With more employees working remotely, which may be the norm in the future, questions arise regarding how to ensure compliance with posting requirements.

We are about two weeks into the new year, and if you have not already, this is a great time to do some housekeeping regarding your background forms and processes.

Due to the pandemic, remote work is bubbling up new wage and hour issues for employers. Is a non-exempt employee that works from home but must travel into the office during the day legally owed payment for travel time from home to office?

On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13950 titled “Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.”  The EO arose because various federal agencies had a private diversity-consulting firm conduct a training session last June titled “Difficult Conversations About Race in Troubling Times.”  This EO is now enjoined as of December 23, 2020 and cannot be enforced by the federal government.

One in five U.S. workers (21%) indicate their confidence in their ability to retire comfortably has declined in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and only 27% are very confident that they will be able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, according to a new survey report released by nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS).

If you have lost track of the legislative and regulatory ins and outs of the federal stimulus package and compliance regulations, here is where we are as of this week.

In-house General Counsels were surveyed recently by Morrison & Foerster LLP, and responses indicate that many are bracing for an influx of employment related litigation resulting from the COVID health crisis. 90% of the 80 General Counsel surveyed at global corporations saw wrongful employment practice litigation as the biggest legal risk they foresee.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is seeking public comment on a proposed update to its religious discrimination guidance.  The draft guidance is available for review at https://beta.regulations.gov/document/EEOC-2020-0007-0001. During a public meeting on November 9, the Commission voted (3-2) to publish its proposed changes to the manual.  

Employers have to worry about employees using social media, including their managers and executives.  Like kids, managers and executives can say the darndest things.   And Twitter, especially, can take on a life of its own. 

Both courts as well as state and federal agencies struggle with what the correct definition of employer and employee is depending on the situation they are asked to untangle.  For years federal agencies within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) – Wage and Hour, NLRB, and OSHA – have wrestled with whether two businesses that use the same worker are in fact both the worker’s employer.

The issue of independent contractor (IC) versus employee classification has long been around, but since the Reagan administration, has been a focus of review. It could be argued that employers have long misused the IC classification to avoid a litany of employment law obligations. In addition, employers have been accused of abusing the IC relationship, especially if ICs are required to work during specific times, with deadlines, are supervised like an employee, and have performance...

Governor Whitmer’s Executive Orders were declared unconstitutional by the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) in October.  Soon the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) issued emergency orders and Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) issued emergency rules governing workplace safety. It is important to know what changed and what stayed the same.

Although the senate remains in republican hands and can act as a stop-gap to new legislation, with the presidency to be held by a democrat, President-Elect Joe Biden, the Executive Branch and in particular the Department of Labor, will change direction.

For a long time, many contractors have criticized  the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) as lacking sufficient transparency, clarity, certainty, and timeliness in its dealings with contractors, and have brought cases without an adequate evidentiary foundation. In response, after issuing preliminary regulations in December 2019 and reviewing comments, the OFCCP promulgated final regulations last week that it believes follows its four...

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) was enacted in March 2020 which expanded both medical leave and the Family Medical Leave Act – providing both as paid leave. This legislation is also known as the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (“EPSLA”) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (“EFMLA”).  The law impacted employers with 500 or less employees, and it was just for the calendar year 2020.