Labor & Employment Law Update

Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed into law Assembly Bill 1522, the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.”  Under this new law, effective July 1, 2015, California employers, with few exceptions, must provide at least 24 hours (3 working days) of paid sick leave per year to their employees.

Who Is Covered?

Essentially all employers and employees (including part-time and temporary employees) are covered by the law.  Unlike other California leave laws (as well as other states and the FMLA), there is no minimum employee threshold; nor is there a minimum-hours-worked ...

On March 13, 2014, we reported that President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing his Secretary of Labor to update the regulations to expand the number of employees eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  In May 2014, the Obama Administration released its Regulatory Agenda indicating that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) was scheduled to release its “white collar” overtime exemption regulations proposed rules in November 2014.  We anticipate that the new proposed regulations will be significantly narrower than the ...

In a world where cyber space rules, employers need to ensure that their customer, business and client information is protected. While our cyber tech attorneys and IT professionals handle the tech-y details of the network configuration, on the labor & employment front, we also need to ensure that we have policies and procedures in place to govern our employees’ behavior, reduce liability, and increase accountability.

In today’s universe, work is rarely conducted 100% of the time in the office behind a desk. Our employees and our information are on the go: cell phones ...

In July, we told you about “Ban the Box” coming to Illinois. Effective January 1, 2015, this legislation forbids employers and employment agencies from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal record or criminal history prior to the applicant being selected for an interview or, if there is no interview, prior to a conditional offer of employment. Yesterday, WTTW Chicago Tonight covered this issue and interviewed our group chair and blog contributor Jeffrey Risch on the issue. Check out the video here. The story runs around six and a half minutes long, you can see Jeff ...

Last week a federal appeals court ruled FedEx drivers are not independent contractors, but rather employees. The decision prompted many to ask, FedEx drivers are classified as independent contractors? In fact they are. According to the decision, Alexander v. FedEx, drivers provide their own vehicles (which must meet detailed specifications), pay their own operating expenses, determine their own routes, (provided they deliver the assigned packages on time) and sign an operating agreement accepting the independent contractor arrangement.

The FedEx case arose because a ...

If not, it should be.  An open door policy, (essentially a policy through which the employer makes clear to employees that they can and should bring concerns and complaints to human resources or other appropriate managers) may be the difference between substantial legal liability and a relatively prompt resolution of an employee’s lawsuit.  Certain laws, including federal wage and hour and anti-harassment statutes, provide employers at least a partial defense to claims made by employees who refuse to use internal complaint procedures before filing a lawsuit.  Even in the ...

In Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, No. 12-751 (June 25, 2014), the Supreme Court overhauled the legal landscape of ERISA “stock drop” litigation. The case was brought by 401(k) plan participants after Fifth Third’s employer matching contributions, made in company stock to an ESOP component of the plan, dropped 74% over a two-year period. Plaintiffs argued that plan fiduciaries breached their duties under ERISA by investing in and maintaining investments in Fifth Third stock in light of the risks associated with the employer’s subprime lending ...

In May 2014, the Department of Homeland Security announced a proposed rule to allow for work authorization for certain spouses of H-1B visa holders. The work permit is called an Employment Authorization Document or EAD. No time frame has yet been finalized for this benefit.

Employment authorization could be extended to H-4 nonimmigrant spouses in the following situations:

(1) The principal H-1B spouse is the beneficiary of an approved 1-140 Immigrant Petition; or

(2) the H-1B nonimmigrant’s period of stay is authorized under sections 106(a) and/or (b) of the American ...

In a recent memorandum, the Office of the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), informed all regional directors that the NLRB had entered into a program with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) whereby NLRB investigators, in certain circumstances, will actively encourage parties that file an unfair labor practice (“ULP”) charge to also file charges or complaints with OSHA and the DOL for potential violations of the Occupational Safety and ...

Employers may be appalled to learn that their standard practice of simply mailing (and emailing) notices and other important correspondence to employees may be insufficient to satisfy their obligations under various employment laws. 

Recently, an appellate court held that a former employee’s claim that she never received individual notice defeated the “Mailbox Rule” presumption, and therefore precluded the employer’s ability to obtain summary judgment in a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) matter.  Lupyan v. Corinthian Colleges Inc., No. 13-1843 (3rd Cir ...