Workforce Bulletin

In the first meaningful revision of its joint employer regulations in over 60 years, on Monday, April 1, 2019 the Department of Labor ("DOL") proposed a new rule establishing a four-part test to determine whether a person or company will be deemed to be the joint employer of persons employed by another employer. Joint employer status confers joint and several liability with the primary employer and any other joint employers for all wages due to the employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), and it’s often a point of dispute when an employee lodges claims for unpaid wages or ...

Our colleague Brian Cesaratto at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Health Law Advisor Blog that will be of interest to our readers in the technology industry: "Harden Your Organization’s Domain Name System (DNS) Security to Protect Against Damaging Data Loss and Insider Threat."

Following is an excerpt:

Although there is no specific mention of DNS in HIPAA, the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, the GDPR or State cybersecurity laws or regulations, including California, Massachusetts or New York, an organization cannot comply with those regulatory frameworks requiring ...

Our colleague Tzvia Feiertag at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Health Employment and Labor Blog that will be of interest to our readers in the financial services industry: “NJ Employers and Out-of-State Employers with NJ Residents Prepare: State Updates Website on Employer Reporting for New Jersey Health Insurance Mandate.”

Following is an excerpt:

As employers are wrapping up their reporting under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) for the 2018 tax year (filings of Forms 1094-B/C and 1095-C/B with the IRS are due by April 1, 2019, if filing electronically), they ...

Our colleagues Jeff Landes, Jeff Ruzal, and Adriana Kosovych are featured on Employment Law This Week - Predictive Scheduling Laws, the New Normal? - Deep Dive Episode speaking on predictive scheduling laws and the impact on business. Taking the guesswork out of scheduling for wage workers is an attractive proposition for regulators. Laws that require employers to publish employee work schedules a certain amount of time in advance so that employees (especially those in the hospitality and retail industries) can have greater flexibility and work-time predictability to deal ...

Our colleague Sharon L. Lippett at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Health Employment and Labor Blog that will be of interest to our readers in the retail industry: “A Reminder from the DOL: Document a Plan’s Procedures for Designating Authorized Representatives.”

Following is an excerpt:

While the Information Letter does not directly respond to the query from counsel to the Entity, the DOL’s response indicates that the Entity could be an authorized representative. The DOL states that, although a plan may establish reasonable procedures for determining ...

Technology, media, and telecommunications organizations are at the forefront of tackling new challenges in handling employee information and managing employee populations. As legislatures (from the federal level down to states and cities) address how technology impacts today’s new workforce, employers must grapple with changes in managing data—from privacy concerns to the use of artificial intelligence in employment matters—and keeping workers happy, including dealing with wage increases, the rise in union activity, and contingent workers in the #MeToo era. A changing workplace landscape requires creative thinking and outside-the-box solutions.

Don’t forget – April 1 marks the beginning of a new set of sexual harassment training requirements in New York City. While the training requirement began across New York State on October 9, 2018 (and must be completed by October 9, 2019), the City imposes additional requirements on certain employers. Both laws require training to be provided on an annual basis.

While the State law requires training of all New York employees, regardless of the number of employees in the State, the City law applies only to employers with 15 or more employees. However, when counting employees ...

In a stinging rebuke of the Trump Administration’s attempt to remove burdensome regulations on employers, Judge Tanya Chutkan, a District Court judge in the District of Columbia this week reinstated the EEO-1 “Part 2” wage data/hours worked reporting form for all employers who file annual EEO-1 demographic reports with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") and the U.S. Department of Labor. (This includes all companies employing more than 100 people, or 50 people if they are a US federal contractor.)

This new data collection requirement, launched in 2016 by ...

Our colleague David M. Prager at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Wage and Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to our readers in the hospitality industry: “Overtime: DOL Proposes to Raise Salary Level for Overtime Exemption to $35,308.”

Following is an excerpt:

The U.S. Department of Labor has released a proposal to update the overtime rules under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers should be prepared to raise salaries to meet the minimum thresholds, pay overtime when appropriate, and otherwise adhere to the new rules if they go into effect.

Federal ...