Despite New York City’s already extensive anti-discrimination laws, the New York City Council recently passed a bill outlawing discrimination based on weight and height. Further, the City Council is considering various bills that significantly broaden protected categories for which discrimination is prohibited.…
Continue Reading NYC Employers Take Note – New and Proposed Anti-Discrimination Laws Coming Your Way
Veteran Hiring Benchmark Decreased to 5.4%
OFCCP released the national annual veteran hiring benchmark effective March 31, 2023, which measures the national percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force. Federal contractors are required to compare their percentage of hires who are protected veterans in each establishment on a facility-wide basis to the annual veteran hiring benchmark to measure the effectiveness of outreach and recruitment of veterans for employment. The national annual veteran hiring benchmark was decreased from 5.5% to 5.4% as of March 31, 2023. If a federal contractor has elected to calculate an individualized hiring benchmark using state-level availability of veterans, OFCCP has also updated state-level availability data.…
Husch Blackwell attorney Tracey O’Brien has posted about the March 31 OFCCP recission of the Trump administration’s Final Rule, Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption.
Continue Reading OFCCP Rescinds 2020 Final Rule Regarding Religious ExemptionMany companies have invested in and prioritized diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives over the past several years. And for good reason: DEIA initiatives have been proven to improve employee recruitment, retention, and morale, and to help mitigate risks associated with potential disparate treatment and discrimination claims by employees.…
The Paid Leave for All Workers Act, expected to be signed soon by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, would require nearly all covered Illinois employers to provide employees paid leave to be used for any purpose. Illinois would be just the third state to mandate paid leave – only Maine and Nevada have similar laws.
Once signed, the Act would take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and provide nearly all Illinois workers with a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave, or a pro rata number of hours, during a designated twelve-month period.…
Continue Reading Illinois Set to Mandate Paid Leave For All Employees
The Colorado Division of Labor and Employment (CDLE) had a busy last few weeks of December in 2022, revising a number of its Interpretive Notice and Formal Opinions (INFOs). On…
Continue Reading New Clarity: Colorado Employer Rights When Employee Fails to Return Money or Property at SeparationWith holidays and a new year fast approaching, it is an excellent time for employers to consider reviewing and revamping their Employee Handbooks or stand-alone policies that address company-recognized holidays.
Continue Reading Happy Holidays! For some, or for all? Revamping Your Employee Handbook Holiday Provisions to Ensure Inclusivity.While diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility have slowly made their way to the forefront of many employers’ minds, two dimensions of diversity are often overlooked in these discussions—neurodiversity and ability diversity. More than 1 billion people, 15% of the global population, live with a disability. Thus, employers must ensure that neurodiversity and employees and applicants with disabilities are properly represented in DEIA initiatives.…
Continue Reading Best Practices for Hiring and Retaining Individuals with Disabilities
A reminder for all Colorado employers: you have one month until you begin collecting premiums under Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI). FAMLI is Colorado’s state-administered insurance program that…
Continue Reading Colorado Employers Face January 1st Compliance Deadlines Under FAMLIGeneral Counsel Abruzzo continues in her efforts to micromanage your workplace by any means possible. She has issued one General Counsel Guidance Memo after another in her attempts to over-regulate your workplace. The basic premise with respect to her most recent GC memo, 23-02, is her alleged concern that electronic surveillance by employers is impairing employees’ ability to engage in protected concerted activity and keeping that activity confidential from their employer. In doing so, the General Counsel refers to case law that is, for the most part, dated and well-known in terms of the “do’s and don’ts” of improper employer surveillance in the workplace.
Continue Reading The NLRB and Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace
Businesses subject to the CCPA and that have California employees or deal with other California companies will need to engage in substantial efforts to update their privacy programs. We outline…
Continue Reading California Legislature Fails to Extend CCPA Employee and B2B Data Exemptions
