Earlier this month, Governor Ned Lamont announced the long-awaited implementation of the state’s so-called “Clean Slate Act” – sort of.  According to a recent press release, January 1, 2023 will see the full or partial erasure in some 44,000 cases involving convictions for cannabis possession.  Individuals with eligible convictions for other crimes, including most misdemeanors and certain lesser felonies, will have to wait until the second half of 2023 as a result of implementation delays.

The Clean Slate Law & How it Works

Updated March 24, 2023: The CFPB has edited its updated Summary of Rights document to include the correct contact number. 

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Michael Paglialonga and Stephen Fuchs discuss New York’s new Clean Slate Act, which will prohibit employers from inquiring about sealed records or discriminating against applicants or employees based on sealed records.

SHRM Online

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Companies that hire employees and engage independent contractors in California should brace themselves for an even greater slowdown in background checks that include criminal record searches in Los Angeles County.¹ This will result from the drastic impact of the court of appeal’s 2021 opinion in All of Us or None v.

Mike Paglialonga and Stephen Fuchs talk about the complicated patchwork of “clean slate” laws that multistate employers must consider when hiring.

SHRM Online

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The Lehigh County Human Relations Ordinance was enacted February 26, 2024, establishing county-specific non-discrimination requirements for employment, housing, education, health care and public accommodations.  The ordinance also creates a Lehigh County Human Relations Commission charged with investigating and enforcing claims of discrimination.  The ordinance becomes effective June 1, 2024.

Expanded Protected Characteristics and Employer Coverage

Employers with operations in California are all too familiar with how state and local officials continue to restrict the access employers have to public records, including criminal history information.¹ For example, lengthy delays in completing standard criminal background checks are now routine in California.² Apart from criminal background checks, many employers rely on motor vehicle record checks (MVRs) to vet candidates for positions that require driving as part of the job.  In Doe v. California Dept.

Michelle Barrett Falconer and Devjani Mishra discuss the findings of Littler’s Executive Employer survey.

Law360

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Damon Ott discusses some options that trucking companies in the state may pursue when the old way of doing business is no longer open to them. 

FreightWaves

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Dear Littler: You alerted us to some wage & hour and leaves & benefits issues stemming from our “wandering workers” who have scattered across the country during the pandemic, yet continue to work for our Texas-based company.

The federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that certain employers can claim federal tax credits when employees use emergency paid leave to accompany an individual to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination and/or to care for an individual recovering from an injury, disability, illness, or condition related to the vaccine.

On November 10, 2021, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2021-45, which contains its annual inflation adjustments for over 60 tax provisions, including not only individual income tax rates and deductions, but also many employer-provided benefits.

On January 7, 2022, Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI by its acronym in Spanish) published the new values for the Updated Metric Unit (Unidad de Medida y Actualización or UMA) that will take effect on February 1, 2022, as provided by Article 5 of the Law to determine the value of the UMA. The UMA serves as the basis for calculating the payments, obligations, or penalties that are owed to the government, whether under federal or state law. Its updated value is published on an annual basis.

The values of the UMA for 2022 will be as follows:

On January 14, 2022, the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 22-01 (CL IR 22-01) announcing the applicable 2022 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.

On June 9, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service issued Announcement 2022-13, increasing the optional standard mileage rate for the final six months of 2022 from 58.5 cents per mile to 62.5 cents per mile.  The new rate will be effective for traveling beginning on July 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.  The old rate of 58.5 cents per mile will remain in effective through June 30, 2022.

In response to rising inflation, the French and UK governments have instituted various measures that affect employers.

France

During the presidential campaign, Macron’s Government promised to increase purchasing power. On August 18, 2022, a new law with several measures intended to mitigate the consequences of inflation entered into force. Outlined below are the main parts of the employment law measures of this “emergency law for the protection of the purchasing power.”

On September 17, 2022, Puerto Rico Governor Hon. Pedro Pierluisi issued Executive Order No. OE-2022-045, declaring a state of emergency due to the passing of Hurricane Fiona through the Island. Likewise, on September 21, 2022, President Joseph Biden authorized a disaster declaration for Puerto Rico, opening up additional relief and assistance for Puerto Rico's recovery process after the devastation left by the hurricane.

2022 is coming to a close, and the new year will be here before we know it.  While many states, cities and counties seem to be willing to pass employment laws and regulations at any time, the first day of a new year is still the number one day for new employment laws to take effect. 2023 will be no exception. 

Dear Littler: Considering the recent passage of the federal Speak Out Act limiting the use of pre-dispute nondisclosure and non-disparagement clauses involving sexual assault and sexual harassment claims, what impact will this have on our template releases, separation agreements, and litigation settlement agreements? How do you recommend we revise those documents?

                                         —Revising Releases

Dear Revising,

Since October 1, 2020, Oregon employers have operated under the Workplace Fairness Act (“OWFA”), which restricts employers from including confidentiality, non-disparagement, and no-rehire provisions in settlement agreements and separation agreements unless the employee specifically requests them. In March 2022, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 1586 into law, which amends the OWFA effective January 1, 2023, and clarifies many of the provisions of the original OWFA.

The Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury recently issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 23-01 (CL IR 23-01) announcing the applicable 2023 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released a document to explain the revenue proposals included in President Biden’s FY 2023 proposed Budget.

On June 15, 2023, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed SB 290, which requires early wage access (EWA) providers to obtain a license from the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. This is the first EWA law enacted by any state. 

Early Wage Access Generally

Dear Littler,

We are a small company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that allowed some of our employees to work remotely during the pandemic. When we recently announced our plans to call employees back to home base in Milwaukee, we received feedback that some employees did not plan to come back—they want to continue working remotely. We anticipated this, and we’re working with them to navigate their individual situations, but we were surprised to learn that some of our employees have actually relocated to different states!

On January 31, 2024, the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 24-01 (CL IR 24-01) announcing the applicable 2024 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.

Andrea M. Kirshenbaum discusses how Johnson v. NCAA is noteworthy beyond the realm of college athletics for its expansive discussion of the FLSA.

The Legal Intelligencer

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Sarah Bryan Fask says a decision clarifying when employers can exit union-brokered pension plans “potentially opens up the floodgates for a lot of employer uncertainty.”

Bloomberg Law

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Bradford Kelley and Mike Paglialonga explain the basics of wage and hour laws and why it’s critical for business owners to ensure their business complies with federal, state and local laws and regulations.

American Drycleaner

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Bradford Kelley and Mike Paglialonga explain the basics of wage and hour laws and why it’s critical for business owners to ensure their business complies with federal, state and local laws and regulations.

American Drycleaner

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Rebecca Goldstein talks about new workplace violence prevention laws in California and New York.

Bloomberg Law

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Adam Fiss and Sebastian Chilco review updates to California’s paid leave law.

Wolters Kluwer

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Adam Joshua Fiss and Sebastian Chilco discuss a new California law that will eliminate employers’ ability to require employees to use up to two weeks of company-provided vacation before they start receiving paid family leave benefits.

SHRM

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Employers concerned about the risks and expenses associated with employment litigation have increasingly required their employees to agree to arbitration in the event of a dispute.  Even upon the issuance of the arbitrator’s final decision, however, a court’s intervention may still be necessary.  At the very least, the court can actually enforce an arbitration award, whereas the arbitrator cannot.  Moreover, the losing party in the arbitration may seek to vacate the arbitrator’s decision on limited grounds, or seek further review of the district court’s decision by filing an appeal with th

Over the years, attempts to arbitrate breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Section 502(a)(2) have had varying results.¹  One court recently recognized that “whether any benefits plan may agree to submit to arbitration and/or whether an individual employment agreement may compel claims on behalf of a benefits plan to proceed to arbitration are not issues of clearly settled law.”²  This issue is before two circuit courts of appeal this year.  So far, the court rulings in the cases seem to provide some guidance while a

Michael Lotito offers insight on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (or PRO Act), which includes a change to a standard known as “joint employer.”

Entrepreneur

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Pamela Reynolds’ article discusses whether employers can enforce arbitration of breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Section 502(a)(2).

Benefits Pro

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Michael Lotito writes about unions and their allies’ attempts to sneak parts of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act into the budget bill.

The Wall Street Journal

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On July 8, 2022, in Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc., the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeals granting the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.  The court concluded that because nothing in the arbitration agreement prohibited the plaintiff from being awarded any relief he might be entitled to under Oregon’s wage and hour statutes, the arbitration provision was not unconscionable and therefore enforceable.

Background

Christine Sargent writes about an Oregon Supreme Court case that affirmed the importance of implementing enforceable arbitration agreements.

SHRM Online

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Rhonda B. Levy and Barry Kuretzky discuss a case in which an arbitrator issued the first award in Ontario to address and uphold the reasonableness of a hospital vaccination policy that allows employers to terminate employees for non-compliance.

Human Resources Director Canada

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Traditionally, January 1 has been the key date for which employers must prepare to implement new labor and employment compliance obligations for new laws passed within the previous year.  For the past several years, we have reported on employment and labor laws taking effect mid-year. Increasingly, new compliance challenges are not taking a summer vacation.

Rhonda Levy, Adrian Jakibchuk, Barry Kuretzky and George Vassos comment on an arbitrator’s ruling that federal employers can count employees’ sick leave credits as paid medical leave days under the Canada Labour Code (CLC) if their own program provides “a more favourable benefit” to workers.

Human Resources Director Canada

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On July 22, 2021 the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) issued Administrative Order No. 2021-509 (AO) providing that, in order to physically attend school, post-school educational institutions, or universities, personnel and students age 12 and older must be vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the PRDOH, the vaccination requirement for in-person school attendance will play an essential role in controlling the pandemic and providing a safer educational environment for students.