Wage & Hour

Expert Analysis

• 4 Compliance Concerns For Multistate Remote Work Setups

  

  As pandemic remote work arrangements prompt employees to relocate from their companies’ home states, employers should conduct state-specific analyses of wage, workers’ compensation, leave and discrimination laws to determine whether the advantages outweigh the daunting compliance obligations, say Celena Mayo and Laura Stutz at Wilson Elser.

• Federal Minimum Wage Should Be Indexed For Local Markets

  

  The Biden administration should implement an indexed minimum wage based on the average wages in each local labor market instead of mandating a $15 federal minimum wage in all metro areas, which could grossly distort service sector compensation and discourage bidding on federal contracts, says Stephen Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.

• How Biden's First 100 Days Will Affect Gov't Contractors

  

  Joseph Berger and Thomas Mason at Thompson Hine examine the significant opportunities for government contractors arising from actions during the first 100 days of the Biden administration, which set the stage for unprecedented investment in national infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, research and development, clean energy, pandemic response and economic recovery.

• How $15 Minimum Wage Order May Affect Gov't Contractors

  

  Attorneys at Arnold & Porter examine the potential impacts of President Joe Biden’s minimum wage increase for federal government contractors and discuss whether contractors will be able to recover additional labor costs associated with the increase.

• Employer Compliance Tips For Calif. Heat Recovery Breaks

  

  As the weather warms up, California employers can reinforce worker safety and reduce class action risk by managing state requirements for breaks to prevent heat illness, which are significantly different from regulations for meal and rest breaks, says Michael Nader at Ogletree.

• Defense Strategies For FMLA Litigation: Part 2

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Key steps in responding to Family and Medical Leave Act complaints involve considering arguments that the employee was not entitled to benefits or was not prejudiced by the company’s FMLA violation, and carefully developing a discovery strategy, say attorneys at Jones Day.

• Defense Strategies For FMLA Litigation: Part 1

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  When it comes to responding to a complaint under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the first step is to identify the plaintiff's theory of liability and the second step is to begin investigating to determine the strengths or weaknesses of the case, say attorneys at Jones Day.

• Averting Risk In Back-To-Work Vaccine And Screening Policies

  

  Employers trying to get their employees back to the workplace should evaluate their existing COVID-19 vaccine and screening policies against evolving federal, state, and local laws and regulations, to address compensation, leave and anti-discrimination issues, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

• Employee Choice Is Better Alternative To Anti-Arbitration Bill

  

  Instead of enacting the recently reintroduced federal Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act and eliminating the use of predispute arbitration pacts — including for workplace conflicts — lawmakers should consider an approach that would allow employees to decide whether arbitration proceedings are public or private, say attorneys at Proskauer.

• Key OFCCP Compliance Considerations Under Biden Admin.

  

  With the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs expected to fulfill several affirmative action initiatives under the Biden administration, federal contractors should prepare for a new verification interface, review demographic statistics and conduct annual pay equity evaluations, say Joanna Colosimo and David Cohen at DCI Consulting.

• NYC Fast Food Worker Protections May Portend 'At Will' Shift

  

  Two new laws in New York City that eliminate fast food employers' discretion to discharge employees at will signify fundamental changes to the bedrock of U.S. employment law, and could foreshadow additional state and local restrictions on workforce management, say Harris Mufson and Julia Hollreiser at Proskauer.

• The Limitations Of 5th Circ. FLSA Class Cert. Ruling

  

  District courts in several circuits have declined to follow the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision abandoning the two-step class certification process for Fair Labor Standards Act cases in Swales v. KLLM Transport, demonstrating the ruling’s narrow impact, say Christine Webber and Stacy Cammarano at Cohen Milstein.

• Title IX Compliance Hasn't Changed — Yet

  

  Despite perceptions of the dismantling of Trump-era Title IX policy, President Joe Biden's recent executive order on the topic does not actually change the regulation and sheds very little light on exactly how the administration intends to alter the rules to fit its agenda, say Lauren Tompkins and Sarah Moore at Fisher Phillips.