expectations of their leaders have changed and why organisations need to upgrade leaders’ skills and behaviours. In this paper we now examine ow organisations can upskill their leaders to meet the specific leadership challenges arising from ‘work … Continue reading
This is the 16th paper in our Transforming Workplace series. In our previous paper, we discussed how to make ‘work from anywhere’ work better. In this paper we now examine whether the day of the office, as we know it, has ended Work from Anywhere: The end of the office? – Transforming Workplace – #16 This … Continue reading
This is the 15th paper in our Transforming Workplace series. In this paper we examine how ‘work from anywhere’ can be made to work better. Work From Anywhere: Make it work better -Transforming Workplace – #15 This article is part of our Transforming Workplace series. Other articles exploring the opportunities, challenges and risk of the transforming … Continue reading
A new law, which amends the New York Civil Rights Law, will require New York employers to provide notice before monitoring employee electronic communications. The amendment takes effect on May 7, 2022. What does the new law require for employers? The new law requires that New York employers fulfill three requirements before electronically monitoring their … Continue reading