It’s onerous to maintain up with all of the latest modifications to labor and employment legislation. While the legislation all the time appears to evolve at a speedy tempo, there have been an unprecedented variety of modifications for the previous few years—and this previous month was no exception. In reality, there have been so many important developments going down in the course of the previous month that we had been as soon as once more pressured to increase our month-to-month abstract nicely past the standard “Top 10” listing. In order to just remember to keep on high of the most recent modifications, here’s a fast overview of the Top 17 tales from final month that each one employers have to find out about:
- Transportation Mask Mandate Struck Down: What it Means for Employers
After the April 18 information {that a} federal court docket choose struck down the CDC’s masks mandate for airplanes, mass transportation, and transit hubs, many employers instantly questioned what it’d imply for his or her enterprise. Though masks have been lifted in most office settings, we nonetheless stay in an unsure time the place some companies have continued to require workers and guests to put on masks, and the CDC recommends mask-wearing in some places primarily based on the unfold of COVID-19 in native areas. Some localities have even reinstated indoor masking necessities. Does this newest improvement sign that it’s time for what you are promoting to drop your office masks mandate? Or do you have to proceed to impose your individual masks requirement for enterprise journey even when masks might now not be required on airplanes? This Insight will discover a couple of of the concerns you could wish to take note of when figuring out your subsequent steps. - Top 10 Changes California Employers Need to Prepare for As Third COVID-19 Emergency Rule About to Take Effect
California office security officers simply accredited a 3rd spherical of modifications to the state’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard, and whereas a lot of them conform to latest steerage which have already been integrated into present guidelines, there are 10 important modifications California employers should put together for. Significantly, nevertheless, the modifications to the ETS that had been simply accredited on April 21 by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board don’t alter your obligation to pay “exclusion pay” to workers who’ve been excluded from the office as a COVID-19 case or an in depth contact. While it could really feel that the pandemic is within the rearview mirror, these new ETS provisions – set to take impact on May 6 – might be with us for fairly a while, doubtless by means of the top of 2022. This Insight will overview the highest 10 modifications for employers. - Surprise! Don’t Let an Office Birthday Party Cost You $450,000
You might recall the Seinfeld episode the place Elaine Benes consumes a $29,000 piece of cake from the 1937 wedding ceremony of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. A birthday cake from an workplace social gathering in Kentucky might have that dear wedding ceremony slice beat. If you haven’t heard already, a Kentucky jury simply served an employer with a $450,000 invoice related to a shock workplace party gone awry. Does this huge authorized loss spell the top of workplace birthday events as we all know them? Thankfully, no. Despite the media consideration the April 15 verdict has garnered, it had much less to do with the truth that the employer threw a shock social gathering than with the way it dealt with the state of affairs – and notably the fallout. All kidding apart, this case has vital reminders for employers about how it’s best to deal with disabilities within the office – and you may simply keep away from an analogous destiny by following some commonsense steps. - Top 7 Takeaways from EEOC’s COVID-19 and Vaccine Webinar for Employers
Employers should be particularly on guard for the likelihood that they might be hit with a vaccine-related EEOC cost, given than practically a 3rd of all pandemic-related costs filed with the company since April 2020 contain a vaccine dispute. That’s simply one among seven key takeaways shared by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) throughout a public webinar broadcast on April 11 aimed toward providing steerage to employers as we proceed to navigate unsure instances. What are the seven key takeaways from the EEOC’s “Employer Guidance in our COVID-19 World” webinar? - OSHA Unveils Program to Combat Extreme Heat within the Workplace
Federal office security officers simply unveiled a program designed to scrutinize each indoor and outside workplaces for risks associated to excessive warmth, placing employers on discover that they should take steps to handle the state of affairs earlier than withering summer season temperatures kick in throughout the nation. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) introduced on April 12 that it has carried out a brand new National Emphasis Program (NEP) associated to warmth sicknesses and accidents for each outside and indoor staff. As we predicted, this NEP comes after OSHA beforehand issued inspection steerage to its compliance security and well being officers (CSHOs) specializing in heat-related hazards and comes on the heels of OSHA’s proposal to create a everlasting security customary for hazards stemming from heat-related accidents and sicknesses. What do employers have to find out about OSHA’s new NEP? - NLRB’s Top Sheriff Calls for Abrupt End to 75 Years of Lawful “Captive Audience” Meetings
The NLRB’s high prosecutor simply issued a memo which seeks to bar employers from convening worker conferences on working time to handle union illustration except they supply workers particular assurances that participation is totally voluntary. These so-called “captive audience” conferences are routinely performed to teach workers – notably in response to arguments superior by organized labor exterior the office – and have been a staple within the American office since Congress amended the labor legal guidelines to acknowledge employer free-speech rights virtually 75 years in the past. Although a handful of states have enacted statutes trying to limit such conferences, the April 7 memo from NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo (formally referred to as GC Memo 22-04) represents an unprecedented improvement within the annals of recent labor legislation. What do employers have to find out about this important step – and what ought to they do about it? - Washington State Rideshare Businesses Achieve Historic Compromise to Guarantee Wages in Exchange for Contractor Status
In a groundbreaking transfer that gig financial system corporations hope to be mimicked throughout the nation, Washington simply enacted a brand new state legislation that ensures minimal per-trip pay charges, paid sick depart, and staff’ compensation advantages for rideshare drivers in change for a assure that the employees are labeled as unbiased contractors. The compromise was the results of a deal struck between corporations and an advocacy group supporting rideshare drivers. By signing HB 2076 (aka the “Expand Fairness Act”), Washington governor Jay Inslee created a California Prop 22-like resolution that gives the wanted flexibility wanted by gig companies (and staff) whereas additionally providing a social security web for staff that can allow them to carry out gig work on a full-time foundation if wished. - Nothing to See Here (Yet)…NYC Council Grants Reprieve on Salary (*17*) Law
With lower than three weeks to go earlier than the May 15 efficient date of New York City’s wage transparency legislation requiring employers to reveal the anticipated wage vary on inner and exterior job listings, the New York City Council voted to push again to the efficient date of the legislation to November 1, 2022. Additionally, new amendments to the legislation get rid of the power of candidates to file a lawsuit in opposition to an employer for violations and supply the chance for first-time violators to keep away from financial penalties in the event that they remedy the violation. The amended legislation will now be despatched to Mayor Adams for signature, which is anticipated. Here is what NYC employers have to know in regards to the amended legislation – and a five-step plan to conform. - Florida Home Healthcare Worker Found to be Misclassified as Contractor – An Employer’s Survival Guide to Avoid Similar Fate
In a stunningly broad ruling that ought to ship shivers down the backbone of each dwelling healthcare company that makes use of an unbiased contractor workforce, a Florida federal court docket dominated on April 12 {that a} dwelling healthcare employee who supplied in-home healthcare and companion providers to aged people and adults with disabilities was really an worker, not a contractor. As a results of this misclassification discovering, the employee might be entitled to 3 years’ value of unpaid additional time wages, plus liquidated damages in an quantity double her unpaid wages owed – to not point out the door is now open for equally located staff to line up on the courthouse steps as nicely. This discovering additionally opens the employer to dangers of associated penalties with the IRS and beneath different employment legal guidelines not earlier than the Court. What can what you are promoting be taught from this dramatic improvement to keep away from dealing with the identical penalties? - Employer FAQs as Maryland Becomes tenth State to Provide Paid Family Leave
Maryland will quickly be the tenth state to supply paid household depart to workers, persevering with a pattern that’s anticipated to roll throughout the nation within the subsequent few years. This comes after the Maryland legislature’s April 9 vote to override Governor Hogan’s veto of the laws. Under the brand new legislation, eligible workers will obtain as much as a weekly most of $1,000 for as much as 12 weeks of depart on an annual foundation. Additionally, workers taking depart will obtain job safety for making the most of the paid depart advantages. The payroll tax to fund this system will take impact on October 1, 2023, and paid depart might be out there on January 1, 2025. Here are a collection of FAQs to help employers together with your compliance obligations. - Massachusetts High Court: Employers Are on the Hook for Triple Final Pay Even When Payment is Made Before Claim is Filed
In yet one more reward to plaintiffs’ attorneys, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held on April 4 that workers are entitled to computerized triple damages for late closing wage funds even the place the employer pays the worker the overall due earlier than a declare is filed. This surprising ruling in Reuter v. City of Methuen is a radical departure from settled legislation courting again to 2003 and is certain to embolden an already aggressive plaintiffs’ bar. What does what you are promoting have to find out about this unlucky determination? - OFCCP Announces Plan to Streamline Affirmative Action Audits: 10 Key Points for Federal Contractors
The federal company that oversees federal contractor affirmative motion applications lately took a number of large steps in the direction of streamlining employer audits – and which means it’s time so that you can ensure you have your geese in a row earlier than the time comes so that you can have your office practices positioned beneath a microscope. Following shortly on the heels of its Directive on Pay Equity Audits, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) rescinded 4 prior Directives and clarified that contractors beneath audit by the company ought to count on to offer totally full and compliant Affirmative Action Plans (AAPs) on an expedited timetable. The Directive is according to OFCCP’s new digital Contractor Portal requirement that has contractors making ready to certify their affirmative motion compliance no later than June 30. - NY Employers Will Soon Be Required to Provide Electronic Versions of Mandatory Workplace Postings
Acknowledging that increasingly more workers are working from dwelling and away from their bodily worksites, the New York State legislature simply handed a invoice on April 26 requiring employers make necessary office postings electronically out there for his or her workers. The invoice has not but been despatched to Governor Hochul’s desk for her signature – or an unlikely veto – however will change into efficient instantly as soon as signed. Here is what New York employers have to find out about this invoice to make sure compliance. - Colorado Employers Still on the Hook for Paid COVID Leave
All employers in Colorado have been required to offer public well being emergency (PHE) depart since January 1, 2021 – and your obligation to take action will proceed by means of a minimum of this summer season as a result of a latest extension. Under state legislation, all Colorado employers should present this depart if there’s a federal, state, or native declaration of emergency. On April 16, the federal declaration of emergency was prolonged one other 90 days. As a outcome, the duty to offer PHE depart in Colorado remains to be presently in place. What do employers have to find out about this extension – and what do you have to be doing to conform? - New Report Shows Inflation Driving More People to Gig Economy Work: The Secret to Turning this Trend to Your Company’s Benefit
According to a latest survey of over 1,000 staff who turned to gig work within the final six months, 85% have lately elevated or deliberate to extend their gig work – with 58% citing inflation as the first purpose for searching for extra work. The Second Annual Gig Payments Report from Branch and Marqeta, launched on April 14, demonstrates that gig financial system companies have a singular alternative to supply significant alternatives to keen and ready contractors whereas bolstering their expertise swimming pools by including proficient staff to their rolls. And mendacity deeper inside the survey is a hidden piece of data that might assist differentiate what you are promoting from your rivals relating to attracting expertise. - Good News for Ohio Employers as Overtime Laws Will Soon Align with Federal Statute
When Ohio Governor DeWine signed Senate Bill 47 into impact on April 6, he handed employers an enormous win by not solely exempting additional time pay for commuting and different off-hours work but in addition requiring staff to affirmatively “opt in” to affix expensive class and collective actions for additional time pay. The new legislation, which explicitly adopts sections 2 and 4 of the Portal-to-Portal Act amendments to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), will take impact on July 6, 2022. What do it’s essential find out about these welcome modifications and what do you have to do to organize? - What Mississippi Employers Need to Know in regards to the State’s New Equal Pay Law
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves lately signed a brand new equal pay legislation into impact in an effort to scale back the wage hole between women and men within the state. The “Equal Pay for Equal Work Act,” signed on April 20 and taking impact on July 1, 2022, confronted heavy criticism from some staff’ advocacy teams, however Governor Reeves and different state officers imagine the brand new legislation is a leap ahead by aligning state legislation with the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963. What do Mississippi employers have to find out about this new customary – and what do you have to to do to organize?