Workforce Bulletin

By:  Dena L. Narbaitz

 This is the fourth in our series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

The FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure provides for a simplified arbitration process in both employment and customer disputes if the dollar amount in controversy is below a certain threshold. The SEC recently approved FINRA’s proposal to raise the dollar limit eligible for simplified arbitration ...

By: Kara M. Maciel and Elizabeth Bradley

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is rapidly becoming the champion of employers in the fight against the National Labor Relations Board’s (the “Board”) attempt to implement radical new rules governing the workplace.

Last month, on April 17, 2012, the D.C. Circuit enjoined the implementation of the Board’s rule requiring that employers post a notice informing employees of their right to join or form a union. Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit struck another blow to the Board by holding that its proposed union election rules ...

Last week, EHS Today Magazine ran our article in which we delve into more detail about OSHA's amended Hazard Communication Rule (“HazCom”), and the integration of the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (“GHS”).  Check out the full article here, in which we detailed 10 important things employers need to know about the final HazCom Rule.  Here's the short list:

1. New Hazard Classification Criteria
2. New Method for Evaluating Mixtures
3. Amended Label Requirements
4. Proscrictive Format for Safety Data Sheet
5. Inclusion of ...

By Amanda R. Strainis-Walker and Eric J. Conn

With the dog days of summer around the corner, OSHA just put out a press release reminding employers with outside workplaces about OSHA’s focus on the hazards of working in high heat.  The press release reinvigorates OSHA’s heat-related illness campaign that began leading into last summer, when OSHA produced a great deal of public information about heat-related illness, including a dedicated heat illness information page on OSHA’s website, a YouTube video, public press statements, speeches by senior Department of Labor and OSHA ...

On May 9, 2012, the Second Circuit held that Title VII’s “participation clause,” prohibiting an employer from retaliating against any employee who participates in an investigation “under” Title VII, requires participation in a formal investigation involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) – participating in purely internal investigations, conducted pursuant to the employer’s own policies and procedures, is not sufficient to trigger the statutory protections. Townsend v. Benjamin Enterprises, Inc., No. 09-0197. 

The Second ...

by Anna A. Cohen and Desiree E. Busching

On April 20, 2012, in a noteworthy decision, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) protects transgender individuals from disparate treatment. Macy v. Holder, Appeal No. 0120120821, Agency No. ATF-2011-00751 (EEOC, Apr. 20, 2012).  The case therefore opens up a new protected category which, while already recognized under many state and local anti-discrimination statutes and by some federal courts, had not previously been formally recognized by the ...

Epstein Becker Green has been designated by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) as a Common Security Framework (CSF) Assessor. This will allow the firm to provide health care organizations with privacy and security risk assessments to protect the entities from breaches of protected health information (PHI). The health care industry has accepted the HITRUST CSF as the most widely adopted security framework. Epstein Becker Green is the first law firm to become a CSF Assessor and the designation exemplifies the firm's distinct capability to identify and address risk for ...

Guest Post By:  Kenneth J. Kelly and Diana Costantino Gomprecht

It is not uncommon for international financial institutions to face the conundrum of being required to provide documents and information for litigations in the United States that would violate privacy laws in their home country or where their affiliates are located.  The most common issues arise in connection with discovery requests that seek information prohibited by the European Union (“EU”) Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) (PDF) that restricts the transfer and processing of broadly ...

By  Kara Maciel and Casey Cosentino

The restaurant and hospitality industries are no strangers to the tidal wave of wage and hour class action lawsuits. Restaurants and hotel operators located in states with employee-friendly laws like Massachusetts, New York, and California, are particularly vulnerable. This vulnerability was recently confirmed on April 30, 2012, when Texas Roadhouse, Inc. agreed to pay $5 million to settle a putative class action suit filed by wait staff employees from nine restaurants in Massachusetts.

In Crenshaw, et. al, v. Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (No ...

By Jeffrey M. Landes, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Jennifer A. Goldman, with Teiko Shigezumi

On April 25, 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued an enforcement guidance document titled "Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et. seq." (the "Guidance"), with respect to employers' use of arrest and conviction information in connection with employment decisions.

Disparate Treatment v. Disparate Impact

Although ...