Workforce Bulletin

On February 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split and ruled in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers that Dodd-Frank’s anti-whistleblower retaliation provision (15 U.S.C. § 78u–6(h)) does not protect employees who report alleged securities violations only to their employers, and not to the SEC.

Paul Somers ("Somers"), a former Vice President of Portfolio Management for Digital Realty Trust, claimed that his employer violated the whistleblower protections of Dodd-Frank by terminating him in retaliation for complaining to management about suspected ...

Featured on Employment Law This Week:  A California federal judge has ruled that a former GrubHub delivery driver was an independent contractor, not an employee.

The judge found that the company did not have the required control over its drivers for the plaintiff to establish that he is an employee. This decision comes as companies like Uber and Lyft are also facing lawsuits that accuse them of misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Carlos Becerra, from Epstein Becker Green, has more.

Watch the segment below and read our recent post.

James D. Schutzer is the Vice President at JDM Benefits, a consulting group that provides strategic benefits services to small and mid-size employers. His career in healthcare spans over 20 years and has included leadership roles in employee benefits and insurance sales. He spent 10 years working in sales for carriers like Wellpoint and Oxford Health Plans. Jamie frequently presents and lectures to many organizations on the topic of the Affordable Care Act and sat on the New York State Health Benefit Exchange Regional Advisory Council. In addition, Jamie is the Immediate Past ...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and first daughter Ivanka Trump have teamed up to develop a paid parental leave program in the United States.  While the plan is in its infancy, Senator Rubio reportedly envisions a plan similar to a proposal from the Independent Women’s Forum, calling for a parental leave program funded by new parents’ future Social Security benefits.  Under that proposal, parents could receive up to 12 weeks of benefits to take paid leave at any time in the first year of their new child’s life in exchange for what the Independent Women’s Forum hopes would be six weeks of ...

The United States Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) recently sent 1,000 Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters (“CSALs”) to 515 federal government contractors. The CSALs provide advance notice that contractor establishments may be audited by the OFCCP during the scheduling cycle, which ends September 30, 2018, to ensure compliance with the contractors’ non-discrimination/affirmative action obligations.

The CSALs were sent on February 1, 2018, to the attention of the Director of Human Resources of the ...

Our colleague Daniel R. Levy, at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility blog that will be of interest to our readers: "It’s a Brave New World: Protecting Trade Secrets When Traveling Abroad with Electronic Devices."

Following is an excerpt:

Consider the following scenario: your organization holds an annual meeting with all Research & Development employees for the purpose of having an open discussion between thought leaders and R&D regarding product-development capabilities. This year’s meeting is scheduled outside the United States and ...

Our colleagues Adam S. Forman and Kevin Sullivan, at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Wage and Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the hospitality industry: “Labor Issues in the Gig Economy: Federal Court Concludes That GrubHub Delivery Drivers are Independent Contractors under California Law.”

Following is an excerpt:

Recently, a number of proposed class and collective action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of so-called “gig economy” workers, alleging that such workers have been misclassified as independent contractors ...

What happened?

On January 17, 2018, a federal judge stayed enforcement of New York City’s (“City”) recently-enacted Fast Food Deductions Law (the “Deductions Law”). The order, entered by consent, was entered in a lawsuit challenging the law filed against the City by two leading foodservice advocacy organizations (Restaurant Law Center, et al. v. City of New York, et al., 1:17cv9128).  The stay is currently in place until the earlier of the determination of the parties’ dispositive motions or March 30, 2018.

What is the Fast Food Deductions Law?

The Deductions Law, which ...

On January 11, New York’s City Council passed Int. No. 1186-A, which amends the New York City Human Rights Law to expand the definition of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender.”  Previously, the law defined sexual orientation as meaning “heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.” The new definition takes a broader view and offers a more nuanced definition that recognizes a spectrum of sexual orientations, including asexuality and pansexuality.  As amended, the law defines sexual orientation as:

[A]n individual’s actual or perceived romantic ...

On January 30, in New York City, our colleague Michelle Capezza of Epstein Becker Green will be a panelist at the "2018 Technology Economic & Financial Outlook," hosted by the New Jersey Tech Council (NJTC).

From the “internet of things,” to the cloud, to autonomous cars, there is not a single industry segment that has not leveraged technology to develop better products and services for the benefit of their customers as well as their stakeholders.  As technology makes the world smaller, it also opens up endless opportunities for creativity and innovation. The panel will ...