Workforce Bulletin

On April 5, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a city ordinance requiring businesses which have employees working in the City to offer those employees six weeks of supplemental paid parental leave. If signed by Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco will be the first city in the country to require this benefit.

Current and Proposed Law

Currently, California employees are eligible to take six weeks of partially-paid leave under California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) law to bond with a newborn child or newly placed child for adoption or foster care, among other reasons ...

Our colleague Joshua A. Stein, attorney at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Retail Labor and Employment Law blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the technology industry: “Recent Decisions Reinforce That Accessible Technology Claims Are Not Going Away.”

Following is an excerpt:

As businesses continue to compete to provide customers and guests with more attractive services and amenities, we have seen increased utilization of technology to provide those enhanced experiences.  However, in adopting and increasingly relying on new technologies such as ...

Our colleague Joshua A. Stein, attorney at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Retail Labor and Employment Law blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the hospitality industry: “Recent Decisions Reinforce That Accessible Technology Claims Are Not Going Away.”

Following is an excerpt:

As businesses continue to compete to provide customers and guests with more attractive services and amenities, we have seen increased utilization of technology to provide those enhanced experiences.  However, in adopting and increasingly relying on new technologies ...

Epstein Becker Green's Valerie Butera was one of sixteen legal professionals  interviewed to provide a tip for Intelivert’s recent article titled “16 Legal Tips: Handling OSHA Citations the Right Way” (Intelivert, 2016).

The article notes that the lawyers weighed in with “simple, actionable tips that can help you craft your legal strategy and directly affect the outcome of your OSHA interaction.”

FINE INCREASES AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS

Ms. Butera’s tip focuses on recent increases in OSHA fines and criminal prosecutions. She explains that “now more than ever ...

[caption id="attachment_1842" align="alignright" width="113"] Frank C. Morris, Jr.[/caption]

In recent years, employers have increasingly turned to web based recruiting technologies and online applications. For some potential job applicants, including individuals with disabilities, such as those who are blind or have low vision, online technologies for seeking positions can prove problematic. For example, some recruiting technologies and web-based job applications may not work for individuals with disabilities who use screen readers to access information on the ...

Our colleague Frank C. Morris, Jr., attorney at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Financial Services Employment Law blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the technology industry: "New Online Recruiting Accessibility Tool Could Help Forestall ADA Claims by Applicants With Disabilities."

Following is an excerpt:

In recent years, employers have increasingly turned to web based recruiting technologies and online applications. For some potential job applicants, including individuals with disabilities, such as those who are blind or have low vision, online ...

Our colleague Frank C. Morris, Jr., attorney at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Financial Services Employment Law blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the retail industry: "New Online Recruiting Accessibility Tool Could Help Forestall ADA Claims by Applicants With Disabilities."

Following is an excerpt:

In recent years, employers have increasingly turned to web based recruiting technologies and online applications. For some potential job applicants, including individuals with disabilities, such as those who are blind or have low vision, online ...

As I have discussed in many of my prior blog posts, over the past few years there has been a significant expansion in accessibility cases brought under Title III of the ADA (and related state and local accessibility statutes) with the focus of the litigations transitioning from brick and mortar issues to accessible technology.  As businesses continue to compete to provide customers and guests with more attractive services and amenities, we have seen increased utilization of technology to provide those enhanced experiences.  However, in adopting and increasingly relying on new ...

Our colleagues in Epstein Becker Green’s Immigration Law Group recently published a special client alert: "USCIS Announces That the Congressionally Mandated H-1B Cap for Fiscal Year 2017 Has Been Reached."

Following is an excerpt:

On April 7, 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it had reached the Congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2017 (“FY17”). This announcement applies to both the general cap of 65,000 and the additional cap of 20,000 for those with advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

Read the full alert ...

Our colleague Michael Kun, attorney at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Wage & Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the retail industry: “Clarification of California’s Obscure 'Suitable Seating' Wage Rule Likely to Lead to More Employers Providing Seats – and to More Class Actions Against Those Who Don’t."

Following is an excerpt:

The Court explained, “There is no principled reason for denying an employee a seat when he spends a substantial part of his workday at a single location performing tasks that could reasonably be done while ...