On Tuesday, June 7, 2016, the District of Columbia Council voted unanimously to raise the District’s minimum wage for both tipped and non-tipped employees.
The Central States Rescue Plan Rejection and Next Steps
Like many other multiemployer pension plans, the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund was hit very hard by the financial crisis in 2008. In response, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, was amended to allow Central States and other critically underfunded plans to remain solvent through the approval of a so-called “rescue plan.” On May 6, 2016, Central States’ proposed Rescue Plan was rejected by the IRS. This would have huge implications not just for the employers who contribute to the plan, but also for the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) and for participants and retires. Joining the WPI to examine the implications of the rejection of Central State’s plan was Littler shareholder Mike Congiu.
EEOC Releases Proposed Enforcement Guidance On National Origin Discrimination For Public Comments
On June 2, 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released, for a 30-day public input period, proposed enforcement guidance addressing national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). The EEOC last comprehensively addressed national origin discrimination in 2002, and the revised guidance addresses important issues and significant legal developments that have occurred since that time.
What are the Most Significant Changes the DOL Made to the FLSA’s White Collar Overtime Regulations?
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the final rule revising the “white collar” overtime exemption regulations on May 18, 2016. This publication was the result of a process that began in March 2014 when President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to review and “modernize” the current overtime regulations. In the final rule, the DOL estimates that the changes will impact 4.2 million white collar workers.
D.C. Circuit Rejects NLRB’s Award of Attorneys’ Fees and Expenses in Unfair Labor Practice Cases
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to expand the remedies available under the National Labor Relations Act for unfair labor practices. Building on established precedent, the court in HTH Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board held that the Board lacked statutory authority to order an employer found to have committed unfair labor practices to pay the litigation expenses that either the General Counsel or the union incurred in the case.
Workplace Policy Institute Insider Report — June 2016
Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute Insider Report details key labor, employment, and benefits news and events at the federal, state, local, and global levels. The June edition of the Insider Report highlights recent federal agency rulemaking, including the Department of Labor’s final overtime exemption rule, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s wellness regulations, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s injury and illness online reporting requirements. The Report also examines legislative and litigation efforts to stop these and other federal agency initiatives, and discusses key developments at the state level. The Report contains the following sections:
New Restrictions on Physician Non-Competes in Connecticut
A new Connecticut law significantly restricts the use of physician non-compete agreements. Public Act No. 16-95 (the “Act”), signed into law by Governor Dannel Malloy on June 2, 2016, limits the allowable duration and geographical scope of any new, amended, or renewed physician non-compete agreement. The law also states that physician non-compete agreements are unenforceable if the employer terminates the physician’s employment or the contractual relationship without cause. The new restrictions are set to take effect on July 1, 2016, so employers with physician non-competes are left with little time to assess the Act’s impact on their operations and to plan for compliance.
Minneapolis Becomes the Only City in the Midwest to Mandate Paid Sick and Safe Leave
On May 31, 2016, Mayor Betsy Hodges signed the Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), an expansive paid leave measure. Under this Ordinance, starting July 1, 2017, employers must allow employees to accrue up to 48 hours of sick and safe time each year. Employers with six or more employees must provide paid sick and safe time, while smaller employers must at least provide unpaid leave. The Ordinance applies to private employers of all sizes, including employers with only one employee, as long one employee works within Minneapolis city limits.
D.C. Circuit Puts Potential Limits on the NLRB’s “Presumptively Relevant” Policy
In IronTiger Logistics, Inc. v. NLRB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the NLRB’s policy of requiring employers to timely respond to union requests for “presumptively relevant” information (i.e., information relating to bargaining unit employees), but required the Board to explain why specific requests were presumptively relevant. The court also directed the Board to consider an employer’s defenses to union requests for information, including whether the requests were made for improper purposes.
Connecticut Becomes the Third Jurisdiction in 2016 to “Ban the Box”
On June 1, 2016, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed a bill into law that prohibits most employers from requesting criminal history information on an initial employment application. Connecticut’s new “ban-the-box” law follows closely on the heels of similar legislation enacted in Vermont and continues the nationwide ban-the-box trend.1 Indeed, ban-the-box laws have recently been enacted in other jurisdictions, including Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and New York City.2 Connecticut’s ban-the-box law goes into effect on January 1, 2017.
Dissecting the Department of Labor’s Final Fiduciary Rule
In early April, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule to re-define who is rendered a “fiduciary” of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by providing investment advice to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries. More than five years in the making, issuance of a final rule to address conflicts-of-interest in retirement advice has been a priority for the White House and DOL to advance its “middle-class economics” agenda in the face of criticism in Congress and by a number of stakeholders.
Supreme Court Clarifies the Time Period for Initiating Constructive Discharge Claims
On May 23, 2016, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Green v. Brennan, holding that the statute of limitations for a constructive discharge claim begins to run at the time the employee resigns. While the Court’s 7-1 decision was unsurprising and does not change the substantive law of constructive discharge, it provides employers and employees alike with the benefit of a clear rule for assessing the timeliness of charges alleging constructive discharge.
Seventh Circuit Finds Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements are Illegal and Unenforceable Under the NLRA
On May 26, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its decision in Lewis v. Epic-Systems Corp., finding that the company’s arbitration agreement, which prohibits employees from participating in “any class, collective or representative proceeding,” violated the employees’ right to engage in concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Data Science Opportunities and Challenges in the Legal and Human Resources Space
Some have said that the legal profession is late to the data science party. Why? What are the primary challenges to using artificial intelligence and related methods in this space? What does the future hold for AI in the legal space?
Understanding New York’s New Paid Family Leave Law
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo executed sweeping legislation on April 4, 2016, that will gradually raise the minimum wage in New York to $15 an hour1 and provide a phased-in system of paid family leave benefits providing covered employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave – currently the most comprehensive paid family leave program in the nation. This Insight discusses the leave provisions, benefits schedule, coverage and other essential details of the new paid family leave law,2 referred to as the New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (“PFLBL”).