Employers finally have some guidance regarding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which went into effect on June 27, 2023. On August 11, 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the law. The proposed rule will now enter a 60-day comment period, during which interested parties can
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt that an employee who earned more than $200,000 a year was not exempt from overtime pay under the FLSA’s highly compensated employee exemption.
The highly compensated employee exemption applies to employees who meet all the following criteria:
After a dramatic few days, Maryland joins nine other states (and the District of Columbia) in implementing a paid family and medical leave program. On March 31st, the Maryland General Assembly passed “The Time to Care Act of 2022,” which established the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund. Just eight days later, on April 8
Last week, the Senate passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (H.R. 4445) (the “Act”), which prohibits the enforcement of mandatory arbitration agreements in connection with sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. The measure had previously passed in the House on February 7th. Although President Biden has not
Over the weekend, in a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit lifted the stay of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) regarding mandatory employee vaccination or testing requirements. The ETS was originally issued on November 5, 2021 but was stayed by the Fifth Circuit on November 6, 2021.
In its decision to lift the stay, the Sixth
In July, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to develop enforcement and implementation procedures for President Biden’s Executive Order 14026. Executive Order 14026, which was signed on April 27, 2021, requires federal contractors to pay their employees at least $15.00 per hour beginning January 30, 2022. Beginning January
The light at the tunnel is near! Due to the increase in vaccinations in the United States, the CDC has issued updated guidance regarding “fully vaccinated” individuals. For purposes of the guidance, an individual is considered fully vaccinated two or more weeks after receiving the second shot of a two-dose vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) or
On December 16 the EEOC updated its guidance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic to include questions and answers regarding the COVID-19 vaccination. Per the guidance, employers may mandate employees receive the vaccine, but employers who do so, must keep in mind employment non-discrimination laws. Noteworthy provisions of the updated guidance are summarized below:
On Saturday, September 26, 2020, President Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals as his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A conservative justice serving for the Court of Appeals covering Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin since 2017, Judge Barrett aligns herself as more of a textualist
On May 6, 2020, the United States Department of Education (“Department of Education”) released its Final Rule updating Title IX regulations and addressing sexual misconduct in schools. The Final Rule codifies sexual harassment as unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX. Although the Department of Education had previously addressed sexual harassment through Dear Colleague Letters and