Workforce Bulletin

By Jeffrey Landes, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Nancy L. Gunzenhauser

A hot topic for every summer – but particularly this summer – is the status of unpaid interns. You are probably aware that several wage and hour lawsuits have been brought regarding the employment status of unpaid interns, particularly in the entertainment and publishing industries. The theory behind these cases is that the interns in question don’t fall within the “trainee” exception to the definition of “employee” under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), as well as applicable ...

By John F. Fullerton III and Jason Kaufman

In its recent decision in Santoro v. Accenture Federal Services, LLC [pdf], the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has joined the Fifth Circuit [pdf] in narrowly interpreting the prohibition against predispute arbitration agreements in the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank”) -- and employers can breathe a further sigh of relief.

Dodd-Frank amended the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) to, among other things, prohibit agreements requiring predispute arbitration of SOX claims (see 18 ...

Guest Post By Charles Diamond and Lynnann Whitbeck, Alvarez & Marsal

A substantial amount of litigation is being brought against companies, both public and private, because of “glass-ceilings” allegedly found within firms. More recently, the financial services industry has been a target of glass ceiling allegations and a number of other discriminatory employer practices against legally protected groups.  Nationally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has implemented a Strategic Enforcement Plan through 2016 to reduce and deter ...

Our colleagues in the Immigration Law Group at Epstein Becker Green (Robert Groban Jr., Pierre Georges Bonnefil, Patrick Brady, Jang Hyuk Im, and Greta Ravitsky) have prepared a client alert regarding two rules that the Department of Homeland Security proposed on May 12, 2014.  If enacted, these rules would help the United States to attract and retain highly skilled workers.  Topics include:

• DHS Proposes to Issue Employment Authorization to Certain H-4 Spouses
• DHS Proposes to Enhance Flexibility for Highly Skilled Specialty Occupation Professionals

Read the full alert here. 

 

By John F. Fullerton

On April 29, 2014, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, recently testified before the Senate Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Employee and Workplace Safety to seek a number of changes to the whistleblower protection provisions of Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) so it would track provisions of other, more recent whistleblower protection laws.  Here is a link to Dr. Michael's testimony.

The provisions at issue are intended to protect employees from retaliation by their employers for ...

Our colleagues Michelle Capezza, Jeffrey M. Landes, and Susan Gross Sholinsky will host Epstein Becker Green's retail roundtable summit from 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. on May 21. Join us for an open discussion among retail industry executives. The summit will be devoted to retail industry labor and employment issues that general counsel and human resources executives are facing.

Topics to include:

• Legal, logistical, ethical, and other factors to consider when creating and implementing internship programs
• Ramifications of newly-enacted state and local laws on handbook policies ...

Our colleagues Kara M. Maciel and Jordan B. Schwartz will be joined by special guest, David Sherwyn of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in hosting a roundtable and webinar on May 29 (1:00 p.m. ET).  This interactive simulcast event will discuss strategies and tactics that employers can implement to stay ahead of the curve and ensure compliance with many of the most pressing wage and hour issues plaguing the hospitality industry.

Topics will include:

• Using the tip credit to your advantage: tip credit, tip pooling, and service charges
• Creating valid tip ...

 

By Kara Maciel

Our national hospitality practice frequently advises restaurant owners and operators on whether it is legal for employers to pass credit card swipe fees onto employees or even to guests, and the short answer is, yes, in most states. But whether an employer wants to actually pass along this charge and risk alienating their staff or their customers is another question.

With respect to consumers, in the majority of states, passing credit card swipe fees along in a customer surcharge became lawful in 2013. Only ten states prohibit it: California, Colorado, Connecticut ...

An NLRB Administrative Law Judge issued a Decision on April 29th in which he found that when a waiter in a restaurant in New York City, acting alone, instituted a class action lawsuit claiming violation of state or federal wage and hour laws, he was engaging in concerted activity on behalf of himself and co-workers, even if none of those co-workers are aware of the filing.

The Grain Journal recently published a series of seven articles by the national OSHA Practice Group at Epstein Becker Green.  The articles outline a checklist for employers to follow in order to comply with OSHA's complex Injury & Illness Recordkeeping regulations. The articles are broken down as follows:

1. Scope of OSHA's Injury & Illness Recordkeeping Rule;
2. OSHA's Recordkeeping Forms;
3. Recording Injuries and Illnesses;
4. Recording Workplace Injuries/Illnesses;
5. Miscellaneous Recording Procedures;
6. Updating and Verifying Records; and
7. Recordkeeping Action Plan.

Here is an ...