Workforce Bulletin

The New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued proposed statewide regulations that would require employers to pay employees “call-in pay” when employers use “on call” scheduling or change employees’ work shifts on short notice. This is not the DOL’s first foray into this area – in November 2017, the DOL released similar proposed regulations but ultimately declined to adopt them. The DOL’s new set of proposed regulations would apply to the vast majority of employers operating in New York, but are of particular interest to New York City retail ...

What happened?

On January 17, 2018, a federal judge stayed enforcement of New York City’s (“City”) recently-enacted Fast Food Deductions Law (the “Deductions Law”). The order, entered by consent, was entered in a lawsuit challenging the law filed against the City by two leading foodservice advocacy organizations (Restaurant Law Center, et al. v. City of New York, et al., 1:17cv9128).  The stay is currently in place until the earlier of the determination of the parties’ dispositive motions or March 30, 2018.

What is the Fast Food Deductions Law?

The Deductions Law, which ...

This issue of Take 5 encapsulates the incredible breadth of societal changes and challenges facing the entire retail workplace. The topics addressed below reflect a microcosm of the many issues currently facing our overall society, covering growing political activism in the workplace, increasing expectations to accommodate religious beliefs, otherwise outrageous employee speech that may very well enjoy protection under the law, and the ever-increasing requirements for criminal background checks enacted piecemeal by states and cities. These extremely topical subjects ...

Our colleagues Jeremy M. Brown, Steven M. Swirsky and Laura C. Monaco, at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Management Memo blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the retail industry: “F17 and the General Strike Movement – Best Practices for Addressing Political Activity in the Workplace."

Following is an excerpt:

This week, an activist group calling itself “Strike4Democracy” has called for a day of “coordinated national actions” – purportedly including more than 100 “strike actions” across the country – on February 17, 2017. The ...

On March 23, 2016, the DOL issued its long-awaited final “persuader rule” (“Final Persuader Rule”), which drastically expands the agency’s prior interpretation of the types of legal and consulting activities that will be subject to the extensive reporting requirements of Section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA”). In particular, the Final Persuader Rule seeks to narrow significantly the scope of the so-called “Advice Exemption” to the statute’s reporting requirements. As a result, a wide range of services provided by ...

[caption id="attachment_2472" align="alignright" width="113"] Laura C. Monaco[/caption]

This week, the EEOC filed its first two federal lawsuits that frame allegations of sexual orientation-based harassment and discrimination as claims of unlawful "sex discrimination" under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In EEOC v. Pallet Companies the EEOC alleges that an employee's night-shift manager harassed her because of her sexual orientation by making repeated offensive comments (sometimes accompanied by sexually suggestive gestures), such as "I want to turn you back ...