Workforce Bulletin

One of many changes wrought by passage of the Dodd-Frank Act is that employers cannot compel potential whistleblowers to report known or suspected unlawful activity to the company before reporting such information to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).  Employees are eligible for a bounty award from the SEC even if they do not first – or ever – report internally. The SEC’s position is that mandatory internal reporting could discourage at least some potential whistleblowers.  Consistent with that position, SEC Whistleblower Rule 21F–17 provides:

No person may take ...

By Kenneth DiGia and Lauri F. Rasnick

FINRA just issued a reminder regarding its views on confidentiality provisions and confidentiality stipulations.

Settlement Agreements

In Regulatory Notice 14-40, FINRA follows up on its prior Notice to Members 04-44, in which it had cautioned firms about the use of certain provisions in settlement agreements that impede, or have the potential to impede, FINRA investigations and the enforcement of FINRA actions.  Specifically, FINRA had addressed settlement agreement provisions which limited, prohibited or discouraged employees from ...

By Jeffrey H. Ruzal

In August, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law HB 5622, amending the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA), which now recognizes for the first time payment of wages by payroll card. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2015. While the law provides a new option for Illinois employers, they must be careful to comply with the conditions under which payroll cards may be used.

Under the current Illinois law, employers are required to pay employees via check or direct deposit. The current law is silent as to whether payroll cards, which operate like debit ...

By Steven C. Sheinberg, General Counsel of the Anti-Defamation League & Guest TMT blogger.*

A recent McKinsey report on twelve “disruptive” technologies included four that will fundamentally transform how employers relate to their employees: mobile Internet, automation of knowledge work, the Internet of things and cloud computing. I would add to the list three results of these technologies: big-data, cybercrime and privacy.

From an employment law perspective, the common element here is data – data that flows to, is stored by, and is used (or misused) by employers, third ...

At the Firm’s 33rd Annual Labor and Employment Client Briefing, Lauri Rasnick and John Fullerton spoke on the financial services industry panel about the impact of increased compliance obligations on the employment relationship and developments in the areas of applicant screening, whistleblower complaints, internal investigations, and diversity and inclusion.

Here are a few takeaways from that session:

• Eleven states have enacted legislation prohibiting the use of consumer credit reports in making employment decisions.  There has been a dramatic increase in state and ...

In this month's Take 5 newsletter, I share my thoughts regarding five important issues that TMT companies should consider as they shape their employee benefits programs.  Below is an excerpt:

The workplace that we know today is rapidly changing. Competition for highly skilled workers is fierce, employees have become more mobile (due, in part, to alternative work arrangements or outsourcing), and there are often several generations of employees working alongside one another with different workplace approaches and perspectives. Developing employee benefit and compensation ...

Jeffrey H. Ruzal, Senior Counsel in the Labor and Employment practice, in Epstein Becker Green's New York office, was quoted by Law360 in “Battles Over Hospitality Wages May Turn on Technicalities.” (Read the full version - subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

Law360, New York (October 08, 2014, 3:08 PM ET) – Sideswiped by a pair of minimum wage hikes in New York City and Los Angeles, hotel and restaurant groups are gearing up for legal fights on both coasts. But the groups face uphill battles and any successes will hinge on challenging technicalities in the city ...

Companies who utilize cloud vendors to store their data on cloud-based applications should be advised: failing to understand the application’s storage and retrieval capabilities, and failing to preserve such data during litigation could lead to sanctions for both the company and its counsel.  That’s the lesson to be learned from a recent case in the Southern District of Ohio, one of the first of its kind to directly address the intersection between the cloud and its impact on litigation strategy.

In Brown v. Tellermate Holdings, Ltd., Case No. 2:11-cv-1122, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS ...

David W. Garland, Chair of Epstein Becker Green’s Labor and Employment Steering Committee and a member of the firm's Board of Directors, will moderate “It’s In The Bag – Summary of Bag Check Litigation And Strategies For Minimizing Risk” at the National Retail Federation Human Resources Executive Summit at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, Illinois on October 15, 2014.

During this general session, retailers who are grappling with employee bag check litigation discuss what the industry can expect in litigation over employee compensation for time spent in bag checks to deter ...

On Thursday, October 30, 2014, our colleague Stuart M. Gerson of Epstein Becker Green’s Litigation and Health Care and Life Sciences practices in the firm’s Washington, DC and New York offices will discuss the Hobby Lobby decision and its impact on the workplace.  The briefing will be held at the Cornell ILR School of Labor and Employment.  Other panelists include Marci A. Hamilton, Esq., Paul R. Verkuil, Esq., Arthur S. Leonard, Esq., and Paul W. Mollica, Esq.

Click here to learn more and to register

When:
Thursday, October 30, 2014
8:30am – Registration & Breakfast