On June 13, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its decision in Atlanta Opera, overruling the Trump-era SuperShuttle DFW, Inc. standard and reverting back to the Obama-era FedEx Home Delivery (FedEx II) standard. Such a shift makes it more difficult for employers to prove workers are independent contractors, thereby giving National Labor Relations Act protections to a broader range of workers and making it easier for workers to organize a union.
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.
It was widely reported last month—including by the Wall Street Journal and Associated Press— that the U.S. government is investigating alleged collusion by some companies to “increase the chances that their prospective foreign hires will win a coveted H-1B visa for skilled foreign workers in this year’s [visa] lottery,” as the Wall Street Journal
We’ve emerged from the traditional winter season of flu, strep, and stomach viruses (often on repeat for those with small children) and are well into the traditional spring season of sneezing, sniffling, and coughing. As such, it is worth considering the role healthcare plays in each of our lives. For some, we might have found ourselves at the doctor a few times over the past year—once for an annual wellness visit and once or twice for antibiotics.
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. The OFCCP refers to this recission as a return to “longstanding policy in place for more than 17 years to determine applicability of the religious
Many 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.
Husch Blackwell’s Donna Pryor and Laura Higbee provide an update to our January post on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) intention to convene a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel (SBAR Panel). This panel would help decide whether OSHA should enact a Prevention of Workplace Violence in Healthcare and Social Assistance standard. Read more
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.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has made several announcements, including Directives, Notices, and Proposals in their quest to embark on initiatives that significantly impact federal contractors’ affirmative action obligations. These changes contemplate substantive changes to regulations and existing interpretations of the regulations but are cloaked in terminology such as “guidance” and a proposal to OMB to renew data collection. Many of these initiatives obligate regulated parties to undertake additional significant compliance burdens under the threat of enforcement actions. This blog post, part 1, will discuss two of the changes and the resulting challenges faced by federal contractors: 1) OFCCP’s new interpretation of federal contractors’ obligation to evaluate compensation systems as described in Directive 2022-01 and 2022-01 Revision 1, and 2) the contractor portal. Other changes will be addressed in Part 2 of this series.