Labor & Employment Law Update

Website accessibility continues to be a hot topic. Hundreds of businesses throughout the country have been sued in the past few years for failing to have accessible websites.  Retail businesses have been the primary target; however, financial institutions and now, the health care industry, are receiving threatening letters from high profile law firms, alleging that the businesses’ websites are not “accessible” and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The law firms threaten to file suit if the businesses do not make their websites compliant with the Web ...

In a protest against President Trump’s immigration policies and plans, organizers around the country are coordinating a national protest day set for Friday, February 17th — encouraging workers to “walk out” or “don’t work” if they can. Some workplaces are already being impacted, and Friday could be chaotic.

In response to this activity, employers should keep in mind the following:

1. Don’t overreact and cause more chaos (remain calm, stay cool);

1. Turn to one’s regular attendance policies. For example, a single “no call, no show” in one instance results in what ...

On September 29, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced it finalized regulations that require employers to include employee pay data in annual EEO-1 reports. The pay data is required for 2017 reports, which are due March 31, 2018. That is, employers with 100 or more employees are now required to include aggregate W-2 income by gender, race, ethnicity, and job group on their EEO-1 reports.  The rule was harshly criticized by employers, who place hope in the Trump administration to undo the regulations.

On January 25, 2017, President Trump designated ...

On February 6, 2017, the newly elected GOP Governor Eric Greitens, signed into law a right-to-work (RTW) bill that passed the state’s Republican-controlled state legislature.

Nuts and Bolts of the Missouri RTW law

• Effective date:  August 28, 2017
• Who it applies to:  Both private and public sector employers (except those in the airline and railroad industries, as well as certain federal employers).
• What it prohibits:
  • No employee can be required to become or remain a union member as a condition of employment.
  • No employee can be required to pay dues, fees or assessments of any kind to ...

By now, employers should well know that they may not make unlawful inquiries of applicants based on protected classes (e.g., age, religion), as well as arrest history. In the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in legislation (and litigation) that impact employers’ ability to gather information and check an applicant or employees’ background, such as state and local “ban the box” laws, which generally prohibit employers from asking about criminal convictions until an applicant is made a conditional offer of employment. And, even when and where checking an applicant ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a recent decision that made several pronouncements regarding Illinois vacation pay—many of which seem straightforward—but they were pursued to a final decision by a federal appellate court, so a brief refresher course appears to be in order.

First, as the decision makes clear, the law does not require employers in Illinois to provide paid vacation benefits to employees.  However, when an employer in Illinois provides paid vacation benefits to employees, Illinois law requires the employer to pay an employee the value of ...

On January 20, 2017 shortly after taking office, newly sworn in President Donald Trump directed White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to issue a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies directing them not to send any regulations to the Federal Registry until further notice, to withdraw any proposed regulations that have not been published and to postpone for 60 days the effective dates of regulations that have been published by the Officer of the Federal Register. As stated in Priebus’ memorandum, the purpose is to ensure the President’s appointees or ...

Shortly following his inauguration on Friday, President Trump signed an Executive Order affirming his intent to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The executive order is not a repeal of the ACA and does not make any changes to the law or regulations thereunder, but rather addresses the actions of federal agencies in enforcing the existing law. The executive order directs the agencies responsible for overseeing ACA enforcement (Health and Human Services, Treasury Department, and Department of Labor) to, “take all actions consistent with the law to minimize the ...

We are now almost three weeks into the New Year and while it might be tempting to ease into 2017, the time is now to ensure that the required compliance updates have been made to your payroll and Form I-9 procedure to comply with the 2017 changes.

Minimum Wage

The following 21 states have updates to their minimum wage that affect your payroll for 2017:

1. Alaska (Effective 1/1/17) – minimum wage increases from $9.75 to $9.80.
2. Arizona (Effective 1/1/17) – minimum wage increases from $8.05 to $10.00.
3. Arkansas (Effective 1/1/17) – minimum wage increases from $8.00 to $8.50.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday, January 13, 2017 that it will hear a trio of cases concerning the right of employers to include class action waivers in employment-related arbitration agreements. Arbitration agreements are contracts through which an employee and an employer agree to resolve potential future disputes through binding arbitration rather than through the courts. Class action waivers are provisions in arbitration agreements that prohibit employees from joining together to arbitrate multiple related claims in a class or collective action. If such a waiver ...