Expanded Protections Proposed for Breastfeeding Employees in New Jersey

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate avoided the “nuclear option” on pending nominations for Secretary of Labor-Designate Thomas Perez and for a package of nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The nuclear option would have changed Senate rules by a simple majority vote (rather than the required 67 votes) to end filibusters on presidential executive branch nominations rather than the required 60 votes for “cloture” to cut off debate.

The Trump administration continues to look for ways to lessen the regulatory burden on employers. As a result, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) electronic recordkeeping regulation continues to be whittled down. OSHA’s latest Regulatory Agenda sets out new changes to the already beleaguered rule. Specifically, OSHA intends to propose to amend the Electronic Recordkeeping rule to eliminate the requirement that establishments with 250 or more employees submit OSHA 300 Logs and 301 forms. Instead, two types of establishments would continue to submit 300A summary forms: (1) establishments of 250 or more employees; and (2) establishments with between 20 and 249 employees in the high-hazard industries listed in Appendix A to the regulation.

On July 3, 2014, the California Supreme Court decided whether a single act of disobedience by an employee constitutes misconduct within the meaning of section 1256 of California’s Unemployment Insurance Code, thereby disqualifying the employee from receiving unemployment insurance benefits. The court held that the employee’s refusal to sign a…..