On September 17, 2020, Governor Newsom signed a historic expansion of the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”). Here’s what California employers need to know about the expanded law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2021:
The new law expands which companies are required to provide job-protected family and medical leave.
The independent contractor/employee classification conundrum is nothing new. Courts, state legislatures, and even the IRS have developed a slew of multi-factor tests to assess whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. Mixed among these tests is arguably the most significant-the U.S. Department of Labor’s six-factor test, which is now being given a much-needed makeover. On September 22, 2020, the DOL released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, announcing an employer-friendly proposed rule that nixes a balancing test in favor of a test that focuses on the two factors that matter.
As the rule currently stands, the DOL has a six-factor test to assess the worker’s economic dependence on the business, including: (1) the business’s control over the workers; (2) the permanency of the relationship; (3)the workers’ investment in facilities and equipment; (4) the skill required to complete the work; (5) the opportunities for profit or loss; and (6) the extent to which the workers’ services are integrated into the business. No one factor is given more weight than any other.
Continue Reading It Takes Two: The DOL’s Proposed Rulemaking Regarding FLSA Worker Classification
Today, most Americans live in a jurisdiction that has enacted a “ban-the-box” law (also known as a “fair chance” law). Ban-the-box laws restrict employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal background at various stages of the hiring process. The purpose of these laws are to enable an ex-offender to display his or her qualifications in the hiring process before he or she must disclose a criminal record. In fact, the origin of the laws’ colloquial name is the “box” that initial job applicants must check if they have a prior conviction. These laws benefit an estimated 70 million people in the United States (or almost one in three U.S. adults) who have prior arrests or convictions.
Currently, there is no federal ban-the-box law generally applicable to private sector employers. However, on December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Fair Chance Act (also known as the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019) which prohibits federal agencies and government contractors from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history before making a conditional employment offer, unless a specified exception applies. The law includes exceptions for law enforcement and national security positions that require access to classified information, and where an employer is legally obligated to conduct a criminal background check before making a conditional employment offer.
Continue Reading North Carolina Also Bans-The-Box
Four months ago, the Dow was close to 30,000, employment rates were at historic highs, the coronavirus was still “novel,” and millions had not yet taken to the streets in global protests against police brutality and racial inequality. The workplace we now return to exists in
Here’s the scenario – Your Ambulatory Clinic just reopened in May, and since then one of the RN’s, let’s call her Rita, has been late multiple times, and is often on her phone when she should be working. When she was called in by the Director, Rita said, “I have been late because I feel this place is unsafe. Patients are coming in without face masks, we don’t have sanitizer at the desk, and this is just not a safe work situation. I want to make a complaint.”
The answer to all of these questions is YES. Rita may have a claim, she can sue, and finally, yes you should still give her the lateness warning. Healthcare providers beware, this type of complaint may well become more prevalent.
Continue Reading Not What The Doctor Ordered – A New Whistleblower Law for NY Healthcare Employers
Amidst the COVID-19 melee, the New York legislature passed its Budget for Fiscal Year 2021, which included a mandatory paid sick leave bill, signed by Governor Cuomo on April 3, 2020.
For better or worse, this enactment will usher in “the strongest Paid Sick Leave in the nation.”
The Paid Sick Leave law will take effect 180 days after its signing, on September 30, 2020, although employees may not begin to use accrued sick leave until January 1, 2021. New York employers should begin to think ahead about how the Paid Sick Leave law, summarized below, will impact their current leave policies.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) is effective today, April 1. In honor of this undoubtedly daunting occasion for employers with less than 500 employees, we analyze the most significant provisions from the Department of Labor’s updated FAQs, which fill in gaping holes in the legislation that left employers (and counsel) puzzled. For employers with fewer than 50 employees, we also examine recent DOL guidance on the “small business exemption” and identify the ways in which employers can qualify for this exemption.
Continue Reading Updated DOL Guidance – What Employers Need To Know On The First Day Of The FFCRA
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued the first round of guidance regarding the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).
This guidance includes: Fact Sheet for Employers; Fact Sheet for Employees; and Questions and Answers. Although much of the DOL’s guidance echoes what we already knew (or guessed) about the FFCRA, the DOL did address some issues that employers have been grappling with since its enactment last week.
Below is a summary of the pertinent highlights:
Continue Reading New DOL Guidance Puts Employers on Notice: FFCRA Takes Effect on April 1
On March 18, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”), which creates the Family Medical Leave Expansion Act and Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act in order to provide protections for employees who need to take leave during the COVID-19 health crisis. Employers should be prepared for the below provisions to take
On the evening of Monday, March 16, the House amended the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) (HR 6201) by amending the bill with what are being called “technical corrections.”
The previous bill, passed by the House on March 14, contained two main centerpieces: (1) new paid Family and Medical Leave to deal with the
