Labor & Employment Blog

Last week, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) released the final version of the Employee or Independent Contractor Classification (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule is published in the Federal Register and will take effect on March 11, 2024.

The Final Rule rescinds the broader rule issued during former President Donald Trump’s presidency, which focused heavily on the worker’s control over the work and opportunity for profit or loss in determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the Final ...

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule that, if adopted, will raise the salary requirements for certain exempt employees. The DOL estimates its new rule could extend overtime protections to more than three million workers.

Most employers already know the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires covered employers to pay most employees an overtime premium for all hours worked over forty in a workweek. This general rule, however, does not apply to employees in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity, as long as the employee earns a ...

On August 18, 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a much-awaited decision that broadens the scope of potential liability for employers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. For about thirty years, the Fifth Circuit has applied a more restrictive standard for disparate-treatment liability under Title VII’s anti-discrimination provision—requiring an employee to prove alleged discrimination in connection with an “ultimate employment decision,” such as hiring, granting leave, discharging, promoting, or compensating. No more. The en banc Fifth ...

On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) changed the standard for deciding whether an employer’s workplace policy is lawful. In the recent Stericycle decision, the NLRB issued a split ruling reversing a Trump-era standard that made it easier for employers to defend workplace policies against claims that the policies deter employees from exercising their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Among other rights, Section 7 of the NLRA guarantees most non-managerial employees the right to engage in “concerted ...

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) goes into effect on June 27, 2023, and will provide additional protection for pregnant job applicants and employees. If your business has fifteen (15) or more employees, the PWFA will require you to provide reasonable accommodations for job applicants and employees for “known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship.

The PWFA requires a reasonable accommodation regardless of whether the pregnant applicant or employee has a ...

On April 28, 2023, new employee remedies will take effect under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, a.k.a. the PUMP Act. The PUMP Act expands the rights of nursing employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by making it unlawful for an employer to deny a covered employee a needed break to pump or a private place to pump.

The FLSA already requires employers to provide reasonable break time to employees to express breast milk in a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from public view and free from intrusion. For one year after a child’s ...

If you, like most employers, have included non-disparagement or confidentiality provisions in your severance and settlement agreements, you will be interested in a recent decision from the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). On February 21, 2023, in a 4-1 decision the NLRB held an employer violates Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) when it offers a severance agreement with non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions that would restrict employees’ exercise of their NLRA rights. While some employers mistakenly believe the NLRA ...

OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard

Effective today, January 26, 2022, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has withdrawn the COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued on November 5, 2021, which required all employers with 100 or more employees to implement either a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy or a policy allowing employees to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing and face covering as an alternative to vaccination.

Yesterday, OSHA filed a motion to dismiss the ...

On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two highly anticipated opinions on the COVID-19 vaccination rules mandated by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Challenges to those rules had opposite outcomes, as set out in the opinions. The Court stayed OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard for COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing (OSHA ETS), but allowed the CMS Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule (CMS Rule) to move forward.

Background

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) released an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) for COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing on November 3, 2021, which applies to most employers with 100 or more employees. OSHA may issue an ETS when it determines workers are in grave danger due to exposure to toxic substances, agents, or new hazards.

What does the ETS require?

Covered employers are required to implement a mandatory vaccination policy. Alternatively, employers may implement a policy providing all employees the option to be fully vaccinated or to ...