Effective January 26, 2022, New York will greatly expand whistleblower protections provided to employees and independent contractors, creating new compliance challenges and avenues of liability for employers....more
On November 10, 2021, the Biden Administration announced another change to the deadline for federal contractors to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as required by Executive Order 14042. ...more
11/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On November 4, 2021, the Biden Administration issued a Fact Sheet announcing the release of its long-awaited Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19...more
11/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) published its expected guidance regarding the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal government contractors. ...more
9/27/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In an attempt to contain the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden issued two Executive Orders on September 9, 2021 that mandate COVID-19 vaccines for federal government employees and employees of federal government...more
9/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On July 29, 2021, the Biden Administration announced a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for certain employees of federal government contractors. ...more
7/30/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On January 27, 2021, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the first state in the country to adopt permanent COVID-19 workplace safety and health standards. As we noted in a previous article, Virginia adopted an emergency...more
The new Biden administration wasted no time implementing changes at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). On January 20, 2021, the day of President Biden’s inauguration, the administration moved...more
Come Jan. 20, former Vice President Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the U.S.' 46th president. In the run-up to the election, the Biden campaign focused on pay equity issues and closing the wage gap as part of its platform to...more
1/7/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Labor Reform ,
OFCCP ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Transparency ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
On December 15, 2020, the District of Columbia Council unanimously passed the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020, under which the District of Columbia joins California and a small handful of jurisdictions...more
On September 14, 2020, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFFCP) requested approval from the Office of Management and Budget to require government contractors to certify on an annual basis that they are in...more
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) recently issued new FAQ guidance on how federal government contractors should treat non-binary employees (i.e., those who do not exclusively identify as either male...more
9/10/2020
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
OFCCP ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On August 31, 2020, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published its annual update to the minimum wage for federal government contractors. As of January 1, 2021, employees performing services on or in...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) settled a claim of gender pay discrimination against Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc., a pharmaceutical company, on August 18, 2020. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance...more
On July 15, 2020, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Health and Safety Codes Board (“Board”) voted 9-2 to adopt emergency temporary standards designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. As...more
Is Virginia the new California? That may be an exaggeration, but in April 2020 the Commonwealth took major steps away from its historically pro-employer climate to provide employees and independent contractors with new...more
On April 11, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Values Act (“Act”), which significantly strengthens the Virginia Human Rights Act’s prohibition on employment discrimination....more
On December 30, 2019, OFCCP issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors and Subcontractors: Procedures to Resolve Potential Employment Discrimination....more
1/2/2020
/ Comment Period ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Contractors ,
NPRM ,
OFCCP ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reviewability Determinations ,
Rulemaking Process
On September 11, 2019, the Department of Labor announced that whistleblower retaliation complaints under the Taxpayer First Act (TFA) will be handled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). ...more
9/24/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
OSHA ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Retaliation ,
Tax Fraud ,
Taxpayer First Act of 2019 (TFA) ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On September 10, 2019, the California Senate passed AB5, a sweeping bill to control the use of independent contractors in the nation’s largest state. With the California Assembly concurring in the Senate’s amendments to the...more
9/18/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On July 11, 2018, New York State enacted a sweeping new law aimed at combatting sexual harassment in the employment context. A year later, on July 22, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled...more
7/29/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Labor Regulations ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Preemption ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
In a welcome development for federal government contractors, OFCCP issued its second opinion letter on July 22, 2019. The opinion letter endorsed a process through which contractors can submit proposed pay analysis groups...more
On July 15, 2019, the EEOC opened its online filing system for the submission of EEO-1 Component 2 pay data. Employers that are required to file EEO-1 reports can now submit pay data broken down by job category, pay band,...more
7/19/2019
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
Employers may choose to implement arbitration programs to manage the costs and risks of employment-related litigation. Arbitration may minimize negative publicity, and may further assist employers to keep costs low and reduce...more