Workforce Bulletin

Our colleagues Maxine Neuhauser and Amy E. Hatcher have written a client advisory: "Employer Posting Requirements Under New Jersey Law." Following is an excerpt:

The list of employee notices that New Jersey employers are required to post has grown this year. Accordingly, as 2012 comes to a close, New Jersey employers should take some time to review the notification requirements relating to employees' workplace rights and responsibilities under state law.

Employers are mandated under New Jersey law to display official posters informing their employees of the law relating to ...

by Michael D. Thompson

A posting and distribution requirement added to New Jersey’s prohibition on discrimination in pay went into effect on November 19, 2012.  Employers will not, however, be obligated to comply with the requirement until the New Jersey Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development issues the required notification form.

The notification form will explain the prohibition against gender discrimination in pay, compensation, benefits or other terms and conditions of employment (as set forth in N.J.S.A. § 34:11-56.2). 

Once the form is prepared, every New ...

By William Stein

In rolling out arbitration policies, retail employers should heed the recent California Court of Appeal decision Gorlach v. The Sports Club Co. That case gives employers reason to be cautious when asking employees to sign agreements requiring them to arbitrate any disputes arising out of their employment.  In that case, the trial court found the former Director of Human Resources, who was responsible for obtaining employees’ signatures on a mutual agreement to arbitrate claims, intentionally misled the company into believing that had signed the agreement ...

By Steven M. Swirsky

On Friday, November 16, I participated in a free 75-minute webinar discussion with Lafe E. Solomon, Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.  The webinar was moderated by Terence H. McGuire of the Practical Law Company.  We discussed:

• Factors that the NLRB considers when deciding whether to prosecute unfair labor practices based on these employment practices.
• Legal considerations surrounding these employment practices besides compliance with the National Labor Relations Act.
• The NLRB’s stance on what is and is not a lawful at will ...

By Amy Messigian

On September 8, 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act into law.  The law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2013, amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (the “Act”) to include a religious dress practice or a religious grooming practice as a belief or observance covered under the Act’s protections against religious discrimination.

The new law also specifies that it is not reasonable to segregate an employee from the public or other employees as an accommodation of the individual’s religious ...

By Michael Kun

Employers with operations in California have become aware in recent years of an obscure provision in California Wage Orders that requires “suitable seating” for some employees. Not surprisingly, many became aware of this provision through the great many class action lawsuits filed by plaintiffs’ counsel who also just discovered the provision. The law on this issue is scant. However, at least two pending cases should clarify whether and when employers must provide seats – a case against Bank of America that is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of ...

By Amy Messigian

On October 11, 2012, the California Supreme Court granted review of Patterson v. Domino's Pizza to address the circumstances in which a defendant franchisor may be held vicariously liable for tortious conduct by a supervising employee of a franchisee.

Like many fast food chains, Domino’s Pizza (“Domino’s”) is a franchising operation in which individual franchisees operate storefronts under the Domino’s name.

In Patterson, the plaintiff, a sixteen-year-old employee of a Sui Juris, a Domino’s Pizza franchisee (“Sui Juris”), alleged that she ...

By Paul H. Burmeister

The Site-Specific Targeting Program (SST) is OSHA’s primary “programmed” inspection plan for non-construction workplaces.  The SST Program is geared to address OSHA’s goal of reducing the number of injuries and illnesses that occur at individual workplaces, by directing enforcement resources to those workplaces where the highest rate of injuries and illness have occurred.

The SST is driven by data received from the prior year’s OSHA Data Initiative Survey.  Using the data from this annual survey, and criteria that change every year, such as ...

By: Michael S. Kun, as appeared on the Wage & Hour Defense blog

Employers with operations in California have become aware in recent years of an obscure provision in California Wage Orders that requires “suitable seating” for some employees. Not surprisingly, many became aware of this provision through the great many class action lawsuits filed by plaintiffs’ counsel who also just discovered the provision. The law on this issue is scant. However, at least two pending cases should clarify whether and when employers must provide seats – a case against Bank of America that is ...