Workforce Bulletin

The number of whistleblower complaints is on the rise, according to the 2014 Annual Report to Congress on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program, and defending against them can be costly and disrupt business operations. Taking appropriate steps in response to internal complaints can go a long way toward minimizing the risk that the issue becomes an external dispute at OSHA or in court.

Understanding the Objectives A prompt investigation and an understanding of the objectives of the investigation are paramount. Employers should decide, for example, whether the goal is to create a ...

Since we last reported on the 2012 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) decision in Macy v. Holder,[1] the federal government has continued to extend protection under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) to transgender employees.  In July 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order 13672, prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Two months later, in September 2014, the EEOC filed its first-ever lawsuits alleging sex discrimination against transgender ...

My colleagues Steven M. Swirsky and Evan J. Spelfogel published a Management Memo blog post that will be of interest to many of our readers: "Regional Directors Report Data on The NLRB’s Amended Election Rules After One Month – Court Challenges Continue."

Following is an excerpt:

May 14th marked the one-month anniversary of the effective date of the NLRB’s Amended Representation Election Rules (“amended rules”).  That day, the Regional Directors for NLRB Regions 2 (New York, NY), 22 (Newark, NJ), and 29 (Brooklyn, NY) discussed their offices’ ...

We recently blogged about recent gender discrimination lawsuits filed against technology industry employers. Following in the wake of these lawsuits have been news stories regarding the lack of diversity in the technology industry. The scale of the statistical disparity, (for example, 90% of Twitter’s technical employees are male), creates major litigation risks for companies seeking to remedy this disparity. Technology companies eager to accept social responsibility for correcting these discrepancies must be careful not to inadvertently invite legal liability for ...

On May 5, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Wiersum v. U.S. Bank, N.A. (pdf) that the National Bank Act (“NBA”), 12 U.S.C. §24 (Fifth), preempted a bank officer’s state law whistleblower claim that he was wrongfully terminated for opposing the bank’s alleged unlawful conduct. This was a first-impression issue for the Eleventh Circuit, and the majority concluded that the state law claim was preempted because it directly conflicted with the power Congress vested in federally chartered banks to dismiss officers “at pleasure.”

Wiersum, a former Vice ...

As it gets hotter outside, employers should consider how best to protect their employees from work-related heat illness.  Thousands of workers fall victim to heat illness each year, and, tragically, many die from heat exposure at work.

Over the past several years, OSHA has significantly increased its focus on protecting employees from succumbing to heat illness.  Most recently, the agency has released a heat safety tool, available in both English and Spanish, which can be downloaded on an iPhone or Android device.  Employers can and should take advantage of this free app, which ...

As the economy becomes increasingly globalized, it is important for financial services industry employers to maintain their competitive edge by developing a robust toolkit of cross-border capabilities. The ability to transfer managers, executives, and other key personnel to the United States expeditiously for short-term or long-term projects or assignments is a growing business necessity. Fortunately, U.S. immigration law contains nonimmigrant (temporary) and immigrant (permanent) visa classifications specifically for managers and executives, and provides a ...

Today, Law360 published our article “Considering Best Data Practices for ERISA Fiduciaries.” (Download the full article in PDF format.)

In this article, we outline steps that ERISA plan fiduciaries can take to develop a policy concerning protection of plan data and prudent selection and monitoring of plan service providers who handle PII.  Benefit plan service providers, including technology-based outsourcing companies, should also consider these important guidelines and implement the appropriate safeguards to protect against infringement of plan and participant ...

With the ever-increasing amount of information available on social media, employers should remember to exercise caution when utilizing social media as a part of their Human Resources/ Recruitment related activities.  As we have discussed in a prior blog post, “Should Employers and Facebook Be Friends?” we live in a digital-age, and how people choose to define themselves is often readily showcased on social networking sites.  Whether – and how – employers choose to interact with the online presence of their workforce will continue to develop as the relevant legal standards ...

My colleagues Nancy L. Gunzenhauser and Barry A. Guryan published a Health Care and Employment Law blog post that will be of interest to many of our readers: “Massachusetts Issues Proposed Sick Leave Regulations.”

Following is an excerpt:

As we reported, last November, voters in Massachusetts approved a law granting Massachusetts employees the right to sick leave, starting on July 1, 2015.  The law provides paid sick leave for employers with 11 or more employees and unpaid sick leave for employees with 10 or fewer employees. While the law set forth the basics, many of the details ...