Publications
Sign up to receive publications by e-mail.
We'll e-mail you once a week with new publications.
New Los Angeles Hotel Workers Ordinance Goes to City Council for Outright Adoption or Voter Approval
May 19, 2022 • Christina Tantoy
Category: Legal Updates
The “Hotel Workers Initiative Ordinance” – a proposed hotel workers’ protections ordinance backed by UNITE HERE Local 11 – would require hotels in the City of Los Angeles to give additional protections and benefits to hotel workers. Earlier this month, dozens of hotel workers delivered the requisite petition of signatures to the Los Angeles City Clerk to qualify the Ordinance for presentation to the City Council. Now the City Council will decide whether to put the Ordinance on the voter ballot in November or outright adopt the law.
For the third time, California has re-adopted and revised its COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”), mirroring current State and local regulations easing pandemic-related restrictions. While the ETS still require employers to establish and train employees on written prevention programs, Cal-OSHA has now removed several protocols including indoor masking, cleaning and disinfection, and vaccination status distinctions.
Historically, employers have used noncompete agreements to prevent competition or dissemination of confidential information when an employee leaves a company. However, the last few years has seen the erosion of their enforceability across the country. Frequent readers of our legal updates will recall that on July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission “to curtail the unfair use of noncompete clauses and other clauses or agreements that may unfairly limit worker mobility.” (See our legal update here.) State legislators and courts have begun restricting the noncompete before the federal government has had time to act.
California law currently defines the “workweek,” by operation of its overtime rules, as 40 hours per week. Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2932 as proposed to the California Legislature, would cut the standard “workweek” to 32 hours per week for non-exempt employees of employers with more than 500 employees. As written, the bill provides for overtime pay for work performed beyond 32 hours in a week.
A Suspended Employee is Still an Employee Under the ADA
April 12, 2022 • Anne-Marie Mizel
Category: Legal Updates
Picture the following scenario: An employee engages in misconduct at work that results in suspension pending investigation and would normally probably end in termination. But at the time of the suspension, the employee requests and is granted a medical leave. The termination is not finalized while the employee is on leave, and while on leave, the employee claims that the misconduct was caused by a mental illness and requests reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act – in short, they ask for a second chance.
Changes to Diversity Training for Florida Employers
April 8, 2022 • Jordan A. Fishman
Category: Legal Updates
In March, Florida’s legislature approved the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act.” The bill restricts how workplaces and classrooms around the state handle discussions surrounding race, gender and discrimination. The law, expected to take effect on July 1, 2022, will also prevent companies with 15 or more employees from subjecting “any individual, as a condition of employment … to training, instruction or any other required activity that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels such individual to believe” certain concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”).
California’s Pending Employment Laws Focus on Family
March 31, 2022 • Christina Tantoy
Category: Legal Updates
In February 2022, California’s legislature introduced two family-focused bills that, if passed, would (1) require employers to provide bereavement leave to all employees upon the death of a family member (AB-1949) and (2) add “family responsibilities” as a protected class under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (AB-2182).
New York State Amends Workplace Harassment and Discrimination Laws
March 24, 2022
Category: Legal Updates
On March 16, 2022, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed three bills into law amending and expanding harassment and discrimination protections under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL). New York State employers should remain on high alert for additional expansions to come and be ready to review and consult their anti-discrimination and harassment policies and practices to comply with the new protections as they become effective.
Employers who use biometric technology in the workplace should be aware of the developing trend towards legislation targeting the misuse of biometric information. Biometric technology, which is used to identify individuals by the measurement and analysis of their unique physical characteristics, including fingerprints and facial features, can be used for a variety of activities ranging from timekeeping to controlling and monitoring access to information and worksites. However, the increasing legislation around the collection and use of this information is creating a legal minefield for unwary employers.
“Brand Representatives” Exempt from Overtime Provisions of FLSA After Qualifying as Outside Salespeople
March 8, 2022
Category: Legal Updates
A Federal Appeals Court recently ruled that marketers who hand out samples and promote products qualify as outside salespeople under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), and are thus exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA.