Expanded Protections Proposed for Breastfeeding Employees in New Jersey

On October 21, 2013, Jersey City enacted an ordinance (passed by its City Council on September 25) mandating that all Jersey City businesses provide their employees sick leave—either paid or unpaid (depending upon the employer’s size). This ordinance (No. 13097) will take effect on January 24, 2014, or upon the expiration of current collective bargaining agreements for employees represented by a union.

A recent article proclaimed a truth that manufacturers in all industry sectors know all too well: “You can’t build jets working from home.” As law offices, financial services firms, and tech companies close their doors and require employees to “work from home,” manufacturers face the reality that manufacturing requires employees to work on site. There is no factory production work from home. Intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and workers’ compensation absences are hard enough to manage in the ordinary course of business. But the challenge to staff a factory becomes much more daunting every day during this COVID-19 pandemic, with emphasis on self-quarantine, social distancing, and avoiding groups of as few as 10 people.

Arizona’s new Declaration of Independent Business Status (DIBS) law went into effect on August 6, 2016. Arizona employers can now clarify their relationships with independent contractors under certain circumstances. For purposes of state law, employers may confirm the independent contractor relationship by having workers sign declarations that create a rebuttable presumption that an independent contractor relationship exists.