Workforce Bulletin

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week on our special podcast series, Employers and the New Administration, employers await action from two agencies: the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Guest attorney Bob O’Hara discusses the regulatory actions employers should anticipate. Attorney David Garland leads the conversation.

Employers and the New Administration is a special podcast series from Employment Law This Week®, with analysis of the Biden administration’s first 100 days ...

Can an employer be held liable under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) for retaliation if it takes some adverse action against a former employee? Until recently, only one federal appellate court had addressed the issue, holding that the FCA does not cover post-employment retaliation.[1] However, on April 1, 2021, the Sixth Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in United States ex rel. Felten v. William Beaumont Hospital, creating a circuit split and different rules for employers in different jurisdictions.

Background

In 2010, David Felten filed an action on behalf of the United ...

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  This week, some practical updates on posting requirements, reporting deadlines, and new COVID-19 leave in California.

Video: YouTube, Vimeo.

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ("ARPA"), signed into law on March 11, 2021, employers will be required to provide, on a tax-free basis, a subsidy to employees and their qualified beneficiaries to pay 100% of the COBRA continuation premium for group health plan coverage. This subsidy applies only to “assistance eligible individuals,” who are eligible for COBRA as a result of an involuntary termination of employment or a reduction in hours and who are, or could have been, eligible for COBRA during the period of April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021 (the "Subsidy ...

Our colleagues Denise Dadika and Vidaur Durazo of Epstein Becker Green have a new post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to our readers: "Changing Floors: Minimum Wage Increases for Health Leaders to Consider".

The following is an excerpt:

2021 is set to be a landmark year for the number of jurisdictions raising wage floors across the country. According to a National Employment Law Project report, as of January 1, 2021, 20 states and 32 municipalities raised their minimum wage. By the end of 2021, the report tracks that as many as 24 states and 50 ...

On March 4, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed House Bill 6515, an “Act Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” also known as the CROWN Act (the “Act”).  This legislation bans natural hair discrimination in the workplace by amending Connecticut’s anti-discrimination statute to define “race” as being “inclusive of ethnic traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.”  (Conn. Gen. Stat. 46a-51(23)-(24)).   “Protective hairstyles” is defined to include, but not be ...

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  This week on our special podcast series, Employers and the New Administration, we look at what President Biden’s support for unions throughout his political career might mean for labor management relations.

In this episode, Glenn Spencer, Senior Vice President of the Employment Policy Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and attorney Steve Swirsky discuss what employers can expect from the NLRB under the Biden administration. Attorney David Garland leads the conversation.

See below for the video edition and the extended ...

One of the changes included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Act”) is a temporary increase to the annual limit on pre-tax contributions to a dependent care flexible spending account (“DCFSA”) that can be excluded from income. For single taxpayers and married couples filing jointly, the limit increases to $10,500 (from $5,000) and for married individuals filing separately, the limit increases to $5,250 (from $2,500).  This change is effective for plan years beginning after December 31, 2020 and before January 1, 2022.

Employers who intend to amend their DCFSAs to ...

Today is “Equal Pay Day” in the United States, a symbolic date used to focus attention on gaps that exist between men’s and women’s wages.  Current estimates show that women still only earn 82 cents for every dollar a man makes.  While there are various opinions about the pay gap and what it means, today is not a day to celebrate; rather it is a day for honest reflection.  Ask the question: is your pay system equitable?

While reflecting on Equal Pay Day, also ask, what can employers do?  Treat pay equity as a business imperative and do a deep dive on pay systems and data.  Start with a ...

As we recently reported, as of March 12, 2021, all private employers in New York must provide their employees with up to four hours of paid leave to get each COVID-19 vaccination shot. The State has now released guidance on the new law (“Law”) in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”). Most importantly, the FAQs clarify that the Law does not create any retroactive benefit rights to paid vaccination leave. Accordingly, while an employer is free to apply the law retroactively if it wishes, the Law mandates that “only employees receiving vaccinations on or after March ...