As a reminder to employers in Chicago, anti-sexual harassment training is required by Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance and must be completed by July 1, 2023. This requirement applies to all Chicago employers, regardless of size or industry.
Continue Reading Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Deadline Approaches for Chicago Employers
Employers will need to rethink the terms they include in severance agreements under the National Labor Relation Board’s (“NLRB”) ruling issued in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023). According to the February 21, 2023 decision, an employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and commits an unfair labor practice by offering a severance agreement containing certain confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions. Importantly, this decision applies to employers who are unionized, as well as those who do not have any unionized employees.
Continue Reading NLRB Curbs the Scope of Severance Agreements forNon-Supervisory Employees at All Employers
In late 2022, Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP Act. Both Acts are among a number of protections passed to address working conditions for women workers.
Continue Reading Pregnant or Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Get Some Relief
On February 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit struck down AB 51, a California statute that imposed criminal and civil penalties against employers who required employees to enter into an arbitration agreement as a condition of employment, finding the statute to be an “unacceptable obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives” of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Bonta, et al., No. 20-15291 (9th Cir. 2023).
Continue Reading Non-Negotiable Arbitration Agreements May Be Required as a Condition of Employment
On January 24, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released new guidance to help employers comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (“ADA”) requirements for job applicants and employees with hearing impairments. The guidance titled “Hearing Disabilities in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” replaces a May 7, 2014 resource titled “Deafness and Hearing Impairments in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” and provides an overview of the ADA’s requirements for hearing impaired individuals, including the definition of a disability, pre- and post-job offer disability-related questions, and providing reasonable accommodations in the workplace.
Continue Reading The EEOC Releases Updated Guidance on Hearing Disabilities and the ADA
On January 10, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (the “PLFAW Act”), with an expected effective date of January 1, 2024. Illinois will join Maine and Nevada as the third state to require private employers to provide to employees earned paid leave that “may be taken by an employee for any reason of the employee’s choosing.” (For a more detailed discussion, click here).
Continue Reading New Law Requires Illinois Employers to Provide Paid Leave for Any Reason
Model Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy Updates
New York law requires employers to maintain written sexual harassment policies and the New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided employers with model policies to use as guidance. On January 12, 2023, the New York DOL released its updated Sexual Harassment Prevention Model Policy, which makes the following changes:
Continue Reading New York State Updates Its Model Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy and Requires Digital Workplace Notices
Effective September 18, 2023, employers will be required to comply with a new pay transparency law for jobs that can be performed, at least in part, in the state of New York.
The law is similar to the pay transparency statutes of New York City (see link), Westchester County and Ithaca in that the New York State law requires employers (and any agent thereof, such as an employment agency) to include a good-faith minimum and maximum pay range with any external job advertisements or internal postings for transfers and promotions, that can or will be performed, at least in part, in New York State. Unlike the local laws, the state law expressly allows the inclusion of a fixed pay rate or salary, as opposed to a range (although the laws that require a range allow for the minimum and maximum to be the same number). For a commission-based job, the ad or posting may simply state compensation is by commission.
Continue Reading New York State Enacts a Pay Transparency Law
Starting February 19, 2023, employers will not be able to discipline employees for certain types of absences. Section 215 of the New York Labor Law (NYLL) was amended to prohibit employers from taking adverse action against employees for “any legally protected absence under federal, local, or state law,” including “assessing any demerit, occurrence, or any other point, or deductions from an allotted bank of time, which subjects or could subject an employee to disciplinary action.” Section 215 currently prohibits retaliation against employees who engage in a variety of protected activity, including making complaints about the employer’s violation of any of the provisions of the New York Labor Law, notably including an employer’s pay practices.
Continue Reading New York State Provides Protection for Use of Leaves of Absence
The California Governor has approved AB 2693, extending and modifying employer COVID-19 notification requirements.
In September 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Legislature enacted AB 685 (adding Labor Code section 6409.6), mandating employers notify employees and local and state public health officials of COVID-19 cases in the workplace. The statute was set to expire on January 1, 2023, but the Legislature delayed the sunset provision to January 1, 2024.
Continue Reading California to Ease Employer COVID-19 Notification Requirements and Adopt New Emergency Temporary Standards