On May 11, 2023, Canada passed An Act to enact Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff (the “Act”). As we reported previously, the Act will create supply chain transparency and reporting obligations for certain companies as part of Canada’s efforts to fight against forced labour and child labour in Canadian supply chains.

Lavanga V. Wijekoon and Emily Linn examine a new Illinois law (SB 1782) that enhances restrictions on the employment of minors and imposes certain new civil and criminal penalties on violating employers.

SHRM

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Zev Eigen and Marko Mrkonich explore the benefits and potential risks of using data analytics to augment HR decision-making processes.

SHRM Online

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Zev Eigen discusses how employers can utilize Big Data to help close the gender wage gap in their organizations.

SHRM Online

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Zev Eigen recommends that organizations regularly analyze data and policies to avoid compensation gaps between men and women.

Information Management

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Aaron Crews suggests how data could change business law.

Law.com

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Aaron Crews explains Littler's Pay Equity Assessment Tool.

Employee Benefit News

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Bloomberg Law’s^® Daily Labor Report^® news team at the Littler Executive Employer^® Conference interviewed panelists about a broad spectrum of employment and labor topics addressing significant developments, emerging trends and challenges facing in-house counsel, employee relations professionals and human resources executives.

Aaron Crews discusses how employers are using data to move diversity and inclusion programs forward.

Human Resource Executive

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Jason Dirkx and Scott Rechtschaffen consider the intersection of technology and law degrees. 

ABA Journal

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Eighth annual survey of more than 1,300 employers finds HR and business leaders grappling with increasingly complex compliance challenges, focused on preventing workplace harassment and pay inequality

Scott Rechtschaffen suggests law firms interested in building and selling technology products should become more nimble. 

ABA Journal

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In an age where computer generated imagery (CGI) and digital effects enable entire film genres to exist, like Marvel’s superhero series the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy, audiences have no expectation that movies they consume depict actual events or reflect reality. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the context and forum of how digital media and information is communicated, observed and consumed informs our default expectations of it.

In this podcast, Littler’s Chief Knowledge Officer, Scott Rechtschaffen, talks with his Cornell Law School students about the potential for lawyers to use software to develop practical tools for the delivery of legal services. During their semester, the students experienced how to take their growing knowledge of the law, identify a problem, coordinate with subject matter and technical experts, and create a legal app designed to assist users, who might be either clients or fellow attorneys.

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.

Supply Chain Toolbox

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Welcome to our new bi-monthly series, where we compare employment law and practice from an international perspective, drawing on the experience of local and international employment lawyers who deal with these issues every day.

The first article in our series compares the new UK Government’s proposed changes to unfair dismissal protection with the law in Germany to see if there are any lessons that can be learned for UK employers from Continental Europe.

What’s to come in the UK?

On August 29, 2018, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law a bill (HB 360) addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. The new law broadly defines, and prohibits, sexual harassment and retaliation. The statute obligates employers (with 4 or more employees) to issue an information sheet on sexual harassment. It also requires larger employers (with 50 or more employees) to provide sexual harassment training for all employees and supervisors, making Delaware the fifth state to statutorily mandate sexual harassment training.

Happy New Year! As we turn the calendar to 2019, employers across the country are taking stock of recently-enacted workplace regulations on a wide variety of topics.¹

Employers in the Golden State, in particular, have a lot to juggle: new governor, new legislative session, and dozens of new labor and employment laws taking effect as of January 1.² These statutes touch on numerous issues, ranging from lactation accommodation to meal breaks for certain commercial drivers.³

Effective January 1, 2019, California SB 1343 greatly expanded Golden State employers' anti-harassment training requirements. The law not only extends coverage to employers with more than five employees, but it also mandates that employers provide anti-harassment training to all employees – not just supervisors – every two years. But what if an employer provided this training in 2018? Can the next training cycle wait until 2020? No, according to recent guidance from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

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.
 

As we have previously reported,¹ New York State and New York City both enacted legislation in 2018 that require New York employers to train their employees in workplace sexual harassment prevention. The state training legislation went into effect on October 9, 2018, and the city training legislation went into effect on April 1, 2019.

Kevin O'Neill explains the benefits of teaching via multimedia platforms such as videos.

Attorney at Work

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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.
 

Update: On December 22, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction banning the enforcement of Executive Order 13950.

Bradford J. Kelley and James A. McGehee review a multimillion-dollar verdict for a U.S. Army veteran under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and discuss the law's scope beyond other employment anti-discrimination laws.

Westlaw Today

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Libby Henninger discusses the DOL’s proposal to expand overtime pay protections to more workers and why it may result in a legal battle.

Bloomberg Law

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Alexander Thomas MacDonald discusses an upcoming Supreme Court case that may determine how much power the National Labor Relations Board should have. 

The Federalist Society

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Update: This law was enacted on January 20, 2024.  It goes into effect March 20, 2024.

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"If Chevron is overturned or modified in a significant way by the Court, some impacts will be immediate," the writers state. "For one, it will affect current litigation, such as the lawsuits that have been filed to challenge the Department of Labor’s independent contractor rule, the Davis-Bacon reform rule, and the ESG investing rule."

March 8, 2024

After a recent Second Circuit decision curbed an ideological organization's ability to bring a case against a DEI program without proving someone had actually been harmed, Cindy-Ann L. Thomas said other courts will take note of the standing rationale.

Law360 Employment Authority

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Andrea M. Kirshenbaum and Jennifer N. Capozzola dive into the U.S. DOL’s final rule (2024 IC Rule) for analyzing whether a worker should be classified as an employee or independent contractor under the FLSA and the lawsuits and challenges that remain in its path. 

The Legal Intelligencer

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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.

International Employment Lawyer

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As the Supreme Court mulls the Chevron decision, Michael Lotito says whatever the court decides, it’s likely little will change at the ground level of day-to-day enforcement activities.

Law.com

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Alexander MacDonald says overtime exemptions are about to get more expensive as the salary necessary to qualify for the FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions will rise in July and again in January 2025.

The Federalist Society

What do you get when you combine a business-backed ballot initiative, the state legislature and governor’s office, and labor organizations? A deal. California style.

Marlene Muraco, Angela Rafoth and Emily Mertes discuss reforms to California's Private Attorneys General Act that address challenges and ambiguities faced by both courts and employers in the 20-year-old law.

Westlaw Today

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Last week, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law several bills that significantly amend the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). As a result of these amendments, Illinois employers should expect an uptick in discrimination cases proceeding through state courts and agencies.

Longer Statute of Limitations Period

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

Just about a year ago, in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic activity in many sectors went from red hot to nearly frozen, seemingly overnight.  The hospitality industry was particularly hard hit, as business and leisure travel evaporated.  Many businesses were forced to lay off workers, and California’s unemployment soared.

The Philadelphia Protection of Displaced Contract Workers Ordinance offers job protections to workers providing security, janitorial, building maintenance, food and beverage, hotel service, or health care services who are employed by service contractors, and are displaced when the service contract is terminated and awarded to another service contractor.¹  A recent amendment to the Ordinance significantly expands its scope to impose obligations on a business that decides to no longer utilize its