In this podcast, Littler’s Chief Knowledge Officer, Scott Rechtschaffen, talks with his Cornell Law School students about the potential for lawyers to use software to develop practical tools for the delivery of legal services. During their semester, the students experienced how to take their growing knowledge of the law, identify a problem, coordinate with subject matter and technical experts, and create a legal app designed to assist users, who might be either clients or fellow attorneys.

Judy Iriye, Kate Pitzak and Chase Parongao discuss Hawaii’s Captive Audience Prohibition Act (SB 2715), which restricts employers from requiring employees to attend employer-sponsored meetings.

SHRM

View (Subscription required)

Compliance with the New York Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (NY WARN) Act just got harder (again). On June 21, 2023, the New York Department of Labor’s amendments to the NY WARN regulations took effect and some of the changes are sweeping.

Employer Coverage

Under the amended regulations, the definition of a covered employer is expanded to count not just employees at a single site of employment in the state, but also employees who work remotely but are “based at the employment site.”

New Notice Content Requirements

On October 26, 2023, Ontario’s Bill 79, Working for Workers Act, 2023 (Bill 79) received Royal Assent and came into force. The statutes amended by Bill 79 include the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009 (EPFNA).

ESA Amendments

Bill 79 made the following amendments to the ESA:

Jorge Sales Boyoli talks about the outsourcing law came into force last year, who will receive profits and the new challenges that have come with it. 

El Heraldo de México

View

Eli Freedberg discusses New York’s controversial new pay transparency law.

Law360 Employment Authority

View (Subscription required.)

Lee Schreter comments on the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rule, which is tentatively slated to be released in October, and the Fair Labor Standards Act’s independent contractor rule.

SHRM Online

View (Subscription required.)

Effective June 19, 2024, New York employers will be required to provide up to 30 minutes of paid lactation breaks to employees each time an employee has a reasonable need to express breast milk at work. This change to New York Labor Law Section 206-c is set forth in Bill No. A08806C, part of the New York State budget bill, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on April 19, 2024. Specifically, amended Section 206-c provides:

Jim Paretti discusses the rescinding of a controversial EEOC rule that would have required the agency to share more information with employers credibly accused of discrimination during the conciliation process.

Law360 Employment Authority

View (Subscription required.)

Introducing the latest UK Immigration Rules Statement of Changes, Legal Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove announced that they will “deliver the biggest ever cut to migration over the course of this year.”

The Statement of Changes HC590 will have serious consequences for employers from April 4, 2024, as well as for British citizens and settled residents bringing partners to live with them in the UK from April 11.

Alexander MacDonald says Jarkesy's biggest effect on the NLRB might come not from what the court ruled, but from what it decided not to rule on.

Law360 Employment Authority

View (Subscription required.)

Ben Sandahl discusses a Minnesota case that raises several issues for companies working with independent contractors.

Westlaw Today

View (Subscription required)

Dan Boatright discusses the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision to strike down the 80/20 labor rule and what that decision means for employers. 

Nation’s Restaurant News

View

Natasha Adom discusses measures FCA, PRA and BoE regulators are considering to improve diversity and inclusion in the financial services sector. 

Investment Week

View 

Devjani Mishra discusses employers coming up with COVID-19 safety rules that are appropriate for their own workplace.

Law360 Employment Authority

View (Subscription required.)

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.

Hinna Upal discusses things employers should consider in the post-pandemic workplace, including employees’ work-from-home arrangements.

Rochester Business Journal

View (Subscription required.)

The federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that certain employers can claim federal tax credits when employees use emergency paid leave to accompany an individual to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination and/or to care for an individual recovering from an injury, disability, illness, or condition related to the vaccine.

In Mexico, the fiscal authority has dramatically strengthened all the strategies that allow for better control and collection of employment taxes, and Jorge Sales Boyoli explains what that means for employers.

Forbes Mexico

View

Bradford Kelley and Britney Torres predict politics in the workplace will remain an issue beyond the election and so California employers need a long-term plan measures for issues that include voter intimidation and discrimination and employees taking time off to vote.

Law360

View (Subscription required)

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:

Jim Thelen says the Supreme Court’s Harvard/UNC decision does not directly impact employment law but may impact the way the public, employees, the judiciary, government agencies and opposition groups looking for ways to legally challenge such programs and evaluate them going forward.

University Business

View

Rhonda B. Levy and Monty Verlint explain Ontario's Bill 79, Working for Workers Act, 2023.

SHRM Online

View (Subscription required.)

Rebecca Goldstein and Matthew Holmes discuss what New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act will mean for retailers and compare it to California’s Workplace Violence Prevention Act.

Chain Store Age

View 

Jim Paretti talks about submitting workforce data correctly on EEO-1 reports.

SHRM Online

View (Subscription required.)

Bradford Kelley, Kellen Shearin and Michael Lotito say employers must consider employees' rights — and limits on those rights — related to political speech and activities in the workplace.

Law360

View (Subscription required.)

Philip L. Gordon says a new AI law in Colorado means that any employer doing business in the state with more than 50 employees will have specific obligations when AI is a factor in the decision-making processes that affect personnel.

HR Brew

View