Insights

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Category: Labor Relations

Apple’s Removal of Union Pamphlets and Questions About Union Drive Are Not Unlawful, Court Rules

Apple store managers did not violate the National Labor Relations Act by questioning a worker about a union campaign and confiscating union pamphlets from an employee breakroom, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled July 7 in Apple v. NLRB. Reversing an NLRB decision, the Fifth Circuit found no coercive interrogation at Apple’s World Trade Center store. The...
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Category: Government Contracts

OFCCP Revises Discrimination Complaint Forms Without Opportunity for Comment

OFCCP has revised two of its forms — Complaint of Employment Discrimination Involving a Federal Contractor or Subcontractor (CC-4) and Pre-Complaint Inquiry for Employment Discrimination Involving a Federal Contractor or Subcontractor (CC-390) — without providing the usual opportunity for public comment. The changes reflect the rescission of Executive Order 11246 and signify the agency’s resumption of veteran and disability-based discrimination...
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

DOL Withdraws Biden-Era Proposal to End Subminimum Wage Program for Disabled Workers

The Department of Labor announced July 7 that it is withdrawing a proposed rule from the Biden Administration to end a program through which it issues certificates allowing employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities in settings sometimes called sheltered workshops. The Biden-era DOL said the program is no longer necessary to motivate employers to hire people with significant disabilities because...
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Category: Wage and Hour

DOL Won’t Request Liquidated Damages Under the FLSA Before Filing a Lawsuit

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has returned to its policy of not seeking liquidated damages in pre-litigation settlements of Fair Labor Standards Act claims. Under the FLSA, liquidated damages may effectively double the amount due to non-exempt employees for violations such as worker misclassification or off-the-clock work. Recent Democratic administrations sought liquidated damages, in addition to back pay, at...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

DOL Proposes Rescission of Apprenticeship Affirmative Action Obligations

The Department of Labor has proposed a rule to rescind affirmative action and equal employment requirements for registered apprenticeship sponsors. If adopted, the rule would eliminate affirmative action components that are currently required, so sponsors would no longer have to submit written affirmative action programs or written selection standards. Instead, sponsors would agree to comply with applicable federal and state nondiscrimination laws....
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Category: Wage and Hour

DOL Proposes Rescinding Obama-Era Rule That Narrowed FLSA Exemption for Companion Care Workers

The Department of Labor has proposed rolling back Obama-era changes to Fair Labor Standards Act regulations on companionship services. When domestic workers were brought under FLSA protections, Congress carved out an exemption for companionship care — defined as providing fellowship, care, and protection to seniors and individuals with disabilities.  The 2013 rule narrowed the exemption by limiting it to workers...
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Category: Wage and Hour

DOL Proposes Removing Some FLSA Policy Statements and Interpretive Rules From Regulatory Code

The Department of Labor is proposing to move certain interpretive rules and policy statements related to the Fair Labor Standards Act from the Code of Federal Regulations to the Wage and Hour Division’s Field Operations Handbook. DOL says these provisions were never subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking.   The most significant provisions relate to the FLSA’s motor carrier exemption. Other impacted provisions relate to seafarers and...
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Category: Affirmative Action and DEI

OFCCP Resumes Processing Section 503 and VEVRAA Complaints But Closes Pending Compliance Reviews

All pending compliance reviews arising under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act will be administratively closed, but the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will resume processing Section 503 and VEVRAA complaint investigations as normal, OFCCP announced July 2. The agency’s announcement came in response to the Labor Secretary’s...
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

OFCCP Proposes Eliminating Disability Self-Identification and Analysis Requirements

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is proposing to eliminate longstanding disability compliance requirements, including self-identification, utilization analyses, and applicant tracking. If approved, OFCCP’s two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would modify agency regulations that implement the nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503) and Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans...
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

OFCCP Proposes Rescinding Regulations Interpreting E.O. 11246

The Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has formally proposed rescinding its regulations that implemented and interpreted Executive Order 11246. President Trump rescinded that order when he signed E.O. 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. Under the proposed rule, the following provisions would be removed from Title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations: Obligations of Contractors and Subcontractors...

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