Perspectives on Labor, Employment & OSHA

On September 30, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continued its efforts to upend labor relations and reinstituted its short-lived Lincoln Lutheran dues checkoff rule. In a 3-2 decision, the Board held that employers with unionized workforces are required.

California extended the time for eligible employees to use COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave by three months, or until the end of 2022. In a further change, Assembly Bill 152 also allows California employers to require further COVID-19 testing as a condition of using this paid sick leave.

California has enacted legislation broadly protecting employees from discrimination for the use of marijuana, which has been legal in the state since 2016. Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1288 into law. It generally prohibits employers from discriminating “against a person in hiring.

Does anyone feel like they’ve seen this movie before? On September 6, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or “the Board”) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that dramatically changed the joint employer analysis under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or “the Act”).

A Ninth Circuit panel that previously upheld a California law prohibiting mandatory employment arbitration agreements in the workplace withdrew its decision and ordered the matter to be resubmitted for a panel rehearing. 

Employing foreign nationals in this uncertain and ever-changing immigration climate can be daunting.

Join Matthew Nolan for the 12th SIPS Symposium on Sustainable Development.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that 121 attorneys have been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America 2023, with an additional six attorneys highlighted as “Lawyers of the Year” and 40 attorneys listed as “Ones to Watch.”

Most of California’s Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) wage orders mandate that employees “shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.

ArentFox Schiff Partners Darrell Gay and Mamta Shah recently partnered with Capalino’s Travis Terry and Jeanne Mullgrav for an important conversation about recent US Supreme Court decisions and strategies businesses should be considering for addressing these crucial issues now and in the future.

On July 26, 2022, Massachusetts joined seventeen other states which prohibit race discrimination based on natural hairstyles when Governor Charlie Baker signed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (“Crown”) Act, which bans discrimination based on hairstyles at work and school.

Partner Mamta Shah recently spoke with Corporate Counsel about the potential risks faced from law enforcement seeking information by companies that wish to offer travel benefits to employees who obtain abortion services out-of-state.

On July 12, 2022, the Council of the District of Columbia voted to amend the District of Columbia’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”). Implementation of the Act has been delayed on several occasions and is currently set to occur on October 1, 2022. 

Sometimes, a wage and hour decision touches upon several noteworthy issues, either addressing them for the first time, in new contexts, or serving as a good reminder on topics.

Last month, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed into law HB 78, which amends the state’s equal employment opportunity law to require employers to reasonably accommodate a job applicant’s known disability. 

Partner Jill Steinberg spoke with The American Lawyer about ArentFox Schiff’s new Reproductive Health Task Force and the legal challenges that were created when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

In Khoiny v. Dignity Health, the California Court of Appeal held that hospital residency programs are primarily employment programs and medical residents are primarily employees. Therefore, courts should not give special deference to residency programs’ termination decisions.

ArentFox Schiff LLP announced today the launch of its Reproductive Health Task Force to counsel clients on legal issues stemming from the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

Under federal and California law, employers must include most bonuses and incentives in the “regular rate” for paying overtime, as well as meal and rest period premium pay. Often, such as with a monthly or quarterly bonus, an employer pays a bonus or incentive after paying overtime worked.

In a recently issued 8 to 1 Decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, the United States Supreme Court held that individual claims based on the “only in California” Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) may be compelled to arbitration.

The US Supreme Court has held that airline cargo loaders who load and unload cargo from planes that travel across state lines are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) because they belong to a “class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.”

Companies are facing enormous social, cultural, and political issues, from the reversal of Roe v. Wade and a focus on LGBTQ laws to the recent massacre in Buffalo, racial and social justice issues are once again at the forefront.

California employers do not have to pay applicants for time or expenses related to taking a pre-employment drug test, when the employer made hiring contingent on passing the test, according to a recent decision. 

Medical marijuana has been legal, in the District of Columbia, since 2010. And since 2015, the City has permitted adults to use marijuana recreationally. Earlier this month, the City Council went further by unanimously passing a bill to protect many marijuana users against adverse job actions.

During the Trump administration, the National Labor Relations Board was not known for advancing immigrant worker rights. That changed last year, when Jennifer Abruzzo became its general counsel.