Asha Santos, Shareholder in Littler’s Boston office, explains the purpose of bystander intervention training and the value of diversity and inclusion sessions in today's workplace.
 

In Ruiz Mattei v. Commercial Equipment Finance, Inc.,¹ the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico determined that claims under the Unjustified Dismissal Act² and the Workplace Discrimination Act³ are transferable to the employee’s heirs following the employee’s death.

Shannon Meade talks about states implementing minimum wage increases, increases in employers’ total compensation packages and the trend in “unretirements.”

HR Dive

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The state of epidemic emergency in Poland will be lifted on July 1, 2023, and Paweł Sych explains how this will affect workers and employers.

interia biznes

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A federal court in New Jersey recently applied the arbitrary and capricious standard of review for a denial of benefits claim despite the enactment of an anti-discretionary statute in Minnesota, which governed the benefit plan policy. Hocheiser v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32154 (D.N.J. Feb. 22, 2021).

On Monday, January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case of critical interest to employers offering 401(k) or other defined-contribution retirement plans.  In Hughes v. Northwestern University, Case No. 19-1401, the Court voted unanimously to vacate a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, temporarily reinstating allegations by employees of Northwestern University that the fiduciaries of Northwestern’s retirement plans had violated the duty of prudence required by ERISA.

As Pride Month comes to a close, we are celebrating with a very special podcast that features the personal stories and perspectives from two members of the Littler family.

Littler Knowledge Management Counsel, Betsy Cammarata (GSC – Kansas City) talks with Littler alum, Bennett Kaspar-Williams (Corporate Counsel for Labor Relations at Amazon Studios) about:

Before offering a foreign national a permanent position, an employer must demonstrate to the Department of Labor that it tested the market and could not find a U.S. worker to fill the role. How can an employer show it properly tested the U.S. labor market to satisfy the DOL’s requirements under the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) process?

Tomasz Rogala and Marcin Sanetra, Littler | PCS attorneys, and Lavanga Wijekoon discuss the legal assistance Littler’s Poland attorneys have given Ukrainians fleeing the recent conflict there.

Littler attorneys provide pro bono services in a variety of areas, depending on the interests of individual attorneys. The firm values and encourages the community-minded and pro bono efforts of our lawyers and staff.
  

As February comes to a close, Littler is capping off our celebration of Black History Month with a special podcast highlighting the voices of some of our Black attorneys. Kimberly Dobson (Long Island, NY) talks with fellow Littler attorneys, Kim Carter (San Diego, CA), Jason Byrd (New York City, NY), and Taylor Lawson (Memphis, TN) about how they’ve experienced – and seen the impact of – Black resistance in their personal and professional lives.
 

In celebration of Pride Month, Littler shareholder Mattheus Stephens and associates Trevor Hardy and Jessica Wimsatt discuss their advocacy work for LGBTQIA+ individuals in their local communities. The group also highlights the importance of how being authentically you and sharing your story can help others find community and feel connected.
  

This article was originally posted in International Employment Lawyer.

Kristy Peters shares her legal insight on recent changes in labor and employment laws.

Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine

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If you have employees working in Oregon, chances are you have heard about Oregon’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program also known as Paid Leave Oregon (“PLO”). In addition to PLO, eligible Oregon employees may be entitled to leave under the Oregon Family Medical Leave Act (“OFLA”), Oregon Sick Time law (“OSTL”), and the federal Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”).

Lisa Shevlin and Cristin Casey review Oregon’s leave laws and offer some suggested strategies to help employers maintain compliance.

SHRM

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Littler's Chief Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Officer Paul Bateman leads a conversation with Shareholders Dionysia Johnson-Massie (Atlanta), LaToi Mayo (Lexington), Lindbergh Porter (San Francisco), and Charles Wilson (Houston) as they discuss the trail to Juneteenth, its importance and how various acts impacted slavery in the U.S.
  

(July 12, 2021) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has received Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) for the 11th consecutive year. WILEF grants Gold Standard status to firms that meet objective criteria concerning the number of women among equity partners, in firm leadership positions and in the ranks of their most highly compensated partners. Littler is one of only five firms that have been awarded Gold Standard Certification every year since WILEF began the award in 2011.

A little more than a year ago, I wrote in this space about the "Heightened Standards" issued in 2014 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for certain banks with $50 billion and more in assets.

It is essential for counsel and human resources executives advising banks to become familiar with these in more than a passing way.

Alexander T. MacDonald says predistributional labor policies do none of the things they’re supposed to do and, in fact, amplify the problems they’re supposed to solve.

The Federalist Society

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On March 29, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). These changes will impact how companies collect the race and ethnicity data for their federal reporting. 

Kimberly J. Dowd, Chelsea Lewis and Kameron Miller explain the meaning of “allyship” and how it can be applied in the workplace. 

ACC North Florida

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As workplace issues have become more complex, human resource professionals and managers often turn to employment lawyers for advice in sorting out matters involving the interaction between business requirements and the requirements of employment laws and regulations. When is such advice protected from disclosure under the attorney-client privilege?

On October 4, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services (Case No. 23-1039) to decide whether plaintiffs who are members of historically majority communities asserting “reverse discrimination” claims under Title VII must show there are “background circumstances” that support the inference that the defendant is the “unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”

The “Background Circumstances” Requirement

On April 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit in holding that a plaintiff lacked Article III standing to prosecute her statutory claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in federal court. The Eighth Circuit’s opinion in Schumacher v. SC Data Center, Inc. deepens the split between the circuit courts on standing and increases the chances that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually will have to weigh in on the issue again.

Background: Spokeo and Ramirez

Employers with operations in California are all too familiar with how state and local officials continue to restrict the access employers have to public records, including criminal history information.¹ For example, lengthy delays in completing standard criminal background checks are now routine in California.² Apart from criminal background checks, many employers rely on motor vehicle record checks (MVRs) to vet candidates for positions that require driving as part of the job.  In Doe v. California Dept.

On June 9, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service issued Announcement 2022-13, increasing the optional standard mileage rate for the final six months of 2022 from 58.5 cents per mile to 62.5 cents per mile.  The new rate will be effective for traveling beginning on July 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.  The old rate of 58.5 cents per mile will remain in effective through June 30, 2022.

The IRS has issued a new fact sheet (FS-2024-22) to address frequently asked questions about educational assistance programs (EAPs), also known as Section 127 plans.¹ EAP plans have been an effective recruitment and retention tool for many employers over the past two decades and remain popular with employees because the payments are tax exempt to employees and tax deductible to employers.

Michael Lotito offers insight on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (or PRO Act), which includes a change to a standard known as “joint employer.”

Entrepreneur

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Montana Senate Bill 248 went into effect on June 1, 2023. This law allows student-athletes to earn compensation from Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) endorsement deals and is part of a trend of NIL legislation being passed by states that allow student-athletes to monetize endorsement deals.

Update: On June 20, 2024, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board unanimously approved an amended version of the proposed indoor heat illness prevention regulation which specifically excluded the government entities (mainly correctional facilities) whose inclusion had led to the earlier rejection by the Director Finance. The Board also requested that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) expedite their review and allow the regulation to become effective immediately upon OAL approval.

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Alyesha Asghar and Julian G.G. Wolfson explain “background circumstances,” which are required as evidence in cases of reverse discrimination, and the implications for employers and IE&D.

Wolters Kluwer

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Multinational employers operating in China have been waiting since September 2023 for the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to finalize proposed revisions to its complex and burdensome rules for cross-border data transfers.  Relief arrived on March 22, 2024, when the CAC published the “Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Flows” (the “Approved Provisions”), which went into effect on the same day.

Kristy Peters discusses how employment law attorneys can be critical partners for employers to help them identify challenges and opportunities for their business.

InBusiness Phoenix

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Jim Paretti says the Trump administration’s previous agenda and stance toward IE&D will likely repeat when he returns to office.

Bloomberg Law

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