Workforce Bulletin

In our new Advisory, "Responding to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Update on Best Practices for Employers," we review significant developments since our January 30th Advisory.

Following is the "What Employers Should Do Now" section of the new Advisory:

• Appoint a single individual or department as the point of contact within your organization for questions about Coronavirus and to ensure a coordinated and consistent response to all inquiries.
• Provide updated information to employees about the symptoms of COVID-19 and affected areas.
• Educate supervisors on the ...

A Trending News video featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Last week, government agencies released several different coronavirus guidance documents for employers:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released general guidance as well as separate guidance for health care employers.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released general guidance and additional industry-specific guidance for health care, death care, laboratories, airline operations, border protection, and waste management.
• California’s ...

A Trending News interview with our colleague Michael Ferrell of Epstein Becker Green, as featured in #WorkforceWednesday. As Mike discusses, Kickstarter employees voted to unionize last week. This is the first big unionization in the technology industry, and it could signal more union activity to come.

On January 29, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which would change federal laws pertaining to consumer reporting agencies and credit checks in a number of ways. Significantly for employers, the Act includes an amendment (originally H.R. 3614 - “Restricting Credit Checks for Employment Decisions Act”) to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), which would restrict the use of credit information for most employment decisions.

Currently, the FCRA does not expressly prohibit employers from using credit checks ...

A Trending News video featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  According to The New York Times, over 200 executives have been ousted since 2017, leaving some wondering – is #MeToo over? Far from it.

This dynamic, macro-equity movement has led to numerous workplace regulations that encompass broader pay equity and diversity and inclusion efforts. Privileged pay equity audits are one proactive tool.

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) continues to provide ongoing substantive and procedural guidance regarding the implementation of the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Program (“PFML”). As previously reported, prior guidance has addressed how to determine if an employer meets the 25-covered individual threshold for reporting purposes, whether to count visa holders as part of the workforce for PFML purposes. Last week, the DFML provided clarification as to the requirements for an employer to qualify for reimbursement for ...

Time is running out. The effective date of New York’s cybersecurity law mandating that organizations implement an information security program to protect “private information” of New York State residents, including employee and consumer data, is now only 45 days away. New York’s law requires the implementation of a cybersecurity program, including reasonable protective measures such as risk assessments, workforce training and incident response planning and testing. Businesses should immediately take steps to comply with the Act’s requirements effective March ...

Our colleague Janene Marasciullo, a Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, has a November 2019 post on the Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the financial services industry: “Enforcing Non-Solicitation Agreements Against Financial Professionals: A Court Finds Financial Professionals Have a Duty to Notify Clients About a Change of Employment.”

Following is an excerpt:

A recent decision in Edward D. Jones & Co., LP v. John Kerr (S.D.In. 19-cv-03810 Nov. 14, 2019), illustrates the unique challenges that ...

Predictable lifetime income is often of paramount concern to retirees.  Yet, as employer-sponsored retirement plans have moved away from the traditional pension plan model, participants in defined contribution plans may be faced with managing their own account balances and plan distributions, which may not lead to a steady stream of lifetime income in retirement.  The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), signed into law on December 20, 2019, may aid in securing retirements.   Employers who sponsor defined contribution ...

As we have previously blogged, use of third-party digital hiring platforms to select job applicants using video interviews can present an array of potential legal issues. A recent Complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) by a consumer advocacy organization, Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”), illustrates some of those potential pitfalls. EPIC asks the FTC to investigate the recruiting technology company HireVue for alleged discriminatory screening of job applicants through its face-scanning software. HireVue asks job applicants to ...