Insights

April 08, 2022
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Category: State and Local Law

Interstate: April 2022 Update

We are pleased to present the latest edition in our “Interstate” memo series, periodic updates we provide when state and local legislatures are active to help employers stay on top of important new state and local workplace compliance developments. This latest edition of Interstate covers notable developments that have occurred since our last update in February 2022,. Members of the...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Biden Administration Advancing Initiatives To Stem Alleged Anti-Competitive Practices

Employers may recall that last year we reported on a sweeping new Executive Order (E.O.) signed by President Biden that is designed to promote competition throughout the economy. We also predicted that it was only a matter of time before federal agencies began adopting policies pursuant to the E.O. that would impact workplace compliance. Recent events appear to bear that...
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April 08, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

New AG Guidelines on FOIA “Presumption of Openness” Could Impact Workforce Data Disclosure

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland recently issued new guidelines reminding federal agencies that the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) favors transparency and the disclosure of information in the government’s possession. Although the new guidelines don’t alter FOIA’s current exemptions from disclosure, the guidelines do send a strong signal that as a matter of policy the Biden Administration encourages the...
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April 01, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Comments Filed Urging USDA To Withdraw Blacklisting Proposal

Our affiliated non-profit association, the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), as filed written comments with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding that agency’s latest attempt to amend its procurement regulations to require USDA contractors to certify compliance with “all applicable labor laws” and deny contracts to bidders based on USDA’s assessment of their compliance records. As we reported recently,...
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April 01, 2022
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Category: Arbitration and Dispute Resolution

House-Approved Bill Would Ban Use of Employment-Related Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements

As expected, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have once again approved one of their long-sought legislative priorities, a bill (H.R. 963) to prohibit the use and enforcement of pre-dispute arbitration agreements for a range of disputes, including employment and civil rights claims. Although expectations were high among the bill’s supporters that this time around the bill had a...
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April 01, 2022
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

New York Expands Workplace Anti-Retaliation Protection, Creates Complaint Hotline

The state legislature of New York, in response to the sex harassment allegations that led to the resignation of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, has amended its already broad anti-retaliation law to prohibit covered employers from releasing personnel records of an employee who has complained about alleged discriminatory conduct. Senate Bill 5870 became effective immediately upon Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature on...
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April 01, 2022
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

Latest BLS Disability Employment Data Show Positive Albeit Modest Trend

The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has published its 2021 report on disability employment in the United States. While the agency’s annual report covers only data at the national level, limiting its overall value for purposes of corporate benchmarking, it does contain several data points that still may be of interest to CWC members. Perhaps most significantly,...
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March 25, 2022
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Category: Agency Enforcement

OFCCP Once Again Proposing To Revise Its Enforcement Standards

The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published a formal proposal to once again revise the rules the agency follows for resolving alleged material violations discovered during a compliance evaluation. The proposed rule would amend the Enforcement Rule issued by the Trump OFCCP in late 2020 that established a framework regarding how discrimination allegations are...
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March 25, 2022
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Category: Contingent Workers

Federal Court Rules DOL Acted Unlawfully in Rescinding Trump-Era Independent Contractor Rule

A federal district court ruled recently that the Biden Administration’s Labor Department acted unlawfully when it delayed and later repealed Trump-era regulations governing classification of workers as employees or independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court’s ruling in Coalition for Workforce Innovation v. Walsh effectively reinstates the Trump Administration’s regulatory reforms retroactively. Importantly, the court’s decision...
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March 25, 2022
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Category: Compensation

New Biden E.O. Instructs Contracting Agencies To Consider Salary History Ban

Last week, as part of the White House commemoration of “Equal Pay Day,” an annual event created by pay equity advocates to draw attention to gender-based pay disparities, President Biden signed a new Executive Order (E.O.) directing federal contracting agencies to consider whether and to what extent federal contractors should be prohibited from considering applicant salary history information as part...
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