Workplace Laws and Regulations

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On April 23, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced he would be extending the state stay-at-home order through May 30, 2020. The new extended order, which goes into effect on May 1, 2020, imposes a number of new restrictions, while lessening others.

New restrictions and requirements

  • Face covering required in public settings: Illinois residents over the age of two who are able to medically tolerate a face covering are required to wear face coverings when in public places where they are unable to maintain 6-foot distancing. Face coverings are also required in public indoor spaces such as stores.
  • Employers must provide employees with face coverings and PPE: Employers that are Essential Businesses and Operations and those engaged in Minimum Basic Operations, as those terms are defined in the order, must provide employees with face coverings and require employees to wear face coverings where maintaining a 6-foot distance is not possible at all times. Additionally, when the circumstances require, employers must provide employees with other personal protective equipment (PPE) in addition to face coverings.
  • Essential stores must provide employees with face coverings and follow additional distancing requirements: Consistent with the new required measure that employers provide face coverings/PPE to employees, retail stores designated as Essential Businesses and Operations under the executive order must provide face coverings to all employees who are not able to maintain 6-foot social distancing at all times. They must also, to the greatest extent possible:
    • Limit occupancy at 50% of store capacity or at the occupancy limits set by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity;
    • Set up store aisles to be one-way where practicable and identify the one-way aisles with signage and/or floor markings;
    • Inform customers about social distancing requirements established by the extended order through signs, announcements, and advertisements; and
    • Discontinue the use of reusable bags.
  • Manufacturers must follow social distancing requirements and take other precautions: In addition to following the social distancing requirements set forth in the order, manufacturers that continue to operate must take other appropriate precautions, which may include:
    • Providing face coverings to employees who are unable to maintain 6-foot social distancing at all times;
    • Staggering shifts;
    • Reducing line speeds;
    • Operating only essential lines;
    • Ensuring all spaces where employees may gather allow for social distancing; and
    • Downsizing operations to the extent necessary to allow for social distancing and a safe workplace.
  • Work-from-home encouraged, poster required: All businesses must evaluate which employees are able to work from home, and are encouraged to implement work-from-home arrangements when possible. If employees must physically report to a work-site, employers must post the guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and Office of the Illinois Attorney General regarding workplace safety during the COVID-19 emergency.

Continue Reading Face coverings required in Illinois, and other updates to stay-at-home order

New York state employers, it’s time to dust off and update your employee handbooks again.  Earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law that protects employees against discrimination on the basis of their reproductive health decision-making. The law, which mirrors a recent bill passed by New York City lawmakers, also requires that employers in…

The New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act takes effect today, October 29, 2018. Just in time for flu season.

If you are a New Jersey employer or an employer with employees in New Jersey, regardless of size or employee number, you are now required by law to provide one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked – up to 40 hours in a benefit year – to all employees (including part-time and seasonal) with the minor exceptions of: (i) per diem health care employees, (ii) construction workers employed under a collective bargaining agreement (who will later begin to accrue sick leave under the law on the date the agreement expires), and (iii) public employees previously entitled to sick leave benefits under state law.

Sick leave under the law begins to accrue on the law’s effective date (October 29th), or upon an employee’s later date of hire, and may begin to be used 120 days after an employee’s start of employment (or upon such earlier date that an employer permits).  Leave granted under the law may be advanced in whole, or be subject to accrual.

The state law preempts the various municipal laws previously in effect.  Employers who provide paid time off (PTO) banks are compliant with the Act provided the PTO may be used for the purposes and in the manner set forth under the state law and is accrued at a rate equal to or greater than the rate provided by the law.

An employer may choose the increments in which an employee may use earned sick leave, provided that the largest increment required does not exceed the number of hours an employee is scheduled to work for that shift (including any overtime). Acceptable reasons for using paid sick leave include: (i) for preventative care or the diagnosis, care, treatment or recovery of an employee’s own mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, or that of their family member; (ii) treatment, counseling or preparation for legal proceedings necessary following domestic or sexual violence to an employee or their family member; (iii) an employee’s need to attend school-related conferences, meetings or events regarding their child’s education, or to attend a school-related meeting concerning their child’s health; or (iv) an employee’s time off upon the employer’s closing, or the closing of their child’s school or child care provider, due to a public health emergency.
Continue Reading New Jersey Employers: The State Paid Sick Leave Law Is Now In Effect – Are You Ready?

Employers considering requiring their employees sign arbitration agreements with class waivers just got a real-world example of the effectiveness of such agreements. On September 25, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the enforceability of arbitration agreements signed by thousands of Uber drivers in California. In the underlying lawsuits, the Uber…

The United States District Court of New Jersey recently dismissed an employee’s disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation claims, holding that neither the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) nor the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA) required the employer to waive its drug testing requirements.

In Cotto v. Ardagh Glass Packing…

With a few minor tweaks here and there, your company has probably relied on the same severance and employment-related settlement agreements for years. Sure, you touch base with your friendly neighborhood employment lawyer from time to time to ensure there haven’t been any significant legal developments that necessitate revisions. But aside from peripheral alterations, these agreements have, by and large, retained their same basic form and content.

Among the most important terms of your company’s “form” severance and settlement agreements is the confidentiality clause. This provision protects your business from the public disclosure of potentially damaging allegations of workplace wrongdoing. This is particularly important when the asserted allegations exaggerate or skew the facts or are flat out spurious. Or when the alleged misconduct was perpetrated by a rogue manager, unbeknownst to management. Regardless of the reason, the confidentiality clause is of paramount importance. In fact, outside of the employee’s release of claims, your company – like so many others – considers this clause to be the seminal term of the agreement. Without it, your company might be far more hesitant, if not outright unwilling, to enter into potentially costly severance and settlement arrangements with current and former employees.

Two recently enacted laws – one at the federal level and one spurred by New York legislators – threaten to topple the long-standing use of confidentiality clauses in severance and settlement agreements, at least in cases involving sexual harassment. Below, we discuss each of these laws, as well as how you and your company can navigate the proverbial minefield of recent nondisclosure-related legislation.Continue Reading Are confidentiality clauses about to become a relic in sexual harassment cases?

Get ready, set…but wait…maybe not… As employers gear up to meet the swiftly approaching December 1, 2016, deadline to implement the Department of Labor’s (‘DOL”) new overtime pay requirements for white-collar workers, 21 states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and several other business groups filed legal challenges in various courts to halt the changes The DOL’s Final Rule was specifically designed to raise the salary of low-wage workers who perform exempt work, and therefore, do not qualify to be paid for overtime. Although some welcome this amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) for America’s workers, others believe the revisions basically ignore the type of work performed in favor of doubling the salary threshold for overtime exemption.  Although many employers are wondering if the filing of the new lawsuits will top the new rules from coming into force, they are advised to continue working diligently to adjust their business practices in order to ensure compliance with the law’s requirements until further notice.
Continue Reading We May Not Have Heard The Last Word . . . The New White Collar Exemption Rules

The California Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (“Healthy Families Act”) is fully effective July 1, 2015, including the significant potential for class-action liability for non-compliance. It is critical that employers ensure that their sick leave policy is current, given the ever-developing legal guidance. We have created a helpful list of common areas of confusion with this new law.

(1) General Background on the Healthy Families Act

The Healthy Families Act provides sick leave for absences from work for: (1) the diagnosis, care, or treatment (including preventive treatment) of an existing health condition of the employee or the employee’s family member, and (2) the employee being the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Family member is expansively defined to include children, parents, foster parents, legal guardians, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, spouses, and domestic partners.

The law requires employers to include information regarding accrual and use of sick leave with their employees’ wage statements. Further, employers must preserve these sick leave records for three years. Moreover, relevant posters and individual notices should have been posted and delivered as of January 1, 2015. New hires must also receive pertinent individual notices explaining their rights under the Healthy Families Act.

(2) Employees Must Provide “Reasonable” Notice.

The Healthy Families Act limits employers to requiring only “reasonable advance notification” of employee use of sick leave. Where unforeseeable, an employer may only require notice when “practicable.”Continue Reading California Sick Leave To Go into Effect July 1 – Be Aware of These Common Traps

The changes to employees’ rights to take leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) go into effect July 1, 2015. Your company should be prepared only if it has done the following:

  • Reviewed the changes to the CFRA regulations, which may be found here.
  • Updated your policies and employee handbooks to reflect the legal changes in CFRA eligibility, medical certification, and leave administration.
  • Trained managers, supervisors and human resources professionals on the CFRA legal changes.
  • Updated electronic and hard copy postings and notices regarding CFRA leave – ensuring they are legible; in large, easy-to-read text; with the postings in conspicuous places that can be viewed by both employees and applicants.
  • Ensured that all postings and notices are translated in any language(s) spoken by 10 percent or more of the workforce.

The amended CFRA regulations synthesize the requirements for CFRA leave with those under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to the extent there are no conflicts between the federal and state laws. Here are the key points in the revised CFRA regulations for employers:Continue Reading Is Your Company Prepared for the Changes to CFRA Leave?

The Colorado Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in Coats v. DISH Network, holding that the recreational use of marijuana is not a lawful activity under Colorado’s Lawful Activities Act (“Act”). The Act prohibits employers from terminating employees for off-hours lawful activities. The court applied the Act broadly, holding that the recreational use…