On January 10, 2023, Governor Philip D. Murphy signed into law S3162 / A4768, which makes the 2020 amendments to NJ WARN effective 90 days from his signature, irrespective of whether a State of Emergency still exists.

As previously reported, under these amendments:

In RAV Truck & Trailer Repairs, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 25 (Dec. 14, 2022), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a supplemental decision in a case that will have implications for employers seeking to close shop, especially those operating in multiple locations.

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.

For In-house Counsel or HR professionals in Asia, what are some key issues to be aware of when implementing a business restructure?

There are some key areas you will want to focus on when restructuring a business operation in the APAC region.

Dear Littler,

 We are a professional services company with employees in various states. During the pandemic we shifted to fully remote work. As the pandemic subsided, we still leaned into remote work to attract and retain talent who preferred remote work. We also shifted our focus almost exclusively to digital services that did not require an in-person presence since our clients were also remote. We kept most of our physical offices intact but downsized some square footage to reduce our overhead.

Iván López García de la Riva discusses Spain’s plan to raise severance payments in certain situations. 

CincoDías

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While significant bills impacting Connecticut employers were signed into law, proposed employer mandates on pay transparency, paid sick leave, and predictive scheduling failed to gain the necessary votes for passage in 2023. Here are some of the year’s notable legislative developments.

What Passed . . .

Effective October 1, 2023, unless otherwise noted:

The First Special Session of the 131^st Maine Legislature included debate about more than 2,000 bills. Many that were adopted will impact employers in the Pine Tree State. Below is a brief summary of important employment law changes enacted this session. 

An Act to Create the Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program

The budget signed by Maine Governor Janet Mills on July 11, 2023, included funding for one of the broadest and most generous paid family and medical leave programs in the country.

On January 8, 2021, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued its final rule modifying the calculation of withdrawal liability by multiemployer pension plans.  This final rule amends the agency’s regulations on allocating unfunded vested benefits to withdrawing employers (29 C.F.R. § 4211) and notice, collection, and redetermination of withdrawal liability (29 C.F.R. § 4219).

House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) recently introduced legislation that seeks to provide aid to multiemployer pension plans (MEPs) facing insolvency. Entitled the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (EPPRA), the bill would fund this aid directly from the U.S. Treasury.

Sarah Bryan Fask provides insight on multi-employer pension plans. 

DCReport

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On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which includes the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021.  This law is designed to forestall the insolvency of approximately 100 multiemployer pension plans that were expected to run out of money necessary to pay vested benefits over the next 20 years.  Included among these funds is a particularly large fund that – absent congressional intervention – would have gone insolvent by 2025, leaving millions of retirees without their expected monthly pension. 

On March 10, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that it will not enforce or otherwise pursue enforcement actions with respect to two recently issued final rules amending the “investment duties” regulation under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Sarah Bryan Fask shares her insight about the future of pension plans for unionized employees.

Bloomberg Law

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

Bloomberg Law

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The Colorado Court of Appeals recently decided an issue of first impression regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) preemptive power over Colorado’s divorce-revocation statute. The decision in Ragan v. Ragan, 2021 COA 75, settled an open question in Colorado regarding whether ERISA preempts “post-distribution” lawsuits under Colorado’s divorce-revocation statute. Specifically, the court held that ERISA preempts lawsuits against a former spouse to recover plan benefits that were distributed to the former spouse as the named beneficiary.

Sarah Bryan Fask talks about the federal government’s temporary rescue of more than 200 union-brokered pension plans.

Bloomberg Law

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On Monday, January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case of critical interest to employers offering 401(k) or other defined-contribution retirement plans.  In Hughes v. Northwestern University, Case No. 19-1401, the Court voted unanimously to vacate a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, temporarily reinstating allegations by employees of Northwestern University that the fiduciaries of Northwestern’s retirement plans had violated the duty of prudence required by ERISA.

Employers offering 401(k) and similar retirement plans should familiarize themselves with a new rule published by the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights, which takes effect on January 30, 2023.

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.

Before offering a foreign national a permanent position, an employer must demonstrate to the Department of Labor that it tested the market and could not find a U.S. worker to fill the role. How can an employer show it properly tested the U.S. labor market to satisfy the DOL’s requirements under the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) process?

Tomasz Rogala and Marcin Sanetra, Littler | PCS attorneys, and Lavanga Wijekoon discuss the legal assistance Littler’s Poland attorneys have given Ukrainians fleeing the recent conflict there.

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.
  

An increasing number of employers, especially those in the tech industry, are conducting layoffs or reductions in force. What happens to foreign workers in these situations, whose work visas are often tied to their jobs? What options are available to foreign nationals who are in the process of obtaining permanent residency or are seeking to retain employment so as not to jeopardize their visa status? What notification requirements do employers have in these situations?

As February comes to a close, Littler is capping off our celebration of Black History Month with a special podcast highlighting the voices of some of our Black attorneys. Kimberly Dobson (Long Island, NY) talks with fellow Littler attorneys, Kim Carter (San Diego, CA), Jason Byrd (New York City, NY), and Taylor Lawson (Memphis, TN) about how they’ve experienced – and seen the impact of – Black resistance in their personal and professional lives.
 

In celebration of Disability Pride Month, Jennifer Duke, Littler Learning Group Director and attorney, talks with Anna Curry Gualano, Littler Principal and co-chair of the firm’s Individuals with Disabilities affinity group, about the importance of disability inclusion and its impact in the workplace for both employers and employees.
  

This podcast episode is dedicated to unraveling the complexities of filing an H-1B petition and remaining compliant following an approval.

The H-1B visa program is known for its competitiveness, intricate regulations, and fact-specific nature. Whether you're an employer looking to hire and maintain foreign talent or an H-1B applicant, our podcast explores the common pitfalls and crucial considerations you need to be aware of regarding the H-1B process.

Since the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University and the University of North Carolina on June 29, 2023, striking down race-conscious admission processes in higher education, it has sent shock waves throughout the corporate community as business leaders consider the decision’s potential impact on their own diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Littler Principal Cindy-Ann Thomas and her guest, Littler Shareholder Kim Carter, explore:

This podcast discusses the critical considerations when evaluating whether and how to terminate employees in Asia. Trent Sutton (U.S. qualified lawyer), Soowon Hong (Korean qualified lawyer) and Shiau Sang Tee (Hong Kong and Malaysia qualified lawyer), members of Littler’s APAC Regional Office based in Singapore, set out the general three approaches to terminations across Asia. They explore what grounds are generally defensible (or not) and the variation in the usage of negotiated exits.
 

In continued celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Littler shareholder Alyesha Asghar speaks with associates Alan Persaud and Grace Waddell about their experience in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s Pathfinders Program and the inclusive community of legal professionals they joined by participating.
  

Littler’s Anna Curry Gualano is joined by her father, Ashley Curry, to discuss their advocacy work in Alabama to update the traditional accessibility symbol to one that is more inclusive and empowering.
  

Trent Sutton and Thelma Akpan explore key reasons why employers in the APAC region should begin to think about pay equity and wage transparency or prepare to implement their own wage transparency initiatives.
 

Employers that rely on non-compete agreements to protect their trade secrets and other legitimate business interests got some welcome news on August 20.

Kristy Peters shares her legal insight on recent changes in labor and employment laws.

Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine

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UPDATE: On August 21, 2024, the Attorney General and State of Michigan asked the Michigan Supreme Court to clarify – no later than September 15, 2024 – various rulings in its July 31, 2024 decision, e.g.: 1) How the state should calculate CPI adjustments for the preset minimum wage rates in 2025 through 2028; 2) Whether, aside from in 2025, future minimum wage rates will take effect on February 21 or January 1; and 3) Whether the court intended to have the minimum cash wage increase from 80% (2028) to 100% (2029) rather than 80% (2028), 90%

Peter Petesch discusses several key considerations for employers considering role reassignment as an accommodation – most notably, that reassignment should always be an option during the accommodation process.

SHRM

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On September 24, 2024, the U.S.

Littler Principal Cindy-Ann Thomas and her special guest, author and Professor of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, Adia Harvey Wingfield, explore:

Paul Bateman and Erin Webber share how Bateman’s new role will encourage Littler’s social justice initiatives.

Law360

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LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (February 25, 2021) – William Ng, a shareholder in the Long Island office of Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has been named president-elect of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) effective April 1, 2021.

As more and more employers take steps to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the workplace, there’s an increasing demand to know if those measures are successful. In this podcast, Alyesha Dotson, Littler Shareholder, discusses ways in which employers can track progress in their DE&I efforts without tripping over legal hazards, and gauge individual and organizational change.
  

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:

(March 22, 2021) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, is pleased to announce new leadership for its ‘Ohana and Reunión affinity groups. Additionally, the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Council added six new members.

(March 23, 2021) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, is pleased to announce that several of its attorneys have been selected for the 2021 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows and Pathfinders programs and the National Employment Law Council (NELC) Academy.

Erin Webber shares how inclusion, equity and diversity has positively impacted her legal career at Littler. 

L'Economia

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