OSHA’s recent string of hotel inspections in response to formal safety and health complaints filed by UNITE-HERE and others on behalf of hotel housekeepers is under serious scrutiny from the House of Representatives Subcommittee that oversees OSHA’s operations. OSHA leadership is defending its decision to inspect hotels, and is signaling that OSHA will not shy away from inspecting employers in the midst of organizing campaigns and/or contentious bargaining over labor agreements.
Over the last year, OSHA received a number of formal, written ...
By Casey M. Cosentino and Eric J. Conn
On June 2, 2011, OSHA launched an enforcement National Emphasis Program focused on employers and hazards in the Primary Metals Industries (“Primary Metals NEP”). Establishments in the primary metals industries are those involved in extracting and refining metals from rocks containing iron, lead, nickel, tin and other primary metals, and smelting ferrous and nonferrous metals, including ore, pig and scrap, during rolling, drawing, casting and alloying metal operations. Some products manufactured in this sector include nails ...
by Michael S. Kun, Eric A. Cook, and Jennifer A. Goldman
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed two employment-related bills into law, raising the stakes for employers doing business in California. The two laws, which increase the penalties for employers that wrongly classify employees as independent contractors or engage in "wage theft," both go into effect on January 1, 2012.
Misclassification of Workers as Independent Contractors
The first of the new laws, SB 459, directly impacts employers that classify workers as independent contractors. Referred to by critics as the ...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has increased its efforts to encourage large corporations to enter into Nationwide Universal Agreements to Mediate (UAM). To date, more than 200 private-sector employers, including several Fortune 500 companies, have entered into UAM agreements with the EEOC at the national level. Additionally, EEOC district offices have entered into 1,743 mediation agreements with employers at the local level.
The EEOC’s focus on UAMs, which apply to individual-charges of discrimination, but not to class ...
Most employers are well versed in the FMLA requirements; however, I recently received a call from one of our hospitality clients seeking guidance on administering intermittent FMLA leave. Specifically, the hotel was seeking advice on how to manage a Housekeeping Department employee who was approved for intermittent FMLA leave and had recently increased the frequency of his days off with little or no notice of the need for leave.
Notably the FMLA and supporting regulations do not provide much guidance for employers. It is clear from the regulations ...
By Alexis M. Downs and Eric J. Conn
Employers who operate laboratories are suddenly receiving a high level of attention from federal safety and health regulators. Following a string of serious laboratory accidents, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (the “CSB”) posted an informational video on its website detailing hazards at chemical laboratories, based on a study of 120 explosions, fires, and chemical releases at university and other research laboratories (view the CSB’s Lab Safety Video here). At the same time, federal OSHA just published a ...
By Casey M. Cosentino and Eric J. Conn
There is an on-going trend by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) to leverage popular technology to increase public and consumer awareness of the laws and regulations it enforces. Indeed, the DOL is continually exploring creative ways to share information with the public using the fastest and most-wide reaching means available. Through technology, the DOL is intentionally providing employees and consumers with enforcement data about companies, particularly hotels and restaurants, so that they can make informed employment and ...
By: Ana S. Salper
With the recent surge in class action wage and hour lawsuits, hospitality employers have developed a heightened sensitivity to tip pooling arrangements, distributions of service charges to employees, and application of the “tip credit.” A case before the U.S. Supreme Court this month, Applebee’s International Inc. v. Gerald A. Fast et al., is likely to add further fuel to the fiery “tip credit” world, as the high court will have to decide whether tipped employees should be paid minimum wage for nontipped tasks employees perform.
Under the Fair Labor ...
On September 28, 2011, a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) administrative law judge (ALJ) found that Knauz BMW lawfully terminated the employment of Robert Becker, a salesperson, after he posted pictures and comments on his Facebook page about two different workplace incidents -- an automobile accident and a dealership sales event. The judge also found that several Employee Handbook policies, unrelated to social media postings, contained overly broad language. Karl Knauz Motors, Inc. d/b/a Knauz BMW and Robert Becker, Case No. 13-CA-46452 (Sept. 28 ...
By Casey M. Cosentino and Eric J. Conn
OSHA recently renewed a Local Emphasis Enforcement Program (“LEP”) that targets hotel operators in OSHA’s Region 2, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The directive outlining OSHA’s Hotel LEP is available on OSHA’s website.
The Hotel LEP was launched in October 2010, and during the first year of the initiative, OSHA limited enforcement inspections to hotels in the Virgin Islands. According to an OSHA Region 2 official, the agency started in the Virgin Islands because of a high number of ...
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