Ogletree Deakins

Quick Hits Louisiana’s Act No. 556 allows employers to establish policies concerning when an employee earns a commission, incentive payment, or bonus. Examples include adjusting such compensation where the employer does not receive payment from a customer and adjusting commissions when there is a change order. Act No. 556 extends the time by which an employer must determine an employee’s eligibility for a bonus under a bonus plan that utilizes…

Quick Hits Employers doing business in Philadelphia will want to be aware of several key employment-specific ordinances—including laws governing fair criminal record screening standards (“ban the box”), sick leave benefits, predictive scheduling, pre-employment drug testing, and transit benefits—that provide rights and protections for employees and compliance responsibilities for employers in the city. Philadelphia’s “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces” ordinance, for example, requires that employers allow eligible employees to accrue sick…

Quick Hits California’s governor recently signed two bills to reform PAGA to enable workers to sue their employers or former employers over California Labor Code violations. The new legislation caps penalties on employers that “quickly take steps to fix policies and practices, and make workers whole, after receiving a PAGA notice, as well as on employers that act responsibly to take steps proactively to comply with the Labor Code before…

Quick Hits Mexico’s Human Trafficking Law has been amended to define overtime work generated beyond legal limits as a form of labor exploitation. When overtime is generated, employers will have to pay for it and may be liable for fines and penalties. The Human Trafficking Law establishes a penalty of three to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 fine days. The penalties increase to four…

Quick Hits The employer had not engaged in “meaningful consultation” with the employee, rendering the dismissal “procedurally unfair.” A fair redundancy process requires that employers adhere to a thoughtful and well-documented pooling and consultation process, which includes clear communication with affected employees. Background Zubair Valimulla worked for Al-Khair Foundation as a masjid liaison officer (MLO) employed at the charity’s Bolton branch. Three other employees performed the same or similar roles…

Quick Hits Workers in Rhode Island will receive up to seven weeks of paid time off to bond with a new child or care for a sick family member in 2025. That number will increase to eight weeks in 2026. Domestic workers are now eligible for minimum wage and overtime protections. Independent contractors must file an annual notice of designation under the workers’ compensation law for every entity that retains…

Quick Hits Minnesota’s new ban on the use of nonsolicitation agreements by service providers or staffing agencies takes effect on July 1, 2024. The law will prohibit service providers from restricting in any way its employees from being solicited or hired by user companies. The law will render such provisions void and enforceable. The new law, which was contained in Minnesota’s Labor and Industry Policy Omnibus bill signed by Governor…

Quick Hits The Superior Court of Arizona ruled Arizona municipalities cannot set prevailing wage ordinances. The court struck down prevailing wage ordinances enacted by Phoenix and Tucson affecting construction contractors. On June 21, 2024, the Superior Court of Arizona Maricopa County ruled in favor of three trade associations challenging the Phoenix and Tucson prevailing wage ordinances. The court found the state’s 2006 Minimum Wage Act did not effectively repeal the…

Quick Hits Act No. 273 modifies La. Rev. Stat. § 23:921, Louisiana’s noncompete statute, to limit the noncompete restrictions allowed in contracts with physicians. Any contract that restrains a primary care physician from practicing medicine expires three years after the effective date of the contract and all other physicians five years after the effective date of the contract. Any subsequent contract may not include a noncompete provision. The noncompete agreement…

Quick Hits Act No. 273 modifies La. Rev. Stat. § 23:921, Louisiana’s noncompete statute, to limit the noncompete restrictions allowed in contracts with physicians. Any contract that restrains a primary care physician from practicing medicine expires three years after the effective date of the contract and all other physicians five years after the effective date of the contract. Any subsequent contract may not include a noncompete provision. The noncompete agreement…

Quick Hits On June 21, 2024, two bills were introduced in the California Legislature to reform PAGA, which could provide a measure of relief to California employers and much-needed increased court oversight. Notably, the proposed amendments would allow an employee to bring PAGA claims only for Labor Code violations the employee “personally suffered” within the statute of limitations. For several claims, the proposed legislation would adjust PAGA penalties based on…

Quick Hits Following the lead of California, Colorado, Hawaii, New York, Washington, and the District of Columbia, Maryland’s Equal Pay for Equal Work – Wage Range Transparency Act will require employers to disclose certain wage information in both public and internal job postings. The law was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore on April 25, 2024. The law will take effect on October 1, 2024. The legislature passed the…

Quick Hits The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries issued a proposed rule that would impose new requirements for employers responding to allegations of harassment. The proposal introduced five factors for evaluating what constitutes “appropriate corrective action” and “promptly correcting harassing behavior.” Currently, determining whether an employer took an appropriate corrective method depends in large part on whether the harassment stopped, but BOLI’s proposal might open employers to criticism of…

Quick Hits Federal district courts in Kentucky and Louisiana have issued injunctions blocking the implementation and enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX regulations in ten states. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky held that the U.S. Department of Education had exceeded its statutory authority by redefining “sex” to include “gender identity.” The federal district court also ruled that the new Title IX…

Quick Hits A California appellate court found an employer’s arbitration agreement with an eyewear store employee to be unenforceable for being both procedurally and substantively unconscionable. The appellate court noted several issues with the arbitration agreement—including finding that it was a contract of adhesion—that placed it “high on the scale of substantive unconscionability.” Employers may want to scrutinize their arbitration agreements for provisions that may tip the scale in favor…

Quick Hits Governor Pritzker is expected to sign SB3650, legislation amending Illinois’s Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLSA). Third-party clients would not be required to provide comparator pay information until the worker has worked for the same third-party client for more than 720 hours within a twelve-month period and the temporary agency requests this information. SB3650 revises the DTLSA’s “equivalent benefits” language to provide for “substantially similar benefits.” Overview…

Quick Hits As part of a proposed consent judgment to resolve an antitrust charge brought by the DOJ and several states, the NCAA agreed to drop its rule requiring certain Division I college athletes who transfer schools to sit out a year. The DOJ and the states alleged that the transfer rule unlawfully restricted athletes from engaging in the market for their labor as college athletes. This litigation highlights state…

Quick Hits Effective July 1, 2024, Senate Bill (SB) No. 553 will require virtually every California employer to implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan. The new law does not have an implementation grace period. The new law applies to most California employers and employees, except corrections facilities, law enforcement agencies, teleworkers, places of employment where there are fewer than ten employees working at a place that is not accessible…

Quick Hits On June 7, 2024, OFCCP published a CSAL that identified 500 establishments of federal supply and service contractors and subcontractors for compliance reviews. The CSAL operates as a “courtesy notification” to a contractor that an OFCCP compliance review will be undertaken; the compliance review process begins when the company establishment receives a scheduling letter from OFCCP. OFCCP published the methodology it used for developing the June 2024 CSAL.…

Quick Hits Minnesota Governor Walz signed employment-related legislation that amends laws addressing consumer data privacy, drug and alcohol or cannabis testing, employee misclassification, pay transparency, and restrictive covenants. Leave-related provisions address earned sick and safe time, paid family and medical leave, pregnancy accommodations, and parental leave. Wage- and pay-related legislation addresses rideshare drivers, pay transparency in job postings, and gratuities employees receive through debit, charge, credit card, or electronic payments.…

Quick Hits New Singaporean employment laws are in effect or will take effect this year. A new law extends the paid paternity leave benefit for two additional weeks, bringing the new leave allotment to four weeks of paid paternity leave. Singapore’s proposed Workplace Fairness Legislation, scheduled for passage in the second half of 2024, aims to enhance protection against discrimination and provide an avenue for employees to report grievances without…

Quick Hits The New York State Assembly has passed and delivered the Retail Worker Safety Act to the state Senate. Under the legislation, retail employers would be required to have written workplace violence prevention programs and workplace violence training. Retail employers with 500 or more employees nationwide would also be required to install access to panic buttons to immediately dispatch local law enforcement when pressed. Assembly Bill A8947, titled the…

Quick Hits The California Civil Rights Department released new proposed regulations for employers’ use of AI and automated decision-making systems. The proposed regulations would affirm that employers’ use of such hiring technologies may violate the state’s antidiscrimination laws and clarify limits on the use of such technology in criminal background checks and medical/psychological inquiries. The proposed regulations would also clarify the scope of third-party liability arising from the use of…

Quick Hits Beginning July 1, 2024, nearly all recruiters and temporary help agencies working with businesses or candidates in Ontario will be required to have a licence, even if the recruiters and temporary help agencies are not located in Ontario. THAs and recruiters that apply by June 30, 2024, may continue operating past the July 1, 2024, licence deadline. Licences are good for one year after their issuance date. Businesses…

Quick Hits Starting July 1, 2024, a new California law, SB 478, will prohibit businesses from adding automatic service charges onto consumer bills. Other states and federal agencies may soon restrict, or prohibit, businesses from using automatic service charges. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) No. 478 into law in October 2023, and recently, the California Attorney General’s Office released a set of answers to frequently asked questions…

Quick Hits The Maine Department of Labor issued proposed rules for the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, providing employers with initial clarification regarding covered employees, contribution amounts, substitution of private plans, and other facets of the law. The public comment period for the proposed rules is open through July 8, 2024. While the department’s proposed rules answer several critical questions, revisions to the proposal are expected following the…

Quick Hits Maryland’s HB 1388 imposes greater restrictions on Maryland employers entering noncompete and conflict of interest agreements with both health care and veterinary professionals. HB 1388 prohibits restrictions for certain employees who are required to be licensed under the Health Occupations Article and certain employees who are licensed as a veterinary practitioner or veterinary technician under Title 2, Subtitle 3 of the Agriculture Article. HB 1388 takes effect on…

Quick Hits The Illinois legislature passed SB2979 to clarify that multiple alleged collections or disseminations of an individual’s biometrics constitute only a single violation of the Privacy Act and the individual is limited to only one recovery of statutory damages. Once signed, the bill will reverse a holding by the Illinois’s high court that had opened the door to potentially excessive damages awards against employers. The bill confirms that BIPA…

Quick Hits The DOL is enforcing child labor laws through two key mechanisms: (1) preventing employers from shipping or profiting from “hot goods” and (2) assessing aggregate civil money penalties. An August 2023 DOL field assistance bulletin advises field agents on identifying violations of “oppressive child labor” and applying the “hot goods” provision—on top of assessing civil penalties. In November 2023, the DOL announced it would no longer be assessing…

Quick Hits With Governor Jared Polis’s signing into law SB 24-205, Colorado becomes the first U.S. state to enact comprehensive legislation regulating the use and development of AI systems. The law addresses, among other things, the risk of algorithmic discrimination “arising from the intended and contracted uses of … high-risk artificial intelligence system[s].” The Colorado AI Act will take effect on February 1, 2026. Colorado’s AI Act, SB 24-205, is…

Quick Hits The Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the FAA requires federal courts to grant stays of lawsuits after claims are sent to arbitration, if a stay is requested. The ruling resolves a 6–4 circuit split regarding whether federal district courts must stay lawsuits pending arbitration or whether they have discretion to dismiss them. The unanimous decision in Smith v. Spizzirri reversed and remanded a ruling by the…

Quick Hits OFCCP released its first detailed guidance on federal contractors’ use of AI and automated systems. The guidance instructs federal contractors to routinely monitor whether AI and automated systems have a disparate or adverse impact on protected groups and take actions to reduce those impacts or use different tools. The guidance further clarifies that federal contractors are ultimately responsible for meeting nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations regardless of whether…

Quick Hits The New Jersey Supreme Court invalidated an otherwise valid settlement agreement solely because the agreement contained a “non-disparagement provision,” the scope of which the court found “would bar individuals from describing an employer’s discriminatory conduct” in violation of NJLAD. The court held that the non-disparagement provision was broad enough to violate the NJLAD and that the defendants had used the provision to silence the plaintiff’s protected conduct. The…

Quick Hits June 2, 2024, and October 1, 2024, are mandatory holidays due to federal elections in Mexico and the presidential inauguration day. Employees who work on mandatory holidays are entitled to two times their daily wage in addition to their normal salary for that day. Employers must respect and grant employees time to exercise their voting rights, in order to comply with the FLL. Under Article 74 of the…

 Current LawExpansion Under Public Act No. 24-8 Effective January 1, 2025 (Unless Otherwise Noted)Covered EmployeesThe current law applies to “service workers,” who are defined as employees in certain occupations identified in the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Standard Occupational Classification system.The expanded law applies to all employees, including seasonal employees who work 120 days or fewer during a year.Covered EmployersThe current law applies to employers with 50 or more service…

Quick Hits The EB-1 and EB-2 final action dates remain unchanged for all countries of chargeability. The EB-3 final action date for India retrogressed eight days, while all other countries of chargeability remain unchanged. USCIS has confirmed it will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications based on the final action dates chart for the June 2024 Visa Bulletin. Family-based applications may continue to use the dates for filing chart. Based…

Quick Hits Comprehensive workplace safety legislation proposed in the New York State Senate would require retail employers to assess potential workplace violence hazards and develop and implement comprehensive written workplace violence plans. Among other requirements, retail employers with fifty or more employees nationwide would have to install panic buttons to immediately dispatch local law enforcement when pressed. The bill, S8358B, has a companion bill pending in the New York State…

Quick Hits The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division published new field assistance guiding its field staff on the implications of employers’ increasing use of automated systems and AI technologies. The guidance cautions that while such technologies have workplace benefits, human oversight is necessary to avoid results that violate federal labor laws. The guidance comes after President Biden issued an executive order (EO) calling on federal agencies to coordinate their approach…

Quick Hits On April 29, 2024, three separate lawsuits were filed challenging the 2024 Title IX regulations: (1) Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho filed one lawsuit in the Western District of Louisiana; (2) Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina filed a second lawsuit in the Northern District of Alabama; and (3) Texas filed a third lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas. On April 30, 2024, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,…

Quick Hits Retailers with at least 300 or more employees worldwide and that have employees in the County of Los Angeles will be required to provide their employees with predictable schedules. The county ordinance is similar to a City of Los Angeles ordinance that took effect in April 2023. The ordinance takes effect on July 1, 2025. Like the Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance that took effect approximately one…