Ogletree Deakins

Quick Hits California’s SB 1237 raises the maximum civil penalty for a second or later failure to file a required pay data report from $200 per employee to $1,000 per employee. The penalty for the first failure to file stays at up to $100 per employee. The amended statute takes effect January 1, 2027, and this year’s pay filing deadline is May 12, 2027. Covered Employers Covered employers include private…

Quick Hits Knowing which type of salary to use for employees in Mexico is crucial for terminations, calculation of social security contributions, and the calculation of statutory benefits. Using the wrong salary base may lead to employee claims, fines from labor, social security, and tax authorities, and disgruntled employees. The Three Main Purposes of Salary in Mexico Mexican law uses salary for three main purposes: (1) paying salary and benefits,…

Quick Hits On October 21, 2026, the Court of Appeals of Oregon held in Ayala v. Culbertsons LLC, held that the state’s wage law permits payroll deductions to repay employee-requested wage advances when the arrangement benefits both the employee and employer. The court upheld deductions totaling $1,000 because the employee received requested, interest-free advances before earning the wages and agreed in writing to specific repayment deductions. Oregon employers may want…

Quick Hits On November 4, 2026, the DOL OIG announced an audit of the effectiveness of OSHA’s actions to address workplace violence. It is the OIG’s first review of the issue since a September 2001 report found OSHA could do more on guidance, outreach, and recordkeeping. OSHA still has no workplace violence standard and relies on the General Duty Clause, so the audit’s findings could shape future enforcement and rulemaking.…

Quick Hits The  Ontario Superior Court of Justice read a “for cause” confidentiality provision together with a CEO’s termination clause and found that the parties objectively intended to comply with the Canada Labour Code, rather than isolating individual words. The court distinguished Ghazvini v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Henderson v. Slavkin, finding that the clauses in those cases permitted termination without notice where the statute prohibits it, and…

Quick Hits The Fourth Circuit held that Title VII’s Section 702 religious employer exemption is limited to religious discrimination and accommodation claims and does not shield a religious organization from sex, race, or national origin discrimination claims, even when the employment decision is motivated by sincerely held religious beliefs. For lay employees who do not perform spiritual functions and are therefore not covered by the exemption for ministerial employees, the…

Quick Hits Unlimited PTO outside the United States does not eliminate the need to track minimum statutory leave, carryover, and payout-on-termination; rather, it adds a layer of complexity to it. In jurisdictions with already generous statutory leave regimes, unlimited PTO may create productivity and coverage challenges. Replacing a more generous contractual PTO entitlement with unlimited PTO is generally considered a detrimental change requiring employee consent. In some countries, employers looking…

Quick Hits DV-2026 visa processing and DV-2027 lottery registration have faced separate disruptions. DV-2027 registration remains closed, with no confirmed opening date. Diversity Visa Lottery Background Each year, the Diversity Visa program offers up to 55,000 immigrant visas to eligible individuals from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States. The process begins when individuals enter the lottery, and the State Department randomly selects entrants. Those selected…

Quick Hits In Commonwealth Department of Labor and Industry v. Accuserv Pharmacy, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed a trial court’s ruling in favor of twenty employees who sued for unpaid overtime wages. The appellate court found the trial court erred in determining that a six-year statute of limitations applied to the employees’ claims. The three-year statute of limitations had been commonly accepted by practitioners and judges throughout Pennsylvania. In…

Quick Hits  Courts and labor authorities outside of the United States often look at how compensation is paid in practice, and local statutory entitlements can override the plan terms entirely. Bonus terms that are consistently applied year after year can become contractual entitlements that are difficult to change or withdraw. In some countries, such as China, offering actual equity can be impractical or restricted, and companies often use phantom equity…

Quick Hits New York’s Trapped at Work Act restricts the use of “stay or pay” agreements, which, as a condition of employment, require employees to reimburse an employer for certain expenses or costs if the employment relationship ends before a specified date. Repayment agreements that are not a condition of employment are permissible. The New York Department of Labor may issue fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for violations of…

The agency’s April 2024 final rule implementing the statute was not as widely applauded. Now that the EEOC has formally announced plans to revise that rule, employers should expect a narrower regulatory definition of what the PWFA covers. Employers need to read beyond headlines declaring protections will be rolled back and not expect any slowdown in enforcement on behalf of pregnant and newly postpartum workers who require basic accommodations to…

Quick Hits The DOL’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) recently released final rules requiring more financial transparency and disclosures from PBMs to health plans. The rule’s purpose is to give large employers and plan fiduciaries more information to evaluate their contracts with PBMs and affiliated brokers and consultants. The regulations are applicable to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2027. The final regulations will require both initial disclosures…

Quick Hits The role of HR in disciplinary proceedings is generally to guide the process and provide advice to the managers taking the decisions. In most situations, HR will not participate in taking the final decision. Nevertheless, cases are fact-specific, and someone from HR taking the decision in a disciplinary process does not automatically render a dismissal unfair. Background and Analysis In Shing v University of the Arts London, WYC…

Quick Hits The EEOC voted to rescind its 2012 enforcement guidance related to using arrest and conviction records in employment decisions. The Commission stated that the agency voted 2-to-1 in favor of rescinding on October 28, 2026, and that the rescission is effective immediately. The 2012 guidance had indicated that employers’ use of information on arrest and conviction records could implicate their obligations under Title VII of the Civil Rights…

Quick Hits President Trump signed Executive Order 14426, “Accelerating Access to Veterans’ Benefits and Employment Opportunities,” on September 8, 2026, to address the transfer of records between DOW and the VA. The executive order sets a series of deadlines for the DOW and the VA to modernize both the technology and the policies governing records sharing. The executive order also directs changes to help veterans move more quickly into employment…

Quick Hits A growing number of states and localities are passing laws to prohibit workplace discrimination based on menopause or perimenopause. Menopause symptoms may be covered under the ADA, depending on the woman’s limitations and essential job functions. Employers often cover menopause treatments in group health plans. Legislative Action and Case Law Legislation (H.R.9671) is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require covered employers to provide reasonable…

Quick Hits Oregon OSHA has finalized a workplace violence prevention rule that expressly covers home health agencies and home hospice programs in addition to hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. The rule defines “workplace violence” to include threats, harassment, and intimidating behavior not just physical assault. Oregon OSHA’s Discrimination Complaint Rule (OAR 437-001-0295) now includes reporting workplace violence incidents. Covered employers must record incidents on the Health Care Workplace Violence Incident…

Quick Hits The NJDOL proposes capping the difference between a posted range’s maximum and minimum at 60 percent of the minimum. The 60 percent cap was the most striking feature of the September 2025 proposed regulations. No other jurisdiction currently limits the size of an employer’s posted pay range beyond requiring a good faith estimate. The NJDOL’s FAQs also remove reference to the cap. New Jersey’s pay transparency statute took…

Quick Hits In Winn v. Blakeslee Vineyard Estate, Inc., 352 Or App 803 (2026), the Oregon Court of Appeals resolved a previously unsettled question under ORS 652.615 in the employer’s favor. The court affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff’s class claims under ORCP 32 I’s notice-and-cure mechanism and separately affirmed the dismissal of her individual claims for failure to prosecute. Chief Judge Lagesen dissented, concluding that the plain text of…

Quick Hits New York City recently adopted final amended rules implementing the Fair Chance Act, which limits employers’ criminal history inquiries and consideration of criminal histories in taking adverse actions against applicants or employees being considered for promotion or transfer. The rules requires employers to allow at least five business days for candidates to respond to inquiries about their criminal history before revoking offers or taking adverse actions—up from three…

Quick Hits The U.S. Department of Labor recently updated its tipped-employee guidance to reflect the Fifth Circuit’s 2024 decision in Restaurant Law Center and the reinstatement of the original dual jobs regulation. The FAB withdraws outdated materials and clarifies how employers should distinguish tipped and non-tipped work. Among other things, the bulletin states that percentage-based limits on duties within a tipped occupation no longer reflect Department policy. The Dual Jobs…

Quick Hits In the event of a discriminatory rejection, employers in Germany are, in principle, liable for lost earnings under Section 15 (1) AGG. The claim ends once the affected person has become established in other employment. The chain of causation is broken once the person has taken up suitable new employment that has become established. Proportionality and the general risks of life limit liability. The Case—Age Discrimination in an…

Quick Hits B.C. employers that had fifty or more employees on January 1, 2026, must publish their first pay transparency report by November 1, 2026. Reports must disclose gender-based gaps in hourly pay, overtime, and bonuses, as well as the gender makeup of pay quartiles. Reporting is an annual obligation. Which Employers Must Report Unless exempted by regulation, an employer becomes a “reporting employer” based on its headcount on January…

Quick Hits A claim under Section 12 (3) of the German General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG)) for measures against a colleague requires that the colleague’s conduct constitutes discrimination based on a characteristic listed in Section 1 AGG. Assigning a long-tenured employee to share an office with trainees does not, without more, constitute age discrimination. Rudeness is not workplace bullying; conduct rises to that level only when it is…

Quick Hits The rule would withdraw what the EEOC describes as the UGESP’s “interpretive” portions, which likely include its guidance on identifying adverse impact and validating employment tests and other selection procedures. The UGESP’s recordkeeping requirements are subject to a separate, earlier-stage proposal. The final rule’s text is not yet public, and current legal obligations generally remain in place until a final rule is published in the Federal Register and…

Quick Hits Effective October 1, 2026, employers in Connecticut must provide written notice to workers before conducting electronic monitoring in the workplace. Under Substitute Senate Bill 472, which Governor Ned Lamont signed into law in June 2026, employers must provide newly hired employees with a clear written statement describing which activities are prohibited by the employer and may be monitored without giving prior written notice. Violating the law may result…

Quick Hits TPS for Ukraine and Sudan was scheduled to end on October 19, 2026. Pursuant to the updated announcement made on October 19, 2026, TPS Ukraine and TPS Sudan beneficiaries continue to have work authorization. USCIS has not announced an extension, a termination, or a new employment authorization document (EAD) auto-extension date. USCIS’s alert does not announce a formal TPS extension or termination for either country, Ukraine or Sudan.…

Quick Hits New Jersey Senate Bill S4685 prohibits law enforcement officers, first responders, CDL drivers, or persons who operate heavy equipment from engaging in the recreational use of cannabis. If enacted as proposed, the bill would allow employers to take adverse action against such employees or applicants who use cannabis recreationally, and to conduct random drug tests to enforce compliance. S4685 remains pending before the New Jersey Legislature. If enacted,…

Quick Hits The Supreme Court declined to hear former NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox’s challenge regarding the president’s authority to remove NLRB members, effectively ending her case for reinstatement. This decision leaves in place a D.C. Circuit decision holding that the president’s power to remove NLRB members could not be restricted by Congress. The decision aligns with Trump v. Slaughter, in which the Court upheld the president’s authority to remove a…

Quick Hits On October 14, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied a preliminary injunction sought by five organizations whose members include government contractors, leaving Executive Order (EO) 14398 in effect while the case proceeds. The court found the groups were unlikely to succeed on their First Amendment and Fifth Amendment claims because the EO defines the prohibited activities as “disparate treatment based on race or…

Quick Hits Governor Matt Meyer signed amendments to the Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act on September 2, 2026, that further limit profiling and automated decision-making based on the personal data of job applicants, employees, and independent contractors. Violations of the law can result in civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation. The amendments will take effect on January 1, 2027. The Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act (DPDPA) took effect on…

Quick Hits A Massachusetts federal judge enforced Fresenius’s noncompete agreement against a former supply chain executive who accepted employment with Vantive, a direct competitor, finding that the agreement adequately identified his employer and was properly executed. The court held that the restrictions were no broader than necessary under the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act because the executive had access to confidential companywide information and competitive strategies, and the restrictions applied only…

Quick Hits AI-enabled smart glasses create workplace compliance risks by enabling discreet recording, data capture, transcription, and AI analysis in settings where traditional smartphone policies may not apply. Employers may want to update recording and confidentiality rules to address wearable devices while accounting for consent laws, biometric privacy, trade secrets, investigations, and third-party data handling. Employers may want to ensure that restrictions are narrowly tailored to comply with labor laws…

Probably not. The clause’s flow-down requirement contains an exception for subcontracts where the place of “delivery or performance” is outside the United States. Because the exception is written in the disjunctive (i.e., “expressed by mutually exclusive alternatives joined by or”), a subcontract performed outside the United States may qualify for the exception even when the finished goods are delivered in the United States. That relatively straightforward example, however, raises harder…

Quick Hits On October 6, 2026, Washington DOSH proposed updates to construction PPE rules to align with federal OSHA requirements, including requiring employers to ensure PPE properly fits each affected employee. The proposal also includes minor clarifications and housekeeping revisions, with public hearings in November 2026, comments due November 23, 2026, and intended adoption on March 2, 2027. DOSH’s primary purpose for this proposed rulemaking is to bring Washington’s construction PPE…

Quick Hits Germany’s Federal Labor Court held in a recent decision that if the body with authority to represent the company authorizes individual members to represent the company alone, the termination notice may be rejected if proof of that authorization is not attached. A rejection within one week is generally still considered prompt. The Case—Termination by Two of Three Supervisory Board Members The parties disputed the validity of two termination…

Quick Hits DHS is proposing a $70,000 fee for the first OPT recommendation for an F-1 student and a $30,000 fee for any subsequent OPT recommendation, including a STEM OPT extension. The SEVP-certified school would be responsible for paying the applicable fee before the designated school official could enter the OPT recommendation in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, but DHS acknowledges that schools may pass the cost on…

Quick Hits The DEA’s chief administrative law judge stayed marijuana rescheduling proceedings to consider adding a new GAO drug scheduling report to the hearing record and permit supplemental briefings concerning rescheduling all marijuana products, not just those approved by the FDA. Federal agencies must respond by October 13, 2026. After that, the judge will decide whether to admit the GAO report. Forty states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana,…

Quick Hits A dental assistant for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) alleged she faced whistleblower retaliation and constructive discharge after reporting safety concerns. The Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court’s decision that individual supervisors cannot be liable for retaliation under state law. The Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s dismissal of the retaliation claim against the state and the CDCR. Farzana Chaudhry, a dental assistant…