Workforce Bulletin

Hospitality remains at the forefront of demanding industries where employers must be ever vigilant in their efforts to ensure full compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations. We highlight below five new or upcoming areas on which employers should focus.

– Jeffrey H. Ruzal

Hospitality Employers May Soon Face a Compliance Challenge: The New Proposed DOL Salary Threshold for “White Collar” Exemptions

Michael S. Kun

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has proposed a new rule that would increase the salary threshold for most “white collar” ...

This Employment Law This Week^® Monthly Rundown discusses the most important developments for employers heading into May 2019.

First up this month, the confusion is over for employers. EEO-1 pay data does not need to be submitted to the EEOC by the end of the month. In what may be the final chapter of the EEO-1 pay data reporting issue, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the deadline would be postponed until September 30, 2019. Our colleague Robert J. O'Hara shares his insights in this month's episode.

Watch the full episode below. 

Washington State has begun implementing its new Paid Family & Medical Leave program (“PFML”). Other states, such as New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island already have paid family and medical leave programs in place, and now Washington, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. are set to join them over the next few years. Although the benefits portion of Washington’s program does not kick in until 2020, employers’ reporting and remitting of premiums for Quarters 1 and 2 are due between July 1 and July 31, 2019.

The Washington Employment Security Department (“ESD”), which will ...

As we previously reported, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) recently issued regulations and guidance concerning employers’ obligations under the Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (“PFML”), including a quick-approaching deadline for providing notice to employees of their rights under the PFML. On May 1, the DFML announced that it is extending the deadline for employers to provide the employee notice from May 31, 2019 to June 30, 2019.

In addition, the DFML has moved the deadline for employers to apply for a private plan exemption for ...

Tuesday, May 7, 2019 – Downtown Dinner Program

Wednesday, May 8, 2019 – Repeat Suburban Lunch Program

Join our colleagues Lauri Rasnick, Kevin Ryan, and Peter Steinmeyer for an interactive panel discussion which will provide insights into recent developments and expected trends in the evolving legal landscape of trade secret and non-competition law. This program will also discuss unique issues and developments in the health care and financial services industry. Our colleagues will also be joined by Thomas J. Shanahan, Associate General Counsel at Option Care.

Issues ...

On April 25, a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled that the EEOC must collect Component-2 wage/hours worked data from employers by September 30, 2019.  The Court also ordered EEOC to collect two pay years (2018 and either 2017 or 2019). If the EEOC choses 2017 it will also be due on September 30.  If it chooses 2019, that data will be due March 31, 2020. The EEOC has until May 3 to determine which additional year will be collected.

The bottom line is that employers who file EEO-1’s now have two deadlines:  May 31 for the traditional race/ethnicity and gender snapshot, and September 30 ...

In an attempt to reduce the gender wage gap, the Washington State Legislature passed HB 1696,(“the Bill”), legislation that will prevent all private employers in Washington State from inquiring into the salary history of prospective employees  or requiring that an applicant's prior wage or salary history meet certain criteria.  Additionally, the Bill mandates that, upon an applicant’s request, an employer with 15 or more employees must provide the applicant with certain details about the pay rate or salary range for the open position.

If, as expected, the measure is signed ...

On April 5, 2019, FINRA published Regulatory Notice 19-10 (the “Notice”) addressing the responsibilities of member firms when communicating with customers about departing registered representatives.  As the Notice indicates, in the event a registered representative leaves a member firm, FINRA aims to avoid any disruption in the service of customer accounts and to ensure that customers can make a “timely and informed choice” about where to maintain their assets. The Notice contains two key points about what is expected of member firms in terms of customer communications ...

Webinar – Spring/Summer 2019

Internship programs can help employers source and develop talent, but they do not come without their pitfalls. If you are an employer at a tech startup, a large financial institution, a fashion house, or something else entirely, and you plan on having interns this summer, this webinar is for you. Learn the steps for creating a legally compliant internship program.

For many years, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) used the “six-factor test” when determining whether an employee was legally considered an unpaid intern, such that the ...

Our colleague Stuart Gerson recently authored an article in the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Backgrounder that will be of particular interest to our readers focused on privacy and cybersecurity: “Federal Preemption: An Essential Component of an Effective National Data-Security and Privacy Regime.”

Following is an excerpt:

Significant data breaches at every level of national life have pushed the privacy and security of personally-identifiable information (PII) to the forefront of state and federal policymakers’ agendas. In the interests of efficiency and ...