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Punching In: Biden Courts Union Support Citing Wins With Leaders

Michael Lotito says OLMS’s exploration of ‘split income reporting’ should begin with a review of the SCOTUS decision reversing Chevron.

Bloomberg Law

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Dealing with human rights complaints in unionized workplaces

Rhonda B. Levy and Douglas Sanderson examine The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario preliminary hearing to determine whether allegations made under the Human Rights Code fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of a labour arbitrator, or whether the Tribunal had concurrent jurisdiction over employment-related human rights matters in a unionized workplace. 

Human Resources Director Canada




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DOL Issues Annual Report on Child Labor with Emphasis on Enforcement

  • The DOL continues to focus on enforcement of child labor violations, with special attention to supply chain violations, including through subcontractors and staffing agencies.
  • Recent publicity on this issue has highlighted how dangerous forms of child labor, and in particular child labor involving young migrants, should encourage companies to assess whether and to what extent their U.S. operations should be analyzed for these concerns.




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Are You Buying a Lawsuit with ‘Big Data’? HR Must Ask the Right Questions

During a presentation at the 2017 SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference, Marko Mrkonich, Zev Eigen and Corinn Jackson discussed the risks employers face when using data analytics.

HR Daily Advisor

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Curtailing Workplace Harassment … with a Robot?

Marko Mrkonich comments on the current capabilities of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

Workforce

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Littler Expands Pay Equity Audit Capabilities with New Offering

The Littler Pay Equity Assessment™ Provides Enhanced Data Analytics to Help Employers Assess Risk and Proactively Identify Solutions




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Littler Mendelson Takes Aim at Pay Inequity with New Software

Aaron Crews explains Littler's Pay Equity Assessment Tool.

Employee Benefit News

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Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Finds Aggravated Damages Award Can Be Made Without Medical Evidence of Diagnosable Psychological Injury

  • Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed aggravated damages for an employer’s bad-faith conduct during an employee’s dismissal in the absence of medical evidence identifying a diagnosable psychological injury.
  • Court also found medical expert testimony is not required to show an employee is physically incapable of mitigating damages during the reasonable notice period.




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Roundtable Event with the Author of California’s New Anti-Bullying Law




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Are Your Compliance Training Efforts Keeping Pace With Industry Standards?

As 2017 winds down, and the window closes to complete any mandatory training, Kevin O’Neill, Senior Director of Littler Learning Group, chats with Dawn McKenney-Maxwell of Littler’s Knowledge Management team about employer training initiatives. Kevin identifies hot topics – social media and bystander training, for example – and reviews employer anti-harassment training duties, particularly in California. Kevin discusses how training approaches continue to evolve and how employers can embrace new trends and technology to make employee training more effective.
 




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Minimum Salaries and the Evolving Workforce: Why the DOL’s New Automatic Salary Updates Clash With Legal Precedent and Economic Facts

Alexander MacDonald says overtime exemptions are about to get more expensive as the salary necessary to qualify for the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions will rise in July and again in January 2025.

The Federalist Society




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West Hollywood, California Adopts Comprehensive Hotel Worker Ordinance with Right to Recall

Over the past few years, cities have started to implement workplace regulation, an area previously reserved to federal and state governments.  The hotel industry, which often is one of the primary drivers of a local economy, has been a particular focus.




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Ontario, Canada Court of Appeal Addresses How Employers Can Preserve Right to Unilaterally Lay Off Employees Without Being Found to Have Constructively Dismissed Them




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Littler Continues Run on Lateral Market with Kaiser Permanente Attorney in San Francisco

Melissa Cee and Erin Webber discuss hiring the sixth shareholder at Littler – Noah Garber – since July as part of Littler’s new talent strategy that the firm began developing last year. 

The Recorder

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PBGC Finalizes its Rule Simplifying the Calculation of Withdrawal Liability for Multiemployer Pension Plans

On January 8, 2021, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued its final rule modifying the calculation of withdrawal liability by multiemployer pension plans.  This final rule amends the agency’s regulations on allocating unfunded vested benefits to withdrawing employers (29 C.F.R. § 4211) and notice, collection, and redetermination of withdrawal liability (29 C.F.R. § 4219).




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Second Circuit Finds No Successor Liability for ERISA Withdrawal Where Employer Did Not Acquire Unionized Facility or Employees

On January 27, 2022, in New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund v. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., the Second Circuit joined the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits in applying the doctrine of successor liability to claims for withdrawal liability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The court did not, however, find successor liability in this case because the acquiring company specifically did not acquire the facility or employees that triggered the liability.




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D.C. Circuit Holds Withdrawal Liability Interest Rate Must Reflect Plan’s Investment Policy

On Friday, July 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Company, joining the Sixth Circuit in holding that the assumptions used by a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan in calculating the amount of withdrawal liability owed by an exiting employer must reflect the actual and projected experience of the plan.




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PBGC Issues Proposed Rule on Withdrawal Liability Actuarial Interest Rate Assumptions

On October 14, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal agency that insures and regulates private-sector defined benefit pension plans under Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), published a proposed rule governing employer withdrawal liability.




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PBGC Looks To Clarify Withdrawal Liability Methodology

Sarah Bryan Fask explains why attorneys are critical of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s proposed rule to use interest rate assumptions to determine a withdrawing employer's liability to a multiemployer pension plan.

Law360

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What’s Golf Got to Do with It? Linking Fairway Sand Traps to Workplace Equity Gaps

Golf is one of the most significant informal business networks and approximately half of all women feel like their exclusion from these gateways is among the key challenges to reaching the highest echelons of corporate leadership. As a prelude to the 2022 edition of the “Masters Season,” Littler Principal Cindy-Ann Thomas explores how enduring barriers in recreational golf impact meaningful access and equity gains for women in corporate America.




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Pro Bono Week Podcast – Littler | PCS Assistance with Ukraine

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.
  




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Conversations with Women: Littler’s Traditional Labor Practice

In this episode of our Women’s History Month podcast series, Conversations with Women, WLI co-chair Margaret Hogan talks with three Littler associates who have shaped their legal careers in the area of traditional labor. Listen as Kameron Miller, Ashton Hupman and Brittany Stepp tell their stories of being women attorneys in a field that has traditionally been dominated by men.
  




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Texas Court Sets Aside the FTC’s Non-Compete Rule with Nationwide Effect

Employers that rely on non-compete agreements to protect their trade secrets and other legitimate business interests got some welcome news on August 20.




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Doesn’t the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act just require employers to treat pregnant employees just like they treat employees with disabilities?




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The ADA Turns 34: The Intersection of Technology, AI, and Individuals with Disabilities

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. On the recent 34th anniversary of the ADA, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) General Counsel Karla Gilbride and U.S.




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The ADA turns 34: The intersection of technology, AI, and individuals with disabilities

Bradford J. Kelley and Sean O'Brien discuss how, on the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Justice Department emphasize their commitment to ensuring that emerging technologies and AI comply with ADA standards.

Westlaw Today

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Ontario, Canada Human Rights Tribunal Establishes That Employers’ Duty to Accommodate Family Status with Shift Changes Is not Unlimited

  • Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario clarified that an employer’s duty to accommodate an employee’s family status with shift changes is not unlimited.
  • Employees must co-operate in the accommodation process and cannot reject an employer’s offer of accommodation that is reasonable in the circumstances.




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Conversations with Women: Impacts of the Pandemic on Women in the Workforce

Erin Webber and Zoe Argento discuss the effect the pandemic has had on working mothers and the impact on women in the workforce generally.
 




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Conversations with Women: The Mentor-Mentee Relationship

Jeanine Conley Daves hosts a conversation between Tom Bender and Shin-I Lowe. They discuss the importance of mentorship, what a successful mentorship relationship looks like, and how male mentor influences are equally important to women.
  




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Conversations with Women: Advancing Gender Equity

Jennifer Youpa and Nina Markey discuss the importance of advancing gender equity in the workplace, how access and representation are critical to creating opportunities for women, and how women can help each other achieve their professional goals.
  




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Conversations with Women: From the Military to Law

Margaret Parnell Hogan interviews Wendy Buckingham and Emily Haigh on how their experience as women in the U.S. military influenced their legal careers, and how their backgrounds shaped their outlook on gender equity in the workplace.
  




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The Promise and Perils of Affinity Groups; Or, How Not to Bargain with your Employee Resource Group

A properly structured and implemented Affinity Group (AKA Employee Resource Group) is a powerful tool in an employer’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion tool belt. But, unwary employers may risk violating the National Labor Relations Act if they bargain with an Affinity Group. In this month’s podcast, Alyesha Asghar Dotson discusses the do’s and don’ts of interacting with an active Affinity Group within your organization.
  




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What are you? A Conversation with Littler’s “Other” Attorneys

In support of AAPI Heritage Month, this podcast features Danielle Herring (Houston), Emilie Hammerstein (Pittsburgh) and Alan Sims (Downtown Los Angeles) as they explore their biracial identity and how that shapes the way they practice law.
  




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What is your name? A Conversation with Littler’s Immigrant Attorneys

In continued celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, Eddie Chyun (Cleveland), Lavanga Wijekoon (Chicago) and Aki Tanaka (Boston) share their stories of moving to the U.S., assimilating and adding to the American culture, and how their worldview, experiences, and background prepared them to practice law.
  




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EEOC greenlights coronavirus vaccine requirements, incentives — with some limits

Barry Hartstein explains his view of the EEOC’s vaccination incentives.

HR Dive

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Littler Strengthens Employee Benefits Practice with Addition of Warren E. Fusfeld and Melissa B. Kurtzman to the Firm's Philadelphia Office

Philadelphia, PA/ March 20, 2009 -- Littler Mendelson (Littler), the nation's largest employment and labor law firm representing management, is pleased to announce the arrival of shareholders Warren E. Fusfeld and Melissa B. Kurtzman to the firm’s Philadelphia office, both formerly of WolfBlock LLP.




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Complying with California’s New Written Commission Plan Requirements




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Complying with California’s New Written Commission Plan Requirements




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OFCCP Provides Employers with Five Business Days to Submit Objections to the Disclosure of Confidential Data

OFCCP issued yet another notice today regarding its handling of a FOIA request for production of all federal contractors’ EEO-1 Type 2 data from 2016 through 2020.

The request keeps in place a February 17, 2023, deadline for submitting objections, but expands the grounds upon which employers may object, but only if the contractor includes an explanation as to why it did not object “in response to previous notices that we have issued, and why there is good cause for us to accept the objection at this point.”




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Conversations with Women: Recruiting and Retaining Women in the Current Legal Landscape

Littler Women's Leadership Initiative co-chair Margaret Parnell Hogan, interviews fellow Littler attorney Dionysia L. Johnson-Massie, about how respecting women in the workplace helps recruit and retain crucial talent, among other IE&D efforts.
  




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Third Circuit Holds Multiemployer Pension Fund Claim Cannot Be Enforced due to Unreasonable Delay in Providing Notice of Withdrawal Liability Assessment

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




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Are Non-compete Agreements Dead? A Discussion with Attorney Shawn Matthew Clark

Shawn Matthew Clark discusses the basics of noncompetes and what employers need to consider regarding noncompetes, as well as why the FTC wants to ban them and how recent SCOTUS decisions may affect the FTC’s rule.

New York County Lawyers Association

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Illinois Federal Court Holds that a Pension Rehabilitation Plan Fund Used an Improper High-Contribution Rate in Withdrawal Liability Calculations

  • In a matter of first impression for federal courts, the Northern District of Illinois found that a pension fund cannot use post-2014 contribution rate increases made pursuant to a rehabilitation plan to calculate an employer’s withdrawal liability payment amount.
  • This decision represents a major victory for employers faced with inflated withdrawal liability demands.




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U.S. Enacts Law Barring Products Made With Forced Labor in China

On December 23, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (the “Act”),1 which bars the importation into the United States of products made from forced labor in the Xinjiang region of China.  This Act will significantly impact many multinational employers’ supply chains because raw materials from this region – such as cotton, coal, chemicals, sugar, tomatoes and polysilicon (a component in solar panels) – have found their way into many global supply chains.  Indeed, these materials arrive on U.S.




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The Bar Has Been Lowered – Congress Further Relaxes Hiring Restrictions for Banking Personnel with Criminal Histories

  • FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act loosens restrictions on hiring those with criminal records at FDIC-member banks and NCUA-insured credit unions.
  • Sections 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and 205(d) of the Federal Credit Union Act should no longer be relied upon as a basis to automatically disqualify applicants convicted of certain offenses.




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Updated FCRA Summary of Consumer Rights Released with a Mandatory Compliance Deadline of March 20, 2024

Updated March 24, 2023: The CFPB has edited its updated Summary of Rights document to include the correct contact number. 

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Background Checks in Banks, and Conflicts with Ban-the-Box Laws

Philip M. Berkowitz talks about background checks and “Ban-the-Box” laws that financial services organizations must comply with when hiring.

Global Banking & Finance Review

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Employers Face June 1, 2024 Deadline to Comply with Lehigh County, Pennsylvania’s New Expansive Anti-Discrimination Ordinance

The Lehigh County Human Relations Ordinance was enacted February 26, 2024, establishing county-specific non-discrimination requirements for employment, housing, education, health care and public accommodations.  The ordinance also creates a Lehigh County Human Relations Commission charged with investigating and enforcing claims of discrimination.  The ordinance becomes effective June 1, 2024.

Expanded Protected Characteristics and Employer Coverage




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The County of Los Angeles Will Soon Post Notice and Sample Documents to Comply with the County’s Sweeping Fair Chance Ordinance

Starting after Labor Day, employers with jobs located in the unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles, including work-from-home and hybrid positions, must comply with the County’s fair chance hiring ordinance.  The ordinance, which imposes obligations well beyond existing federal and state law, and which extends to con




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Small Fleet Summit: Dealing with AB5 in California

Damon Ott discusses some options that trucking companies in the state may pursue when the old way of doing business is no longer open to them. 

FreightWaves

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