Employment

The collective sobbing you may have recently heard from the west coast of the United States was that of California employers in response to Governor Jerry Brown’s September 10, 2014 signing of AB 1522 – California’s new paid sick leave law called the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.

A recent Washington Post article (“Glitch in health care law allows employers to offer substandard insurance,” September 12, 2014) highlights an Affordable Care Act compliance strategy being marketed heavily (and adopted widely) in industries that traditionally did not previously offer coverage to large cohorts of variable hour and contingent workers.

$113.6 million and counting – that’s the total amount donated to the ALS Association since July 29 as a result of the Ice Bucket Challenge. Just to put that fundraising number into perspective, the Association raised around $3 million in the same period last year – a staggering 3,500%+ increase.

With Labor Day quickly fading into the distance (tear), we thought it would be a good time to recap some of the employment law (and pop culture) headlines that captured our attention this summer. Follow us over the next 11 days as we examine the challenges that employers faced while many of us were out baking in the sun.

Those are the opening lyrics to Nico & Vinz’s (catchy would be an understatement) summertime hit “Am I wrong.” The music stations play it so often that my car radio now just automatically turns off in protest.

Please join us on October 8th, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. for a webinar where we’ll discuss the latest trends in wage and hour compliance matters affecting auto dealerships and how you can develop and implement effective strategies for minimizing exposure to FLSA and state wage and hour claims.

My colleague Bridgette Wiley in the Health Law practice authored a blog post entitled Government Issues New Rules for Religious Employers, But Health Plans, TPAs, And PBMs Are Still On The Hook To Provide Contraceptive Coverage in which she describes new rules that have been established for eligible organizations to take advantage

I was quoted in this timely article by Law360 about fantasy football in the workplace.  Conclusion: it's a workplace reality that's going nowhere, and therefore, employers should address its presence, and do so in a way that meets their business goals, comports with their culture and reduces their exposure.

Whether an employer makes the requisite offer of group health plan coverage is critical to the application of the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules as reflected in final implementing regulations issued earlier this year (and see here for a useful IRS summary of those rules).

Following up on our Week 22 ACA Countdown to Compliance post, yesterday, the D.C. Court of Appeals granted the government’s petition for en banc review in Halbig v. Burwell, which held low income subsidies to purchase coverage through public insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act were unavailable to residents of states

In the past few years the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has taken an increased interest in whether workplace policies prohibiting employees from discussing the terms and conditions of their employment on social media such as Facebook and Twitter violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) by interfering with workers’ rights to engage in concerted activity.

With two seemingly simple and straightforward definitions in the final regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act’s pay-or-play rules—i.e., definitions of “employer” and “employee”— the Treasury Department and IRS have raised a host of concerns for third party staffing arrangements.

Law360 quoted my colleague Don Schroeder in an article entitled NLRB ‘Like’ Ruling Sheds Light On Social Media Protection in which he comments on the new standards this decision brings to social media cases. The article focuses on this significant NLRB ruling on an employee’s legal rights on social media.

My colleague Jen Rubin was quoted in this SHRM article entitled Workplace Racism Persists, Diversity Training Needed, in which she comments on ways employers can ensure effective diversity training programs. The article focuses on racism in the workplace and steps employers can take to decrease its prevalence in their companies.

Recently, litigation consultant TrialGraphix Inc. sued its competitor FTI Consulting, Inc. and four former high-ranking employees in New York Supreme Court for allegedly scheming to steal its trade secrets and gain access to its clients.

Employers have recently enjoyed some victories in the U.S. Supreme Court and in the California Supreme Court regarding the use of class/collective action waivers in employment arbitration agreements (e.g. Italian Colors and Iskanian).

The Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility, or “pay-or-play,” rules require “applicable large employers” (generally employers with 50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees) to offer group health plan coverage (i.e., “play”) or face the prospect of having to pay money to the government (i.e., “pay”).

Earlier this summer, a New Jersey appellate court, in Rodriquez v. Raymours Furniture enforced a provision in an employment application that reduced the period in which an employee could sue an employer to six months from the date of the adverse employment action.

More bad news for employers: Maryland’s Court of Appeals (its highest court) has now put to rest any question about an employee’s right to recover treble damages in connection with an unpaid overtime claim.

Wearable devices, including health and activity monitors, video and audio recorders, location trackers, and other interconnected devices in the form of watches, wristbands, glasses, rings, bracelets, belts, gloves, earrings, and shoes are being heavily promoted in the next wave of consumer electronics.