Workforce Bulletin

By Eric J. Conn, Head of the OSHA Practice Group at Epstein Becker & Green

At the end of November 2011, OSHA announced that it had extended nationwide what had been a limited pilot enforcement program targeting chemical facilities' compliance with OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard in a few Regions of the country.  This new Chemical Facilities PSM National Emphasis Program (Chem NEP) establishes policies and procedures for inspecting workplaces covered by OSHA's PSM Standard.

The purpose of the Chem NEP is to allow OSHA to conduct many more, but focused inspections at ...

by Daniel R. Levy

On December 1, 2011, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, affirmed dismissal of a whistle-blowing and defamation lawsuit based in part on application of the New Jersey Health Care Professional Responsibility and Reporting Enhancement Act. In Senisch v. Carlino, A-6218-09T3 (N.J. App. Div. Dec. 1, 2011), the court held that a health care entity which had reported negative, but truthful, information to another health care entity about a former health care professional’s termination of employment could not be liable for doing so.

In this case, the ...

By Dena L. Narbaitz and Marisa S. Ratinoff

While everyone awaits the California Supreme Court's ruling in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) – which is expected sometime in early 2012 and will determine the scope of an employer's meal and rest period obligations – employers must not lose sight of other important developments in California employment law. Below are brief summaries of some of the legislative enactments in California that will affect employers. Unless otherwise noted, these laws will take effect on January 1, 2012.

Read the full advisory ...

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

As the clock winds down on 2011, a truly remarkable year of OSHA enforcement, it is time to think about 2012.  Notwithstanding the fact that 2012 is an election year, and much of OSHA's rulemaking activities will be shelved until the day after the election, 2012 is likely to be another remarkable year in the OSHA universe, from significant enforcement initiatives to the completion of some major rules.

Below is a list of the 5 most important developments we expect to see out of the agency in the upcoming year:

1. Nationwide Chemical Facilities ...

by Dena L. Narbaitz and Marisa S. Ratinoff

While everyone awaits the California Supreme Court's ruling in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) – which is expected sometime in early 2012 and will determine the scope of an employer's meal and rest period obligations – employers must not lose sight of other important developments in California employment law. Below are brief summaries of some of the legislative enactments in California that will affect employers. Unless otherwise noted, these laws will take effect on January 1, 2012.

Read the full advisory online

 By Michael Kun

 On January 1, 2012, the minimum wage for employees working in San Francisco will rise to $10.24 per hour.　

This is, to our knowledge, the first time the minimum wage in any U.S. city has ever exceeded $10 per hour.

Employers with employees in San Francisco will need to make sure that they make appropriate adjustments to their payroll systems and practices to account for the increase.

By:  Evan Rosen

Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) voted, 2-1, to approve its Resolution to drastically amend the rules governing union elections.  While the Board’s stated reason for the amendment is to reduce unnecessary litigation, it is apparent that this purpose is a sham, and that the real reason is to make it significantly easier for unions to organize employees, especially those in the highly targeted hospitality industry. 

The Board did not vote on the entire proposal detailed in their June 22, 2011Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, but rather ...

by William J. Milani, Jeffrey M. Landes, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Jennifer A. Goldman

For the first time, in 2012, New York employers must provide all New York employees with an annual notice and acknowledgment of pay rate and pay date ("Notice") pursuant to the Wage Theft Prevention Act ("WTPA"), which amended the New York State Labor Law ("Labor Law"), effective April 9, 2011.

As we previously reported (see Act Now Advisory "Governor Paterson Signs Overhaul of New York State Labor Law" (Dec. 15, 2010), and Act Now Advisory "They're Here – New York State Department of Labor Issues ...

On November 17, 2011, the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions About Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part VII) and Mental Health Parity Implementation.  In FAQ 1, the Departments noted that they received many comments on the proposed regulations concerning the requirement to provide group health plan participants and beneficiaries with a summary of benefits coverage that accurately describes the benefits and coverage available under the plan and a uniform glossary of terms (“SBC”).  The FAQs provide that ...

By:      Forrest Read

The new Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) standards (the “2010 Standards”), set to take effect on March 15, 2012, create new compliance obligations and contain technical specifications impacting what have become fixtures in most hotel lobbies or common areas: automatic teller machines (“ATMs”).  As is customary when new standards are set to take effect and become enforceable, hotels with existing ATMs want to know whether and how their ATMs will be impacted by the 2010 Standards and whether they will be afforded any safe harbor protections for ...