Five Work Streams for Employers to Consider Before a RIF
Employers often consider five key “work streams” at the initial planning stages of a reduction in force (RIF).
Blog
Guns in the Workplace After the Supreme Court’s Bruen Decision: What Has Changed, and What Can Employers Expect?
On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a 6–3 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that expanded the right of Americans to bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. More accurately, the Court significantly curtailed a state’s ability to restrict citizens’ right to carry firearms publicly for their self-defense.
Employee Handbooks: Can One Size Fit All for Multistate and International Employers?
Multistate employers often face the difficult task of finding the most effective way to prepare their handbooks while ensuring compliance not only with federal law, but also with the applicable state, local, and even international laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate. As many multistate employers continue to grow and expand their footprints both nationally and internationally, and as remote work becomes more common across industries, this is one of the challenges they are facing, especially where state laws are quickly evolving.
Top Multistate Compliance Challenges as Remote Work Rises at the End of the Pandemic
Multistate employers face the daunting task of keeping up with a growing patchwork of employment laws on the federal, state, and local levels. According to Ogletree Deakins’ second annual benchmarking survey report, Strategies and Benchmarks for the Workplace: Ogletree’s Survey of Key Decision-Makers, multistate compliance ranks as one of the most challenging issues for employers. Survey respondents report that leaves of absence—including paid sick leave mandates, Family and Medical Leave Act requirements, and other state leave laws—present the most difficult multi-jurisdictional compliance issues, with wage and hour law compliance and handbook/policy concerns following close behind.
Employee Arrests Outside of Work Hours: 4 Key Questions and Answers for Employers
When employees are arrested during their off-duty time and away from work, employers may need to make difficult choices balancing their various obligations. Among these are respecting the rights of arrested employees, ensuring the safety of workforces and workplaces, maintaining the continuity of business operations, and preserving brand integrity and corporate reputation—as well as considering how state and federal laws might relate to the conduct at issue and to any decision to retain, suspend, or discharge arrested employees. As with most things, process and risk assessment matter, and the way that decision-makers meet the moment may make the difference between an optimal outcome and an outcome that subjects employers to liability. Here are four questions and answers for employers weighing their options in these situations.
The Latest in Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance With Employment Application Laws
A growing number of states and municipalities are restricting the types of inquiries employers can make during hiring, creating concerns with what employers can include or must include on job applications and job postings.
Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance: 3 FAQs on State Wage and Hour
Compliance with state wage and hour laws is on the forefront of the mind of just about every employer, particularly as employees are looking for more flexibility in their work schedules since the pandemic. Ogletree Deakins’ recent survey report, Strategies and Benchmarks for the Workplace: Ogletree’s Survey of Key Decision-Makers, revealed that state wage and hour laws are the second most challenging area of multi-jurisdictional compliance.
The Latest in Multi-Jurisdictional Paid Sick Leave Compliance
Variations in paid sick leave requirements can cause major compliance issues for employers, particularly as the requirements can vary not only state-to-state but from locality to locality within a state. In fact, respondents to Ogletree Deakins’ recent survey report, Strategies and Benchmarks for the Workplace: Ogletree’s Survey of Key Decision-Makers, ranked leaves of absence, including paid sick leave and state leave laws, as the number one most challenging multijurisdictional compliance issue.
Minnesota Legalizes the Consumption of THC Edibles—How Can Multistate Employers React to This Growing National Trend?
On June 2, 2022, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed House File (H.F.) 4065 into law, a measure that provides clarity regarding hemp-derived consumables stemming from the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the 2018 Farm Bill.
The Latest in Multi-Jurisdictional Background Check Compliance
Conducting criminal background checks on job candidates is a common practice for employers but one that raises a host of compliance concerns amid a series of federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing how and when background checks may be conducted.
Midyear 2022 State and Major Locality Minimum Wage Increases
Several state and local minimum wage rates will increase in the latter half of 2022, with most of these changes effective on July 1, 2022. Increases to minimum wage rates for nonexempt employees and tipped employees in Florida will occur later in the year, on September 30, 2022.
Ogletree Deakins’ Annual Benchmarking Survey: The Biggest Concerns for Today’s Employers
What’s top of mind for today’s employers in a post-pandemic era? According to Ogletree Deakins’ second annual benchmarking survey report, Strategies and Benchmarks for the Workplace: Ogletree’s Survey of Key Decision-Makers, remote work and the tight labor market are at the top of the list.
Three Wage and Hour Predictions for 2022: Pay Incentive Class Actions, Cryptocurrency Pay, and Multistate Class Actions
With the calendar having turned to 2022, it is time to look into the crystal ball and make a few predictions for the year ahead related to the wage and hour world.
Multistate Compliance for Employers With Out-of-State Remote Employees
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted a number of previously in-person positions to remote work and telecommuting. In the meantime, many employees have moved out of state from their usual office locations for personal or financial reasons. As a result, many employers are left wondering what their legal obligations are for remote employees working out of state. The biggest concerns are local employment laws, workers’ compensation insurance, and unemployment insurance obligations. Employers may also be subject to out-of-state payroll tax obligations.
2021 State Minimum Wage Increases
Several states’ minimum wage rates will increase in 2021. The following chart lists the state (and certain major locality) minimum wage increases for 2021—and future years, if available—along with the related changes in the maximum tip credit and minimum cash wage for tipped employees.
Multi-State Payroll Withholding Issues and Potential Relief for Telecommuting Employees
The “shelter in place” or “stay-at-home” orders that numerous states have issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted some employers to require that their employees work remotely from their homes. As states roll back these orders, some employers will continue to have employees telecommute as they prepare their return-to-work strategies. Working from home or telecommuting may create a business presence in a state that establishes nexus, obligating nonresident employers to withhold state and local payroll taxes.
