Blair C. Senesi and Jaime B. Laurent examine the City of Los Angeles’ “Model Contract” under the Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance (FWPO) and explain what it means for employers.

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On August 29, 2018, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law a bill (HB 360) addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. The new law broadly defines, and prohibits, sexual harassment and retaliation. The statute obligates employers (with 4 or more employees) to issue an information sheet on sexual harassment. It also requires larger employers (with 50 or more employees) to provide sexual harassment training for all employees and supervisors, making Delaware the fifth state to statutorily mandate sexual harassment training.

Bradford J. Kelley and James A. McGehee review a multimillion-dollar verdict for a U.S. Army veteran under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and discuss the law's scope beyond other employment anti-discrimination laws.

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On November 30, 2023, the Colorado Court of Appeals in Tender Care v.

Last week, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law several bills that significantly amend the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). As a result of these amendments, Illinois employers should expect an uptick in discrimination cases proceeding through state courts and agencies.

Longer Statute of Limitations Period

The Philadelphia Protection of Displaced Contract Workers Ordinance offers job protections to workers providing security, janitorial, building maintenance, food and beverage, hotel service, or health care services who are employed by service contractors, and are displaced when the service contract is terminated and awarded to another service contractor.¹  A recent amendment to the Ordinance significantly expands its scope to impose obligations on a business that decides to no longer utilize its

Currently, employees in the UK on statutory maternity, adoption or shared parental leave who are at risk of redundancy have priority rights to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy (but only where such a vacancy exists).

New regulations have been introduced to extend redundancy protections, both before (for pregnant employees only) and after the return to work. These regulations arose in response to research that found that mothers returning from maternity leave still faced discrimination in the workplace after returning from leave.

On August 7, 2024, the City of Los Angeles unveiled its “Model Contract” under the Freelance Workers Protections Ordinance (FWPO). This ordinance, which took effect on July 1, 2023, was designed to bolster protections for freelance workers in Los Angeles.

Ensure Compliance with California Labor Code Section 2775 et seq.

Arizona recently expanded provisions of the Arizona Civil Rights Act (ACRA) to cover pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions. Additionally, following a national trend in response to perceived state and federal inaction, cities in Arizona on their own passed new ordinances that expands protected categories and coverage.

ACRA Expansion

On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173) (the "Act"), which is intended "to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system" and "to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes." While the Act is directed at the financial system, it incorporates broad executive compensation provisions that apply beyond the financial services industry.

The current administration and multiple members of Congress seek to grant protections to H-2B non-agricultural temporary workers who are employed in the United States to fill temporary labor shortages in the U.S. market. Multiple bills have been introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives calling for protection against exploitation and abuse, including for employer violations of wage and hour laws and retaliation.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently announced a streamlined process for foreign workers to request deferred action. Deferred action is a type of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action (deportation) for a noncitizen for a certain time period.  The new process will apply where these workers are participating in or otherwise involved an investigation or enforcement action by a federal, state, or local labor and employment agency.    

In this pro bono podcast, Littler’s Lavanga Wijekoon speaks with Ellen Miller of the National Immigrant Justice Center, Jodi Ziesemer of the New York Legal Assistance Group and Laura Lunn of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network about the work being done across the country to help immigrants and their families who are in desperate need of immigration protections.
   

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the agency will establish a new process to consider, on a case-by-case basis, requests from eligible noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens for parole-in-place status.  Parole-in-place allows noncitizens who entered the United States without the authorization of an immigration officer to remain in the United States for a certain period.  If paroled, eligible noncitizen spouses will be able to apply for permanent residence without having to leave the United States to be processed for an Immigrant Visa at a U.S.

On August 9, 2024, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 0508 (“SB0508”) into law. This new law provides additional employment protections for individuals flagged by an employment eligibility verification system, including federal E-Verify, as having identification discrepancies. The new rights and protections created by SB0508 will take effect on January 1, 2025. This evaluation does not address whether the state law directly restricts or curtails the use of E Verify.

Welcome back to our World Cup series, where we compare various aspects of labor and employment law in some of the participating countries.¹  We kicked off Parts One and Two of this series with vacation and sick leave entitlements.

Jesús Lahera offers a detailed analysis of Spain’s Whistleblowing Directive and its impact on employers and employees.

Observatorio de RRHH

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UPDATE: This law took effect on February 8, 2024.

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On August 19, 2022, OFCCP published a notice in the Federal Register for the stated purpose of advising employers that in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, it is planning to produce confidential information that is protected from disclosure pursuant to a statutory exemption.

Alyesha Dotson weighs in on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that private businesses with religious convictions don’t have to follow antidiscrimination laws that protect LGBTQ+.

SHRM Online

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Oregon’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (“Paid Leave Oregon”) generally provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid time off for leave that qualifies as family, medical, or safe leave. Since Paid Leave Oregon took effect on September 3, 2023, employees have been stacking Paid Leave Oregon leave benefits and Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) leave benefits, leaving employers frustrated with staffing shortages.

Largely overshadowed by the rise in COVID-19 deaths and the January 6, 2021, siege on the Capitol, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2019 (“the Act”) became law on December 23, 2020. See 15 U.S.C. § 7a-3. The Act, which Senator Chuck Grassley sponsored, prohibits employers from retaliating against individuals who report criminal antitrust violations to their employer or the federal government, or who participate in a federal governmental criminal antitrust investigation or proceeding.  

Background

The recently enacted Anti-Money Laundering Act significantly increases the potential value of awards for whistleblowers under the Bank Secrecy Act. The challenge for a financial services employer is to establish that discipline against an employee in a compliance role is supported by evidence that the decision was based on the employee's incompetence or other inappropriate behavior, and that any whistleblowing activity he or she engaged in was not a consideration. Philip M. Berkowitz explores the issues in this edition of his Employment Issues column.

Michael Royal and Alyssa Peterson discuss two new laws that will bring changes for employers in Texas by expanding protections for employees who assert claims of sexual harassment under the Texas Labor Code.

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The pay gap – or paying women and other historically marginalized groups less for the same or substantially similar work – has long been in the media spotlight. But as employees, boards, consumers, and the public are increasingly expecting more from organizations surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion, the stakes for employers regarding pay equity continue to rise. Politicians have also taken note.

Rod Fliegel talks about employee background screenings – the FCRA issues for employers to consider, the importance of providing a pre-adverse action notice and common mistakes employers make.

Workest by Zenefits

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The City Council of Atlanta, Georgia recently passed an ordinance that amends its existing anti-discrimination law to include protection on the basis of “criminal history status” as well as “gender expression.”  The ordinance is effective immediately.

With regard to gender expression, the law simply amends existing law to include “gender expression” as an additional protected characteristic.

Rachel P. Kaercher, Wendy Buckingham and William J. Simmons examine a new ordinance passed by the Atlanta City Council that amends its existing anti-discrimination law to include protections on the basis of criminal history status and gender expression.

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Following other states and cities across the nation, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 988, the Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA), into law on September 28, 2024. This new law aims to provide greater protections to freelance workers (e.g., “independent contractors”).

On September 29, 2021, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer A. Abruzzo released a nine-page memorandum taking the unequivocal position that “certain Players at Academic Institutions” are employees under Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  Refusing to call such players “student athletes,” Abruzzo asserts in the memorandum (GC 21-08) that:

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), on June 23, 2022, the U.S.

Alka Ramchandani-Raj talks to employers about OSHA-recommended accommodations when altering employees’ working hours due to heat-related conditions.

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Joy C. Rosenquist, Rick Reyes and Blair C. Senesi examine California’s new Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA), which aims to provide greater protections to freelance workers.

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Kwabena Appenteng weighs in on the challenges to international data privacy regulations and data transfers and says companies should make sure that they have standard contractual clauses in place.

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The Brazilian Data Protection Law (LGPD) in effect since 2020 is starting to show its effects in the litigation landscape.