Perspectives on Labor, Employment & OSHA

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulation is now in place. It took effect on February 3, 2023, following approval by the state’s Office of Administrative Law.

Please join Eva Pulliam, ArentFox Schiff Partner and AFSCRE* Founding Board Member, as she speaks with Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.

California’s new pay transparency law requiring disclosure of pay scales in job openings went into effect on January 1, 2023. The new law requires California employers to disclose the pay range for a job if an applicant asks for it after an initial interview.

Similar to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), California law requires an employer to pay overtime based on an employee’s “regular rate of pay.” That rate may not be just an employee’s hourly wage, or straight time, rate.

Megan Daily presented “What’s in a Contract and Why” at the DC Pro Bono Center’s How the Law Impacts Your Small Business seminar series on January 31, 2023.

Labor and Employment class actions involving contractors are on the rise in California, especially in its $50-plus billion per annum agricultural industry — 12.5% of all agricultural production nationwide. Employers using seasonal workers are always at risk of wage/hour class action lawsuits.

On September 29, 2022, California Governor Newsom signed into law the Motor Vehicle Digital Number Plates Act (AB 984), which will give the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) authority to move forward with new vehicle registration technologies and to issue alternative devices for license plates.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that eight attorneys have been named to Washingtonian magazine’s 2022 Top Lawyers, which features the “top legal talent” in Washington, DC.

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that would ban employers from requiring workers to sign non-competes and require recission of existing non-competes. The FTC’s press release accompanying the rule states that its intent is to “promote greater dynamism.”

The holidays came early for organized labor this year, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issuing another decision that will make it easier for unions to organize new workplaces.

The new year brings several new laws and requirements for California employers.  Among changes in 2023, California employers face a higher state minimum wage, increased minimum pay requirements for employees, new protected leaves for an employee to provide care for a “designated person,”

For years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sought to make wronged employees whole for the consequences of a respondent’s unfair labor practices.

Further expanding generous protected employee leaves, California now will require most private employers to provide up to five days of bereavement leave for a covered family member’s death. Assembly Bill 1949, which Governor Newsom signed, takes effect on January 1, 2023.

While neutral rounding policies have historically been approved by California courts, the Sixth District California Court of Appeal recently held that employers who utilize timekeeping systems that can capture each minute worked by employees must fully compensate those employees for all time worked.

In today’s competitive employment market, employee resignations are reaching near record-highs. Whether a separation is voluntary or involuntary, employee terminations often happen quickly and involve many moving parts. To protect the company and enhance enforceability.

On November 16, 2022, the US House of Representatives passed the Speak Out Act, after the US Senate unanimously passed the Act in September 2022. The Act will head next to President Biden’s desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.

On October 31, 2022, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum advocating for adoption of a new framework for policing employer use of electronic monitoring and automated management practices.

ArentFox Schiff partner Darrell Gay will be speaking on the “Protected Concerted Activity and Social and Political Expression at Work” panel at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) 16th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference in Washington, DC on November 11, 2022.

Already permitting employees to take leave to care for a wide scope of family members, California now will allow them to use state family and medical leave and paid sick leave to provide care for a “designated person.” The term has a slightly different meaning between the two laws.

ArentFox Schiff has been recognized with 53 top rankings in the 2023 edition of US News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms.”

Derek Barella will present at the NELI Employment Law Conference on November 3.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce the firm is being recognized by Global Citizen Experience (GCE) Lab School in Chicago for donating more than $250,000 in pro bono legal services. 

Governor Newsom signed SB 1162 into law on September 27 (effective January 1, 2023), imposing several new wage transparency reporting requirements on employers in California, and aligning California with Washington, Colorado, and New York City, which have passed similar laws in recent months.

On October 11, 2022, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would revisit the definition of an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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.