Workforce Bulletin

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 ...

Steven R. Blackburn, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice will co-present a Practising Law Institute in-person event and webcast on January 25, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. PST titled “Tech Sector Employment Law Hot Topics for the California Lawyer.”

This event will address current California employment law issues, with the added focus of how the latest, state-specific legal developments impact the tech sector, in particular.

Steven R. Blackburn’s program is titled, “Sexual Harassment in the Tech Sector - Employer Duties, Investigations ...

On December 20, 2017, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bi-partisan bill that effectively makes asking about expunged criminal records off-limits during the initial employment application process.

The law, an amendment to the New Jersey Opportunity to Compete Act (“OTCA”), generally referred to as the “Ban the Box” law, applies to employers with 15 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks who do business, employ persons, or take applications for employment within New Jersey. The OTCA generally prohibits employers from making any oral or written inquiry about an ...

As 2017 comes to a close, recent headlines have underscored the importance of compliance and training. In this Take 5, we review major workforce management issues in 2017, and their impact, and offer critical actions that employers should consider to minimize exposure:

1. Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment in the Wake of #MeToo
2. A Busy 2017 Sets the Stage for Further Wage-Hour Developments
3. Your “Top Ten” Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
4. 2017: The Year of the Comprehensive Paid Leave Laws
5. Efforts Continue to Strengthen Equal Pay Laws in 2017

Our colleague Laura A. Stutz at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to our readers in the retail industry: “New York City Council Passes Bills Establishing Procedures on Flexible Work Schedules and Reasonable Accommodation Requests.”

Following is an excerpt:

The New York City Council recently passed two bills affecting New York City employers and their employees. The first bill, Int. No. 1399, passed by the Council on December 6, 2017, amends Chapter 12 of title 20 of the City’s administrative code (colloquially ...

Our colleague Steven M. Swirsky at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Management Memo blog that will be of interest to our readers: “NLRB Reverses Key Rulings: Returns to Pre-Obama Board Test for Deciding Joint-Employer Status and for Determining Whether Handbooks, Rules and Policies Violate the NLRA – Assessment of 2014 Expedited Election Rules and Future Changes Also Announced.”

Following is an excerpt:

It should come as no surprise that recent days have seen a stream of significant decisions and other actions from the National Labor Relations Board as Board Chairman ...

When deliberations began regarding the first tax reform legislation in over thirty years, many raised concerns that tax reform measures would adversely affect retirement savings programs such as the 401(k) plan.  Now, as the tax reform proposals have become further vetted, the 401(k) approach to pre-tax retirement savings appears to remain intact and may actually survive “Rothification”.  The IRS also recently increased the 401(k) pre-tax savings contribution limit to $18,500 for 2018.  Despite the confirmed importance of retirement savings vehicles such as the 401(k ...

Employers in New York City are required to provide their employees with reasonable accommodations related to childbirth and pregnancy. The New York City Commission on Human Rights has published a new factsheet and notice. The notice should be provided to all employees upon hire, and posted in the workplace to provide employees with notice of their rights under the NYC Human Rights Law.

The notice and factsheet outline employers’ responsibilities with respect to pregnant employees, and recommend that employers work with employees to implement accommodations that recognize ...