As more state and local pay transparency laws are enacted throughout the country, retail industry employers face a new challenge in an ever-evolving industry.
Articles Discussing Human Resources And Other Workplace Topics.
Ones to Watch: Legislation Landscape for 2024
State legislatures have introduced a host of new employment-related bills during the first quarter of 2024. Trends include regulation of child labor, restrictions on non-compete agreements, creation of bereavement leave, bans on mandatory employer-sponsored meetings, and regulation of AI in the workplace, among others.
Don’t Lie About a Termination!
In this episode, Jen reminds us why you should always tell the truth when you are terminating an employee.
Some Thoughts on Internal Workplace Investigations
We’ve all been there. It’s a busy afternoon. You receive an employee complaint via email. You think to yourself, “What do I do now?” The short answer: If there are key facts you do not know, you need to investigate the complaint.
Are employers required to conduct human rights due diligence in their global operations?
Are employers required to conduct human rights due diligence in their global operations?
The scope and scale of many employers’ global operations and their global supply chains are expanding. This expansion has led to a greater focus on the risk of corporate human rights abuses such as forced labor, child
EU Artificial Intelligence Act Passes in European Parliament
On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, Members of European Parliament endorsed the Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”), with 523 votes in favor, 46 against, and 49 abstentions. This is the world’s first comprehensive AI law and likely to have significant influence on the rapid development of AI regulation in other jurisdictions
When Do Confidentiality Agreements Make Sense?
Employers often want employees to sign a confidentiality agreement (sometimes called a “non-disclosure” agreement) to protect trade secrets, proprietary information, and other competitively sensitive business information.
Considerations When Employing Workers in a Country Where the Company Currently Has No Employees
There can be a number of circumstances in which a company may want to engage someone in a country where the company currently has no employees. This could be a desire to expand the business into new markets, recruit a talented individual to work remotely and reside in the country,
When is it Time to Let Go?
In this episode, Jen highlights how to determine when it’s time to tell an employee goodbye.
Crash Course in U.S. Employment Law: How a Multinational Based Outside the United States Can Avoid Big Mistakes Managing a U.S. Workforce
Multinationals based outside the United States that enter the U.S. market and employ U.S. staff tend to encounter hurdles, and to make mistakes, because the U.S system of labor/employment regulation is of a fundamentally different character from those of every other country in the world.
AI Notetakers – Evaluating the Risks Along with the Benefits
The explosion of generative AI has spawned a wide range of personal and professional tools and applications. One noteworthy (no pun intended) example of those tools and applications is notetakers that can capture, transcribe, and organize the content discussed at meetings (virtual or otherwise), enabling participants to more meaningfully participate
ESG: How Data Privacy Relates to Good Governance Practices
Organizations implementing ESG strategies are focused on managing their companies in ways that are ethical, transparent and responsible to stakeholders. Equally important is implementing good governance practices, including managing privacy compliance and risk.
March Madness—a Sports Fan’s Dream, a Nightmare for Employee Productivity
Millions of college sports fans and alumni each year tune in to watch the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, referred to as “March Madness.” But with more than one hundred games between the two tournaments—many of which tip off during regular business hours—and the
An Election Year Reminder to Employers: Know Your State’s Voting Leave Laws
The GC Playbook: Navigating Hiring Legal Challenges & Optimizing Compliance
Tips from Miranda Zolot, General Counsel at Oyster
The digital economy has quickly required companies to expand their hiring not only beyond state lines, but across borders. Along with the many benefits that come with the remote work revolution, comes a slew of challenges that need to be addressed to mitigate risk for global organizations.
The complexities of cross-border hiring create significant legal challenges for globally distributed teams. With each jurisdiction having unique rules and regulations, it’s become more complicated than ever for business leaders to understand and manage compliance. Not only is compliance complicated, the internal and external resources needed from staff, vendors, and systems is costly. Businesses looking to navigate these legal challenges and optimize compliance should build and expansion playbook to use when evaluating and expanding into new jurisdictions. While this analysis may take time to complete, it will minimize both costs and risks as you hire your workforce.
- Identify your expansion goals: First-and-foremost, it’s critical to clarify business goals. Once the reason for global expansion is identified (e.g. scaling into a new market, providing a new service, cutting back expenses, etc.), the model for structuring the business in that new location will become clear. Once grounded in the “why” you are expanding, you can get into the granularity of what type of work needs to be done, for how long, by whom, and where. Unless the “why” is to explore a particular market or service a particular customer, the “where” will usually come last.
- Define the work: Evaluate and identify the work that needs to be done and that will inform the type and volume of workers you need to be successful. Your business may need 50 temporary contractors, one extremely experienced service leaders, or a pod of software engineers. Being able to articulate the work and workers need will narrow your recruiting and help minimize risks, like misclassification.
- Determine your risk level: Once the work needed is defined, urge clients to determine the level of risk they are willing to undertake, as it will then further constrain how they operate. Some countries encourage contracting, while others are strong against it. Depending on the size of the workforce and the type of work they doing, permanent establish and corporate tax risks may encourage the business to organize an entity or work with employer of record to mitigate risk. Once you understand the work, are comfortable with the risks inherent in doing that work in that location, in the manner in which you plan to operation, you are finally ready to hire.
- Keep it simple and the same: Whether you are hiring contractors or full time employees, the best risk mitigation strategy is to prioritize simplicity, transparency, and regularity. The world is awash in laws regulating hiring, but they all emphasize fairness. For example, any job posting should clearly define the salary range, and only the truly requisite job skills and qualifications (including timezones). Removing unnecessary qualifications helps mitigate the risk of bias and opens up access to a wider talent pool. When interviewing, create a consistent hiring process, using the same format, question set, and interviewers. Asking all candidates the same questions provides hiring managers with the ability to measure against the same predetermined criteria when comparing one candidate to another. In addition to minimizing bias, it makes the process faster and more efficient.
- Save where you can: Avoid the hefty law firm or consulting bills in scenarios where a third party platform can be used (for employment agreements, surveys, salary benchmarking, etc.), saving funds for when law firm expertise is absolutely critical (like corporate tax advice).
For more tips and a deeper dive into the best practices for global hiring and managing compliance cross-border, check out Oyster’s Global Hiring eBook!