The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Vaccination ETS case is dismissed: Legal challenges to the now-defunct Occupational Safety and Health Administration's COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing rule for large employers officially ended last Friday, when the Sixth Circuit dismissed the case as moot following the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster January ruling that panned the regulations. "Because the ETS's requirements are no longer in effect as a result of OSHA's withdrawal, the challenged requirements from which petitioners seek relief are no longer in effect," the Sixth Circuit judges said Friday. Source: Law360 2/18/22
Are your posters up to date? The DOL recently increased the maximum fine amounts for noncompliance with certain federal notice and posting requirements, to include the following:
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): $189 (from $178); “Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law” (Occupational Safety and Health Act): $14,502 (from $13,653), and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA): $23,011 (from $21,663). There are more requirements to be aware of, notably, the FMLA poster, Equal Employment Opportunity poster, and Employee Polygraph Protection Act poster must be displayed and visible to applicants. While the applicable DOL regulations precede the internet’s ubiquity in the employment space, according to guidance issued by the DOL, a prominent notice on an employer's website with a link to the applicable posters, in most cases, is a necessary supplement but not a substitute for the physical posting required by certain federal statutes. If you need to obtain or update your posters, click here and use the code GN-ASE when checking out for an ASE discount. Source: Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart 1/27/22
Your e-work tools are either a recruiter’s friend or obstacle to hiring: A 2021 Gartner survey showed a 44% rise in workers' use of collaboration tools since 2019 and a 10% rise in use of tools obtained outside of IT. Understanding what candidates want in a collaboration tool is more important than ever. Rejecting a job based solely on its tech may seem crazy. Plenty of people made fun of a user on Blind who claimed they denied a job offer because the company used Outlook. But workers have a new kind of leverage in today’s job market, with intense demand for tech talent and companies’ fear of losing workers. “More than ever, a candidate has the choice to really customize their personal employment experience,” said Josh Drew, regional manager at recruiting firm Robert Half. Despite the preponderance of new productivity tools, the world of work is still overwhelmingly binary- either a Slack person or a Teams person or Outlook or Gmail or stand by Zoom or BlueJeans or Adobe Illustrator or Figma. The internet loves “this or that” debates, and workplace tools are no exception. It may be difficult to do but a review of the online tools is a must. Source: Protocol 2/9/22
Will pandemic changes to workforce last? In 2021, U.S. employees left the workforce in record numbers, leaving millions of positions unfilled. Similar patterns have played out in the UK; in January, the Office for National Statistics announced a record-high of more than 1.2 million job vacancies. For months, employers have struggled to fill open roles and keep existing workers from moving on. These figures imply that employers are on the back foot, compared to workers, who are in a new position to bargain with current and prospective bosses. And indeed, amid an incredibly tight labor market, many employees can afford to cherry-pick roles that align with their values, command higher salaries or tailor work perks for a new hybrid set-up. But will it last beyond the end of the pandemic? “People are increasingly unwilling to accept substandard working conditions of all kinds,” says Benjamin Sachs, professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. “That includes poor pay, a lack of resources or not feeling respected on the job.” Workers are harnessing power to spur change in a few distinct arenas – most are connected to better working conditions, from pay to benefits to workplace health and safety. It's likely to continue as the worker shortage extends. Employers must be thinking workforce five years from now and how they operate in order to recede the tide of power of the workers. Source: BBC 2/15/22
Another bipartisan law to pass soon: Congressional lawmakers are focused on getting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) to pass the Senate in 2022, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said last Wednesday during a virtual panel hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The PWFA, which would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for job applicants and employees with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, passed the House last May in a 315-101 vote and was advanced by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in August 2021. "We're working with colleagues to get [the bill] passed and signed into law this year," said Cassidy, but neither he nor fellow panelist Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., would elaborate on the timeline to passage when asked for additional details. "This is a bill whose time has come and we're ready to get it done," Casey said. 2022 is also an election year. Source: HR Dive 2/4/22, Law360 2/10/22
A nail in the coffin for affirmative action prescribed by procurement regulations: A lawsuit by outfitters on federal lands challenging a newly effective Biden administration rule raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for federal contract workers is before the Tenth Circuit, where a panel could decide the fate of the increase that the government has said will affect 327,000 workers The minimum wage for federal contractors rule went into effect January 30. On February 8, five Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration in Arizona federal court, and on February 10, three more states with Republican attorneys general sued in Texas federal court. The suits make similar Procurement Act and Administrative Procedure Act allegations, along with other claims. When it comes to the Procurement Act, worker advocates said bumping the wage floor for workers on federal lands falls under the president's authority. Jackson Lewis' Laura Mitchell said the Procurement Act argument is a common one for challenging federal contract requirements. "That's an argument we are seeing a lot now. They're typically part of the basis of those challenges, to say, 'You overstepped your authority,'" she said. If the minimum wage requirements overturned, affirmative action could be next. Source: Law360 2/14/22
Wage and hour enforcement to get more stringent: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has announced a Warehouse and Logistics Worker initiative designed to help ensure that workers in these industries, including delivery drivers, truck drivers, and others are: paid all their legally earned wages, including minimum and overtime, and are safe from workplace harassment and retaliation when they claim their rights and not prevented from taking time off from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The initiative will also target misclassification of employees as independent contractors, a common occurrence in both industries that denies workers their full wages and legal protections. The agency is planning on hiring 100 more investigators in the next year or so. Source: U.S. DOL 2/8/22