Workforce Bulletin

With the start of the New Year, employers in the hospitality sector should prepare for new state- and local- minimum wage increases for their non-exempt employees.  To help multi-jurisdictional employers easily navigate these changes, we have prepared the chart below, which summarizes the new minimum wage rates that have taken effect on January 1, 2020, unless otherwise indicated.  Check back here in June for a summary of the new minimum wage rates that will take effect July 1, 2020.

Earlier this summer, we reported on ground-breaking legislation in New Jersey that requires hotels with more than 100 guest rooms to supply hotel employees assigned to work in a guest room alone with a free panic button device and to adhere to a specific protocol upon activation of a panic button device by a hotel employee.  In what may signal the start of a national trend, Illinois just became the second state to pass similar legislation targeting not only hotels but also casinos located within its jurisdiction.

Under the newly created Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act (Article 5 of ...

Earlier this year, we reported legislative efforts in Illinois to curb sexual harassment in the hospitality industry via Illinois House Bill 3551, which would require restaurants to adopt a sexual harassment policy and provide training to all employees.  While that bill appears to have stalled in the House, similar requirements appear in Illinois Senate Bill 75 (titled the “Workplace Transparency Act”), which, after sitting on the Governor Pritzker’s desk for several months, was finally signed by Governor Pritzker on August 9, 2019.

Section 2-110 of the Workplace ...

In an attempt to protect hotel employees such as housekeepers and room service attendants from violent acts by hotel guests, including sexual assault and harassment, New Jersey recently passed a novel law requiring New Jersey hotels with more than 100 guest rooms to arm hotel employees assigned to work in a guest room alone with a free panic button device. Under the law, hotel employees who activate the button on the reasonable belief there is an ongoing crime, immediate threat of assault or harassment, or other emergency, can immediately leave the guest’s room and await assistance ...

As has been reported by the New York Times, NBC, and other outlets, asset-management firm TCW is defending a lawsuit filed by a former fund manager, Sara Tirschwell, charging the firm with gender discrimination and retaliation, among other allegations. Ms. Tirschwell’s lawsuit has received media attention not only because of the substantial damages that she demands (in excess of $30 million), but also—and perhaps, principally—because the suit has been characterized as Wall Street’s first public brush with the #MeToo movement.

The basic contours of the dispute are ...

In the New Year, two states – New Jersey and Illinois – have proposed legislation requiring restaurants to adopt a sexual harassment training policy and provide anti-sexual harassment training to employees.  While it remains to be seen whether these bills will become law, attempts to target and reform working conditions in the hospitality industry are nonetheless noteworthy, particularly given that unlike New York and California, neither New Jersey nor Illinois have enacted broad legislation requiring private sector employers, regardless of occupation, to provide sexual ...

Yesterday, the New York Attorney General (“NYAG”) announced a settlement with national retailer Aldo Group Inc. (“Aldo”) for violation of New York City’s ban the box law, which, among other things, prohibits employers from inquiring into a prospective employee’s criminal history on an initial employment application. The NYAG’s investigation revealed that (i) Aldo’s employment applications impermissibly inquired into the applicant’s criminal history and (ii) Aldo lacked consistent policies and procedures for evaluating the criminal records of ...

Massachusetts is one of many states which have adopted legislation, commonly known as a “ban the box” law, prohibiting public and private employers from requesting criminal record information in a prospective employee’s “initial written employment application” and limiting the type and scope of questions an employer may ask a candidate following receipt of an “initial written employment application.” Yesterday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced that her office has settled with four businesses and issued warning letters to 17 others for ...

Last week, the EEOC released its latest edition of its federal sector Digest of Equal Opportunity Law, a quarterly publication featuring recent Commission decisions and federal court cases selected by EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations. This edition features an article titled, “Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment,” which is the fruition of an EEOC task force on workplace harassment. The article, which is particularly timely given the #MeToo movement, advances five core principles to deter and remedy harassment: (1) committed and engaged leadership; (2 ...

Massachusetts employers should take note of a provision in the Massachusetts criminal justice reform law – signed into law last week – that amends the type and scope of questions an employer may ask an applicant about his or her criminal history following an “initial written employment application.”

Since 2010, Massachusetts has prohibited public and private employers from requesting criminal record information in a prospective employee’s “initial written employment application” (commonly known as a “ban the box” provision). Following receipt of an ...