#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS in Review, Biden Acts to Limit Non-Competes, NY HERO Act Model Safety Plans - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: Mandatory Vaccination, Tipped Worker Rule, and SCOTUS Rules Against Organized Labor - Employment Law This Week®
Since 2023, H-2A employers have navigated a complex framework for determining the proper wage for their workers. But it’s time to throw all that out the window – agriculture employers can celebrate because we’re back to the...more
Agriculture is an essential sector for the development and continued sustenance of any State and thus should be treated with the respect it deserves. This is why California has been enforcing various laws aimed at protecting...more
Washington employers face a wave of new workplace legislation, some of which recently became effective and some that will begin in 2026 and beyond. These new or modified laws address a broad range of topics, many of which...more
Washington lawmakers were busy this year, and a wave of new laws will have a major impact on the workplace. Employers must be aware of significant workplace laws taking effect within the next year, including 11 new laws that...more
The 2025 Colorado legislative session concluded on May 7, 2025. This latest session has brought a series of significant updates that are poised to reshape the compliance landscape for employers across the state. Among the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently announced a suspension in enforcing the 2024 rule from the Biden Administration that is designed to enhance protections for H-2A workers....more
The U.S. Department of Labor just quietly launched one of the most sweeping deregulatory efforts in recent memory, advancing over 60 proposals that could reshape workplace rules across industries. From overtime and minimum...more
The Labor Commissioner’s office recently published an updated version of its Frequently Asked Questions Page for California Paid Sick Leave. Here are some of the highlights of the updates: Agricultural Employees- The...more
In the spirit of the season, we are using our annual "12 Days of California Labor and Employment" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on employers. On the twelfth day of the holidays, my labor and...more
Immigration policy, in one form or another, touches virtually every business in the United States. All employers are subject to the requirements of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which established the I-9...more
As the year comes to a close, New Jersey businesses need to be mindful of the yearly increases in state minimum wage rates. The New Jersey Department of Labor announced in a press release that effective January 1, 2025, the...more
On September 29 and 24, 2024, respectively, California’s governor signed two bills that amend California’s Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act (HWHFA), the statewide paid sick leave law. AB 2499 expands who qualifies for...more
The Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling that gives employers a powerful tool to fight back against regulatory overreach will have a broad impact on just about every area of workplace law – and every industry. We’re looking...more
California employers in the agriculture industry are facing challenges this spring after two major developments last month. First, new rules took effect requiring employers to provide a special written notice to H-2A...more
Since 2011, the Wage Theft Prevention Act has required California employers to provide certain written information to new employees at the time of hiring and within seven days of any change. The Labor Commissioner provides a...more
On June 1, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that berry distributors were not liable as “client-employers” of agricultural workers. The plaintiff agricultural workers...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years — and this past...more
Puerto Rico’s second automatic increase in the minimum wage is July 1, 2023, from $8.50 per hour to $9.50 per hour. With limited exceptions, this increase will apply to all non-exempt employees covered by the Fair Labor...more
On the heels of the new rule for the H-2A program impacting nonimmigrant agricultural workers that took effect late last year, the Department of Labor recently published a follow-up rule introducing the methodology that...more
On Sept. 30, 2022, State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon announced that she has accepted the New York Farm Laborers Wage Board’s recommendation to lower the overtime threshold for agricultural workers from 60 hours down to...more
As we previewed previously, a number of hot-button legislative proposals made it to Governor Newsom’s desk this year – many of which would change the landscape for California employers. For the first time since the COVID-19...more
Eight months of legislative wrangling and dealmaking have come to an end as the California Legislature just wrapped up work for the year – and now employers across the Golden State turn their eyes to the governor’s office to...more
The mere fact that the plaintiff was building livestock enclosures on farms did not necessarily preclude his entitlement to overtime pay under the agricultural exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Seventh...more
Agricultural employers are often at the mercy of nature which causes constant fluctuations in labor needs. Given the unique nature of the agricultural industry, their workers have historically been exempt from minimum wage...more