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Employment Law Newsletter: A Monthly Report On Labor Law Issues

Our Monthly Report on Labor Law Issues, also known as the Employment Law Bulletin, is a monthly newsletter that covers a wide range of labor law issues, including affirmative action plans, strikes, OSHA regulations, minimum wage requirements, and more. Other topics covered have included issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as workplace walk-outs and strikes, vaccinations, and employee rights related to positive test results and quarantine. The newsletter also covers issues related to discrimination, such as artificial intelligence and racial bias, and issues related to unions, such as organizing efforts and union successes at companies like Amazon and Starbucks. The newsletter also covers issues related to taxes, immigration, and court cases related to labor law. Stay informed and avoid legal missteps, by subscribing to email updates here.

pregnant woman sitting down
On August 11, 2023, the EEOC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).  The new law officially went into effect on June 27, 2023, for organizations with 15 or more workers.  In general, employers will be expected to make reasonable accommodations for the "known limitations" of applicants and employees wh...
new painted on red brick wall
Several labor agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), published their regulatory agenda for 2024.  EEOC's regulatory agenda includes the following priorities:
indoor desk working
It is well known that numerous government agencies have an agenda to classify all workers as employees, instead of as independent contractors.  There are numerous reasons for this approach, one being that independent contractors do not have the protections of the employment laws, and cannot form unions, and the government may feel it has more difficulties...
illegal sign, outdoors
The above heading actually comes from a union publication urging employees to review all company rules and policies and challenge them with the NLRB.   In August, the NLRB in its Stericycle ruling set forth a new, game-changing standard, in determining whether company rules are illegal, because they "chill" worker activity for unions and other concerted a...
car manufacturing plant, indoors
There are many "firsts" in the auto strike that appears to have concluded in late October.  It was the first time that all three of Detroit's major automakers were on strike at the same time.  The union also used an unusual strike tactic in staging short strikes at select plants among the three Detroit automakers increasing their ability to inflict signif...
welding metal together, indoors
Many businesses feel threatened by the new joint employer rule issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on October 25, 2023.  In the new rule, entities that share control over the terms and conditions of a worker's job could be found to be joint employers for purposes of the collective bargaining law, including in cases where an employer's cont...
donkey and elephant political icons
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has a three-person Democrat majority, and its new Democrat Chairperson, Kalpana Kotagal, signals she is keen to encourage more diversity and inclusion efforts.   Her goal is "to continue to support lawful DEI work and to reassure employers in particular, but also their counsel, about what the contours of ...
voting box
The dangers of the new NLRB rule in Cemex are emphasized in last month's newsletter, whereby an employer can be ordered to bargain with a union where the employer does not itself file an election petition within two weeks and/or commits unfair labor practices that would warrant setting aside an election, even though they are not severe.  In the November 2...
wondering emoji on phone, on wood table, indoors
Evidence must show that the complainant was subjected to harassment because of the complainant's protected characteristic.  Absent an explicit change to the terms and conditions of employment, harassing conduct based on a protected characteristic is actionable when it is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an objectively and subjectively hostile wo...
a city at night working
Workers who are salaried, who make more than a certain amount of money per year and work in a "bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity" are not covered by requirements for employers to pay employees at time-and-a-half for any time they work beyond 40 hours in a week.  Employees must meet all three of these factors for the exemption t...
american bills stacked, top, indoors
On September 27, 2023, DOL issued updated minimum wages for federal contractors for 2024.  Contracts entered into with the federal government on or after January 30, 2022 will have a new minimum wage of $15.20 per hour.  A $12.90 hourly minimum wage will apply to those contracts created on or after January 1, 2015, but before January 30, 2022.