Workforce Bulletin

 By Nancy Gunzenhauser, Susan Gross Sholinsky and Jeff Landes

With the Supreme Court’s influential decision in June, declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, the tides are moving in favor of federal legislation on gay, lesbian, and transgender workplace rights. On November 7, 2013, the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ("ENDA"), prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.

ENDA has quite the history in Congress; it has been introduced in every legislative session since 1994, except for ...

I recently coauthored a Client Alert, “IRS Chips Away at the FSA 'Use-or-Lose' Rule” with Jeffrey Lieberman, one of my colleagues in the Employee Benefits practice at Epstein Becker Green.

The following is an excerpt:

Under new guidance issued by the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, Section 125 cafeteria plans can be, but are not required to be, amended to allow up to a maximum of $500 of unused amounts remaining at the end of a plan year in a participant’s health flexible spending account to be carried over to the next plan year and used to reimburse the plan ...

By Lindsay A. Smith

Last month, OSHA unveiled its List of the 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards for fiscal year (“FY”) 2013 (i.e., October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013).  The announcement came at the 2013 National Safety Council Congress and Expo.

Here is the full list for FY 2013:

1. 1926.501 – Fall Protection (cited 8,241 times during FY 2013)
2. 1910.1200 – Hazard Communication (cited 6,156 times during FY 2013)
3. 1926.451 – Scaffolding (cited 5,423 times during FY 2013)
4. 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection (cited 3,879 times during FY 2013)
5. 1910.305 – Electrical ...

On Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 3 PM (Eastern) / 2 PM (Central), Eric J. Conn, Head of the national OSHA Practice Group at Epstein Becker & Green will conduct a free webinar focused on OSHA’s enforcement landscape as it relates to work on top of rolling stock (specifically railcars) at grain elevator facilities.  This is the second in a series of OSHA law related webinars for the grain industry in conjunction with Grain Journal.

Whether it’s prepping cars down track away from the elevator, helping to guide a load out spout into a railcar, or allowing state or federal grain inspectors ...

Yesterday, in his first public address since being confirmed by the Senate, NLRB Board Member Kent Y. Hirozawa shared with the attendees of EBG's 32nd Annual Client Labor and Employment Briefing his views on the current Board and what to expect from it.

Yesterday, in his first public address since being confirmed by the Senate, NLRB Board Member Kent Y. Hirozawa shared with the attendees of EBG's 32nd Annual Client Labor and Employment Briefing his views on the current Board and what to expect from it.

By John F. Fullerton III

At the Firm’s 32^nd Annual Client Briefing held yesterday, I spoke on the financial services industry panel about the Dodd-Frank bounty program and the whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions of both the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley Acts.  Here are a few takeaways from that session:

• There have been at least three reported awards from the SEC to anonymous tipsters under the Dodd-Frank bounty program, the most recent of which, earlier this month, was an award of $14 million to a whistleblower whose information led to the recovery of “substantial ...

By Alaap Shah and Marshall Jackson

Data is going digital, devices are going mobile, and technology is revolutionizing how companies operate. It seems to be business as usual, as your hospitality company continues to collect, use and transmit large amounts of sensitive data to operate the business. You have even taken measures to help guard against the “typical” risks such as lost laptops, thumb drives and other electronic devices. However, unbeknownst to you, hackers sit in front of their computers looking for ways into your network so that they may surreptitiously peruse ...

By: Alaap Shah and Marshall Jackson

Data is going digital, devices are going mobile, and technology is revolutionizing how companies operate. It seems to be business as usual, as your hospitality company continues to collect, use and transmit large amounts of sensitive data to operate the business. You have even taken measures to help guard against the “typical” risks such as lost laptops, thumb drives and other electronic devices. However, unbeknownst to you, hackers sit in front of their computers looking for ways into your network so that they may surreptitiously peruse ...

By: Andrew J. Sommer

San Francisco has just become the first municipality in the country to pass a law providing working parents and caregivers the “right to request” flexible or predictable work schedules. The law, which will take effect on January 1, 2014, applies to employers with 20 or more employees within the City of San Francisco.  Known as the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance, the new law allows San Francisco-based employees, after completing six months of employment, to request a flexible or predictable working arrangement so that they can assist with caregiving ...