The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued its anticipated model Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (for non-health care settings). As we previously noted here, SB 553 added California Labor Code Section 6401.9, which requires virtually all California employers to have a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) in place by July 1, 2024, either as a stand-alone section in their Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) or as a separate document.
Among other things, Cal/OSHA’s model WVPP provides some concrete examples of ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we present a California labor and employment update featuring the upcoming deadline for non-compete notice rules, workplace violence regulations by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), and the recent Estrada decision's implications for the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).
Some of the most notable recent mass shootings in the United States have been perpetrated by current or former employees in their workplaces. For example, on April 10, 2023, an employee of a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, who had been notified that he was going to be terminated, shot and killed five bank employees and wounded many others who were attending a morning staff meeting. In 2021, a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employee shot and killed nine of his fellow employees in a San Jose, California railyard. In its publication, “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2022”, the FBI reported that of the 50 active shooter incidents in the United States in 2022, 14 of them, comprising 28 percent of the total, occurred in “commerce” settings.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Workplace incidents—ranging from shootings and assaults to less severe violence—have spiked across a variety of industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attorney Beth McManus discusses the steps employers can take to address and prevent workplace violence in the current environment. Read more.
For many, the topic of workplace violence may, understandably, exclusively invoke thoughts of the types of mass shootings and other employee-on-employee violence that commands the most extensive media coverage. Financial services employers, though, like employers in other significantly public-facing industries, must address a broader array of concerns—ranging from threating behavior by clients, to domestic abuse spilling over into the workplace. The legal framework that has, substantially in the past decade, come into being around issues of workplace violence in some ...
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 ...
This Employment Law This Week® Monthly Rundown discusses the most important developments for employers in July 2019. Both the video and the extended audio podcast are now available.
This episode includes:
- State Legislation Heats Up
- NLRB Overturns Another Long-Standing Precedent
- SCOTUS October Term 2018 Wraps Up
- Tip of the Week: How inclusion and trust can increase innovation in the workplace
See below to watch the full episode - click here for story details, the video, and the extended audio podcast.
Stay tuned: Sign-up for email notifications and subscribe to the ...
This edition of Take 5 highlights compliance with cutting-edge issues—such as pay equity, workplace violence, and artificial intelligence (“AI”)—that have a significant impact on retailers. We also provide an update on National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) compliance and New York City drug testing to assist you in navigating an increasingly complex legal landscape.
Watercooler (and Bathroom) Conversations Among Co-Workers About Work-Related Matters Are Not Always Protected Concerted Activity Under the NLRA
Historically, a conversation ...
Please join Nathaniel M. Glasser, Elizabeth K. McManus, Jeremy M. Brown, and Joshua A. Stein for an engaging and informative discussion of topical labor and employment issues facing all retailers. The presenters will address cutting-edge employment matters and share best practices in a private forum in which all attendees can freely participate, exchange insights, and network with colleagues.
Topics will include:
Artificial Intelligence for Recruiting and Selection
We will discuss the legal and practical implications of the various types of artificial intelligence (AI ...
Our colleagues, , at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to many of our readers: “Healing the Healers: Preventing Workplace Violence in Health Care Settings.”
Following is an excerpt:
On April 17, the Joint Commission—a nonprofit organization that provides accreditations to health care organizations—issued a list of seven steps hospitals should take to improve safety and reduce the risk of workplace violence perpetrated by employees, patients, and visitors. While the ...
Our colleagues, , at Epstein Becker Green, has a post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to many of our readers: “Workplace Violence Prevention Plans Now Mandatory for California Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities.”
Following is an excerpt:
With the passage of A.B. 30, California became the first state to require all acute-care hospitals and skilled-nursing facilities to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans. After years of wrangling with California’s ...
Ever since the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its August 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., holding two entities may be joint employers if one exercises either direct or indirect control over the terms and conditions of the other’s employees or reserves the right to do so, the concept of joint employment has generated increased interest from plaintiffs’ attorneys, and increased concern from employers. Questions raised by the New York Court of Appeals in a recent oral argument, however, indicate that employers who engage ...
For many years, OSHA has stressed the need for enhanced workplace violence policies to protect health care and social service workers. The agency released guidelines for workplace violence prevention in the health care and social services industries in both 1996 and 2004, recognizing that caregivers are at an increased risk of unpredictable, violent behavior from the very people whom they provide care to. In spite of these efforts, violence in health care and social service workplaces continues to rise. In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported more than 23,000 serious ...
We’d like to recommend an upcoming complimentary webinar, “Addressing and Responding to Workplace Violence and Active Shooter Scenarios to Protect Your Employees” (Oct. 2, 2:00 p.m. EDT), by our Epstein Becker Green colleagues Kara M. Maciel, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Christopher M. Locke, with Daniel Hess and Lynne Cripe of The KonTerra Group, an employee assistance program provider that regularly counsels employees undergoing stressful life events that can lead to violence.
Below is their description of the event:
Violence in the workplace can range from bullying ...
We’d like to recommend an upcoming complimentary webinar, “Addressing and Responding to Workplace Violence and Active Shooter Scenarios to Protect Your Employees” (Oct. 2, 2:00 p.m. EDT), by our Epstein Becker Green colleagues Kara M. Maciel, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Christopher M. Locke, with Daniel Hess and Lynne Cripe of The KonTerra Group, an employee assistance program provider that regularly counsels employees undergoing stressful life events that can lead to violence.
Below is their description of the event:
Violence in the workplace can range from bullying and ...
Kara M. Maciel, contributor to this blog and Member of the Firm at Epstein Becker Green, has released the "HR Guide for Responding to Natural Disasters." Following is an excerpt:
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes have posed unique human resource challenges for employers. While many employers are working around the clock on recovery efforts, other employers find themselves unable to function for extended periods of time because of damage or loss of utilities.
The economic effects of a natural disaster will have long-term consequences on businesses ...
by Margaret C. Thering and Lauri F. Rasnick
Violence against women has been in the headlines lately – the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act is engendering vigorous debate, and as of last month, federal agencies were ordered to implement policies to assist their employees who are victims of domestic violence. Also last month, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Injury Control Research Center at West Virginia University published a paper entitled “Workplace Homicides Among U.S. Women: The Role of Intimate Partner Violence” in the ...
by Margaret C. Thering and Lauri F. Rasnick
Violence against women has been in the headlines lately – the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act is engendering vigorous debate, and as of last month, federal agencies were ordered to implement policies to assist their employees who are victims of domestic violence. Also last month, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Injury Control Research Center at West Virginia University published a paper entitled “Workplace Homicides Among U.S. Women: The Role of Intimate Partner Violence” in the ...
Sadly, workplace violence continues to be a topic that challenges many organizations. Indeed, as the news reports continue to remind us, employees and non-employees often take out their aggression and violent acts within the workplace. As the recent attacks at hospitals in Pittsburgh and in Washington, D.C. demonstrate, there remains a high rate of fatal and non-fatal assaults and violent acts committed within the workplace, and, in particular, within the healthcare industry. One of the struggles that employers face is trying to prevent violent conduct by ...
By Julia E. Loyd and Eric J. Conn
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) launched a new National Emphasis Program targeting Nursing Homes and Residential Care facilities (“Nursing Home NEP”). In an accompanying Press Release, OSHA announced that the Nursing Home NEP aims to protect workers from safety and health hazards “common in medical industries.” Effective upon its announcement and for a three-year period thereafter, the NEP focuses on ergonomic hazards (e.g., strains and sprains from patient ...
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Recent Updates
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