Mickey Chichester and Natalie Pierce examine how companies may turn to AI and robotics to mitigate disruption and some of the employment implications of such initiatives.

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UPDATE: This article was updated on August 15, 2018.

In April 2018, New York State and New York City each adopted expansive legislation directed at educating employees about workplace sexual harassment and reducing the incidence of harassment claims, as we reported in our prior article. 

New Poster for NYC Employers:

Bruce Sarchet, of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, and Marissa Dragoo with the Littler Learning Group, take a look at a new type of workplace training – bystander intervention training – that is now encouraged for California employers. This optional training teaches employees how to evaluate and respond to problematic behaviors in the workplace, empowering them to interrupt difficult situations, such as sexual harassment.
 

Helene Wasserman, Los Angeles-based Littler Shareholder and Trial Practice Group Co-Chair, reflects on some good, bad, and ugly impacts of the #MeToo movement since its inception, including recent legislative developments affecting California employers in particular. Discussing training, arbitration agreements, and the extended statute of limitations for FEHA claims with Littler Learning Group’s Marissa Dragoo, Helene provides insights and guidance for California employers as we move into the third year of the cemented #MeToo movement.
 

Asha Santos, Shareholder in Littler’s Boston office, explains the purpose of bystander intervention training and the value of diversity and inclusion sessions in today's workplace.
 

Bradford Kelley comments on a case that he says shows several ways in which USERRA is more far-reaching than other employment anti-discrimination laws even though it gets less attention.

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Philip Berkowitz discusses the Supreme Court’s decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis that makes it easier for employees to bring workplace discrimination claims against unwanted job transfers.

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Philadelphia has imposed significant new recall and retention obligations on hotel, airport hospitality, and event center businesses as they struggle to recover in this uncertain COVID-19 economy.  The new obligations are contained in a legislative package, styled as the Black Workers Matter Economic Recovery Package, which became law in Januar

In the first such decision from a federal appellate court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled the COVID-19 pandemic is not a “natural disaster” that exempts employers from providing advance notice of mass layoffs and plant closures under the WARN Act. The court also opined that the natural-disaster exception requires proof of proximate causation, not but-for causation.¹

In Pham v.

On November 25, 2023, O. Reg. 340/23: TERMINATION AND SEVERANCE OF EMPLOYMENT made under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) (Regulation), amending O. Reg.

Currently, employees in the UK on statutory maternity, adoption or shared parental leave who are at risk of redundancy have priority rights to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy (but only where such a vacancy exists).

New regulations have been introduced to extend redundancy protections, both before (for pregnant employees only) and after the return to work. These regulations arose in response to research that found that mothers returning from maternity leave still faced discrimination in the workplace after returning from leave.

Eli Freedberg discusses New York’s controversial new pay transparency law.

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Paul Piccigallo talks about considerations for employers when raising minimum wage in the midst of rising inflation.

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Melissa Cee and Erin Webber discuss hiring the sixth shareholder at Littler – Noah Garber – since July as part of Littler’s new talent strategy that the firm began developing last year. 

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Claire Deason weighs in on whether employers are obligated to pay for remote employees' commutes into work, business expenses and paid sick time.

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Sarah Bryan Fask explains how the special financial assistance will affect union-brokered pensions.

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On Friday, July 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan v. Energy West Mining Company, joining the Sixth Circuit in holding that the assumptions used by a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan in calculating the amount of withdrawal liability owed by an exiting employer must reflect the actual and projected experience of the plan.

On October 14, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal agency that insures and regulates private-sector defined benefit pension plans under Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), published a proposed rule governing employer withdrawal liability.

On February 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in Trustees of IAM Nat'l Pension Fund v. M & K Emp. Sols., LLC, No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 9, 2024), affirming the district court’s decision to vacate an arbitration award for the employer in a pension fund withdrawal liability case.  The D.C.

Jasper Hoffstedde and Fleur van Lieshout of Littler’s Amsterdam office discuss the termination clause in Dutch employment agreements. The termination clause seems an easy and straightforward clause; you simply invoke the clause and terminate employment, right? For the employee that is indeed in the case, but the employer has another hoop to jump through if the employee doesn’t want to agree to termination. He then has the obligation to substantiate the reason for termination, the so-called valid ground.

Jeronimo Simonovis and Lavanga Wijekoon discuss an asylum case before U.S. immigration authorities that Jeronimo won involving a woman and her 8-year-old son.

Littler attorneys provide pro bono services in a variety of areas, depending on the interests of individual attorneys. The firm values and encourages the community-minded and pro bono efforts of our lawyers and staff.
  

Emily Haigh, U.S. Army veteran and co-chair of Litter's Veterans Affinity Group, speaks with Littler attorneys William Anthony, Tracy Leidner, and Emily Arnett, who each have a family member currently serving in active duty.
  

In this podcast, attorneys Carissa Tyler and Angel Valverde, members of Littler’s Immigration and Global Mobility Group, discuss alternative employment-based visa options for individuals who were not selected in the initial FY 2024 H-1B registration process (H-1B lottery). The visa categories discussed include H-1B cap exempt petitions, O-1s, L-1s, TNs, and other alternatives for foreign nationals.
  

Littler has a partnership with a firm client through The Veterans Consortium that is focused on helping veterans. David Haase speaks with Littler attorneys Matthew Hank, Neil Alexander, Don Nguyen, Jake Thorn, and Director of The Veterans Consortium's Discharge Upgrade Program Christie Bhageloe about the work they’ve done through the consortium.  

In our final Pro Bono Week podcast, Jenny Schwendemann discusses homelessness, one of the most significant humanitarian challenges many Americans face today, with Director of Ending Youth Homelessness, Katie Meyer Scott, and Pro Bono Director, Carlton Martin, of the National Homelessness Law Center.

As February comes to a close, we end our celebration of Black History Month with a podcast featuring Littler attorneys and authors in honor of this year’s theme “African Americans and the Arts.” Littler attorney Karimah Lamar, has a thought-provoking conversation with fellow Littler attorneys Michael Wilder and Tiffany Obeng, who share their journey to becoming published authors and the influence it has had on their careers.
 

When President Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign last month and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s nominee, the move resulted in several historical firsts. It also placed a swift focus on intersectionality and identity politics as tensions mount in the final stretch of the 2024 election cycle.

Littler Principal Cindy-Ann Thomas and her guests, University of North Carolina (Charlotte) Associate Chair of Communications Studies, Professor Debra C. Smith, and Littler Shareholder Bradford Kelley, explore:

The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) has published a revised workers’ compensation Notice to Employees, which Massachusetts employers should use starting September 16, 2024.

On August 26, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland decided in Teamsters Local Union No. 355 v. Total Distribution Services, Inc., that the Maryland Economic Stabilization Act (“Maryland WARN Act” or “Act”) does not provide individuals with the right to file suit in their personal capacity to enforce a legal claim under the Act. The Maryland WARN Act still may be enforced by the Maryland Department of Labor.  The Act is based, in part, on its federal counterpart, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, with important differences. 

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. On the recent 34th anniversary of the ADA, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) General Counsel Karla Gilbride and U.S.

Bradford J. Kelley and Sean O'Brien discuss how, on the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Justice Department emphasize their commitment to ensuring that emerging technologies and AI comply with ADA standards.

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One year into a global pandemic, with vaccinations underway, we are eagerly preparing for social “re-entry.” But how do the isolating behaviors that we have now perfected – in the interest of sheer survival – bode for the concept of “inclusion” in a post-pandemic world?

Littler Principal Cindy-Ann Thomas and her guest, Enidio Magel, Managing Director and Founder of the Multicultural Institute, consider:

In celebration of Pride Month, Whitney Williams (L.A. – Century City) and Michael Hui (San Francisco) discuss their personal experiences growing up gay in the Black and Asian American communities, what their similar upbringings have taught them about being an attorney, and how the Littler Pride affinity group is an important part of their lives at the firm.
  

By now, most lawyers advising international companies on compensation packages for expatriates that include deferred compensation are familiar with section 409A of the United States Internal Revenue Code ("US tax code" or "Code").

The Virginia Supreme Court has spoken again on the calculation of damages in a complex employment contract case. In Online Resources Corp. v. Lawlor, No. 120208 (Va. Jan. 10, 2013), the court addressed the expert qualifications required for the valuation of equity following the termination of the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) ("executive") of a publicly-traded company, as well as the applicability of Delaware Corporations Law to related change in control (CIC) provisions. 

Background

Update 2: On March 12, 2021, in Mikelsteins v.

USCIS has officially announced the dates for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap lottery, which will open on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at noon ET and end on Friday, March 22, 2024, at noon ET. This annual lottery is meant to select new H-1B candidates, who will be eligible to file an H-1B petition and, if approved, begin H-1B employment on October 1, 2024 (the first day of FY 2025).

In February 2024, Poland’s government revealed that it is working on a comprehensive migration strategy for the years 2025-2030, advertised as a “responsible and safe” approach. The Ministry of Interior and Administration plans to spend the first half of 2024 conducting consultations to learn the preferences and expectations on migration and foreigners’ employment from various stakeholders, including the country’s biggest employers and their organizations, as well the trade unions.

The rules on the employment of third-country nationals (which apply regionally) were recently amended in the Brussels Capital Region by an ordinance issued on February 1, 2024, and its implementing decree on May 16, 2024. The following is a summary of these new rules.

Jesús Lahera offers a detailed analysis of Spain’s Whistleblowing Directive and its impact on employers and employees.

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On August 31, 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the Affirmative Action Program Verification Interface (AAVI) proposed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) for the verification and upload of federal contractor affirmative action plans.