The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a new Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2019 through 2022, extended until January 14, 2019 the comment period on its proposed joint-employer rule, and announced the appointment of Fred B. Jacob as NLRB Solicitor.
Articles on U.S. Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration Law
Important Guidance and Relief for 403(B) Plan Sponsors Who Exclude Part-Time Employees
In the spirit of the holidays, the Internal Revenue Service gave a gift to sponsors of 403(b) tax-deferred annuity plans on December 4, 2018, by issuing IRS Notice 2018-95. For plan sponsors that exclude part-time employees from their 403(b) plans, this gift provides a 10-year nod on their historical plan administration, despite noncompliance with the once-in-always-in part-time exclusion condition.
ACA Still in Effect, Despite New Federal Court Ruling
On December 14, 2018, a Texas federal court declared the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. Despite this broad holding (and clickbait headlines), employers should not expect to see any significant changes to the ACA in the near future.
Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report Fall 2018
Below is a link to the latest issue of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report. This report is published on a quarterly basis by our firm’s class action practice group in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer. We hope you will find this issue to be informative and insightful. Using our considerable experience in defending hundreds of class actions over the last few years alone, we have generated another comprehensive, informative and timely piece with practice insights and tactical tips to consider concerning employment law class actions. We hope you enjoy!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Where Did It Go?
On December 14, 2018, a federal district judge sitting in Texas ruled that, without the so-called “individual mandate” which requires individual taxpayers to maintain minimum essential coverage, the rest of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended (widely known as the “ACA”) is “INVALID”.
‘Tis the Season for Budget Negotiations: What is the Potential Impact of Another Government Shutdown?
With less than a week left on the December 21st deadline to reach a spending deal and avoid another government shutdown, tensions are high in Washington D.C. On Tuesday, President Trump stated he would refuse to sign a spending bill that did not contain a $5 billion allocation for a border wall. It is questionable, however, whether such a bill would pass in the House or Senate. Thus, it is possible we will see the third shutdown of certain government agencies in this presidential term.
Top Five Labor Law Developments for November 2018
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman John Ring has announced that revisions to the Board’s election rules are a “long-term” action item. This may indicate the revisions to the Obama-era election rules (in effect since April 2015) are less of a priority for the upcoming year than other Board initiatives.
Social Security Administration ‘No Match’ Letters to Employers Make Another Comeback
Social Security Administration (SSA) has begun notifying employers that the information reported on an individual employee’s W-2 form does not match the SSA’s records with “Request for Employer Information” letters, known as “No-Match” letters.
Colleges and Universities Must Continue to Recognize Student Unions (For Now)
On December 4, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) held that the University of Chicago violated the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) by refusing to recognize and bargain with student library workers. In doing so, the Board side-stepped the question of the continuing applicability of its 2016 Columbia University decision, which recognized student assistants at private universities as employees with collective bargaining rights. That decision prompted a wave of student organizing, with resulting clashes between student unions and college and university administrations.
Class Action Trends Report Fall 2018
Our quarterly report discusses new developments in class action litigation and offers strategic guidance and tactical tips on how to defend such claims. This issue covers the following topics:
Can Exempt Employees Earn Overtime Pay? [Wage & Hour FAQ]
Q. Our company’s busy season is coming up, meaning we will be asking employees to work longer hours. Our non-exempt employees will all receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Some of them will actually end up earning more per week than some exempt employees. We would like to address this by offering extra pay to our exempt employees who work extended hours during the busy season. Can we do this without converting our exempt employees to non-exempt?
Future Workforce — 2018 Thought Leadership Roundtable Report
The development and deployment of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and other automated systems are transforming workplaces globally, redefining needed workforce roles, skills, and jobs, and reinventing work itself. Big data, predictive analytics, deep learning, biometrics, algorithmic bias, blockchain tokens, and collaborative robot safety standards are just a handful of terms now becoming commonplace in human resource management. While technology has been “the” instrument of change for much of human history, its exponentially accelerating arrival, fueled by increasingly nimble robots, mining of big data, and the automation of predictive analytics through deep learning, is beyond anything experienced. At the same time, most workplace policies, regulations, and laws were established long before such changes were even foreseen.
Post Incident Drug Testing
On May 12, 2016, OSHA caused confusion and concern amongst employers in the preamble to 29 C.F.R. § 1904.35(b)(1)(iv) reporting requirements. The preamble appeared a prohibition, at the very least discouragement, of post-incident drug testing or policies. On October 11, 2018, OSHA provided a memorandum to clarify the Department’s position on post-incident drug testing. In particular, OSHA advises that
App-roaching the Bench: Providing Legal Services Through Technology
In this day and age, virtually every service provider has adopted some form of technology to assist clients and customers. Why should the delivery of legal services be any different? Scott Rechtschaffen, Chief Knowledge Officer at Littler Mendelson, and Kevin Mulcahy, Vice President of Education and Community Programs at Neota Logic, recently served as adjunct professors at Cornell Law School to teach students how law firms and tech companies are bridging the law-technology gap. The course, taught at Cornell Tech in New York City, culminated in a contest where students were able to showcase innovative ways to provide legal assistance through new platforms and applications. In this podcast, Scott, Kevin, and students reflect on the course and the evolution of legal services.
Home Care Agencies Sued for Illegal Use of Captive Insurance Company
Executive Summary. Class action attorneys recently filed a first-of-its-kind class action against Edison Home Health Care (“Edison”) and Preferred Home Care of New York (“Preferred”) alleging that the home care agencies used a “captive” insurance company to cheat their home care workers out of millions of Wage Parity Act (“WPA”) dollars. This is the first lawsuit targeting use of captive insurance companies to provide health benefits and was brought under ERISA, the federal statute governing employee benefit plans, as well as the WPA. The suit claims that the agencies used a captive insurer to avoid paying their Medicaid funded home care workers the full $4.09 WPA package of additional wages and benefits (“WPA Package”) and, instead, returned WPA-credited benefit dollars to the agencies and their owners. No prior lawsuit has targeted use of captive insurance companies in this way, and the progress of this lawsuit will be closely watched.