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

Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine

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Cindy-Ann Thomas shares her experience of training companies on improving their diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  

AdvisorHub

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As we enter the New Year, Littler's international practice has identified a number of key employment and labor law issues for multinational companies (MNCs).  The past year has brought to the fore some challenging issues likely to grow in importance in 2015, among them the increasing strength of global unions as well as the ever-growing importance of corporate compliance.  While some of these topics are certainly familiar—data privacy and whistleblower protection, for example—the continuing importance and expansion of these issues highlight their increased complexity and correspondingly in

As required under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced, through the Federal Register, increases for penalties under the Immigration Reform & Control Act (IRCA), effective February 13, 2024. Interestingly, the Federal Register announcement for DOJ increases also included penalties for sections of IRCA administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In the first major action of 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with a publicly traded global software company for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The January 10, 2024 announcement described the company’s agreement to pay more than $220 million in connection with the investigation, consisting of just under $120 million in criminal penalties.  While significant, these fines were reduced based on the pilot program announced by the DOJ last spring, as described below.

Alex MacDonald says the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Chevron will likely impact regulatory bodies and the employers they oversee.

Corporate Compliance Insights

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In July, the Third Circuit upheld a District of New Jersey decision to throw out a withdrawal liability assessment, finding the multiemployer pension fund was barred from pursuing its claim because the fund unreasonably delayed notification of a withdrawal liability assessment for 12 years.

Withdrawal Liability Assessments Under ERISA

The Supreme Court has ruled that transgender people are protected under the Civil Rights Act, and so Joycelyn Stevenson and Sarah Belchic say employers need to ensure that their health care plans are inclusive.

The Tennessean

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Mikayla Almeida, Kimberly Doud and Anne Sanchez LaWer explain to employers about how implementing benefits related to women’s health and fertility could reduce turnover and retain talent.

ACC Central Florida

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Anne C. Sanchez and Briana M. Swift explain what employers need to know about the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO), a local ordinance that requires employers to make certain healthcare expenditures on behalf of their San Francisco-based employees.

SHRM

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Marshall v. Mercantile Exchange Corporation, 2024 CanLII 71128  (ONSC), is an action for wrongful dismissal where the employee claimed he could not mitigate his damages by seeking alternative employment indefinitely because of a mental health condition (i.e., stress and depression) allegedly arising out of his termination. He claimed a 26-month notice period. The employer sought an independent medical examination (IME) of the employee pursuant to s.

After more than a year of a crushing global pandemic, the early summer brought hope for a long-anticipated return to normal business operations, at least in the United States. But those plans were derailed by the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant and mounting COVID-19 infections. The abrupt change left companies – many of which had just updated plans with an eye toward a post-pandemic future – scrambling to adjust policies on such pressing issues as vaccination, return-to-office timing and mask wearing.

A May 2021 court decision in California, All of Us or None v.

Rod Fliegel, William Simmons and Wendy Buckingham discuss the current limitations on the use of background checks for employment in California.

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On July 8, 2022, in Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc., the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeals granting the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.  The court concluded that because nothing in the arbitration agreement prohibited the plaintiff from being awarded any relief he might be entitled to under Oregon’s wage and hour statutes, the arbitration provision was not unconscionable and therefore enforceable.

Background

Natasha Jenkins’ alma mater profiles her and her roles at Littler and as the president of Illinois’ Cook County Bar Association (CCBA). 

The Spectator

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Alexander MacDonald explains when California employers’ employment agreements are subject to state law and AB 51 may apply. 

XpertHR

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On July 22, 2021 the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) issued Administrative Order No. 2021-509 (AO) providing that, in order to physically attend school, post-school educational institutions, or universities, personnel and students age 12 and older must be vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the PRDOH, the vaccination requirement for in-person school attendance will play an essential role in controlling the pandemic and providing a safer educational environment for students.

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi recently issued back-to-back executive orders (EO) regarding COVID-19. It appears that the third EO was stuck in holiday traffic. This latest EO, like her sisters, amends November’s EO-2021-075 to curtail COVID-19 infections.

Anabel Rodríguez-Alonso and José L. Maymí-González examine Puerto Rico’s new back-to-back executive orders regarding COVID-19.

SHRM Online

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On October 31, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that the agencies have executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) “to strengthen the agencies’ partnership to promote safe and healthy workplaces through protecting worker voice.”  The

Devjani Mishra discusses findings from Littler’s 2024 Annual Employer Survey Report that show an increase in workplace requests for leaves of absence or other accommodations for mental health.

Corporate Counsel

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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.

Shannon Meade talks about how the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has affected employers in Illinois and how SB 2979 would update it and tweak its liability guidelines.

Law360

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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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Alex MacDonald discusses his article “The Accidental Success of the NLRA: How a Law About Unions Achieved Its Goals by Giving Us Fewer Unions” on a podcast.

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Ben Smith and Maya Beauville say the UK government's softened plan to grant employees the right to disconnect out of hours is unlikely to change the legal sector's entrenched long-hour culture anytime soon.

Law360

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Michael Lotito, Jim Paretti, and Shannon Meade discuss what a new administration will mean for employment law and employers.

American City Business Journals

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Michael Lotito says it’s possible that Democratic board members get a pink slip from the Trump administration regardless of whether it’s necessary to create the space for a Republican board majority.

Bloomberg Law

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