Retail Labor and Employment Law

Retail Labor and Employment Law

News, Updates, and Insights for Retail Employers

Tag Archives: DOL

Top Issues of 2016 – Featured in Employment Law This Week

The new episode of Employment Law This Week offers a year-end roundup of the biggest employment, workforce, and management issues in 2016:

  • Impact of the Defend Trade Secrets Act
  • States Called to Ban Non-Compete Agreements
  • Paid Sick Leave Laws Expand
  • Transgender Employment Law
  • Uncertainty Over the DOL’s Overtime Rule and Salary Thresholds
  • NLRB Addresses Joint Employment
  • NLRB Rules on Union Organizing

Watch the episode below and read EBG’s Take 5 newsletter, “Top Five Employment, Labor & Workforce Management Issues of 2016.”

Continue Reading

Employers Under the Microscope: Is Change on the Horizon? – Attend Our Annual Briefing (NYC, Oct. 18)

Employers Under the Microscope: Is Change on the Horizon?

When: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Where: New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019

Epstein Becker Green’s Annual Workforce Management Briefing will focus on the latest developments in labor and employment law, including:

  • Latest Developments from the NLRB
  • Attracting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce
  • ADA Website Compliance
  • Trade Secrets and Non-Competes
  • Managing and Administering Leave Policies
  • New Overtime Rules
  • Workplace Violence and Active-Shooter Situations
  • Recordings in the Workplace
  • Instilling Corporate Ethics

This year, we welcome Marc Freedman and Jim Plunkett from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Marc and Jim will … Continue Reading

U.S. Department of Labor Updates Mandatory FLSA and Polygraph Protection Act Posters

Retail employers should take note that the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) updated its mandatory posters notifying employees of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (“EPPA”).  The FLSA and EPPA posters no longer identify the civil monetary penalties that may be assessed for violations.  The FLSA poster also provides information regarding the rights of nursing mothers under the FLSA.  Employers are required to post the revised mandatory posters as of August 1, 2016, and may download the revised posters from the DOL’s website.

Employers should review their workplace employment law … Continue Reading

DOL Issues Final Persuader Rule: New Restrictions on Employer’s Communication with Employees and Enhanced Reporting Requirements

On March 23, 2016, the DOL issued its long-awaited final “persuader rule” (“Final Persuader Rule”), which drastically expands the agency’s prior interpretation of the types of legal and consulting activities that will be subject to the extensive reporting requirements of Section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA”). In particular, the Final Persuader Rule seeks to narrow significantly the scope of the so-called “Advice Exemption” to the statute’s reporting requirements. As a result, a wide range of services provided by labor relations counsel and consultants may—for the first time—be deemed by the DOL to constitute reportable “persuader … Continue Reading

Employers: DOL Final White Collar Exemption Rule Takes Effect on December 1, 2016

Our colleagues Jeffrey Ruzal and Michael Kun at Epstein Becker Green have a post on the Wage & Hour Defense Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the retail industry: “DOL Final White Collar Exemption Rule to Take Effect on December 1, 2016.”

Following is an excerpt:

Nearly a year after the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address an increase in the minimum salary for white collar exemptions, the DOL has announced its final rule, to take effect on December 1, 2016. …

According to the DOL’s Continue Reading

DOL Releases New Poster and Employer’s Guide to FMLA

Retailers should note that the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) has just released a new Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) poster and The Employer’s Guide to The Family and Medical Leave Act (“Guide”).

New FMLA Poster

The FMLA requires covered employers to display a copy of the General FMLA Notice prominently in a conspicuous place. The new poster is more reader-friendly and better organized than the previous one. The font is larger and the poster contains a QR code that will connect the reader directly to the DOL homepage. According to the DOL, however, the February 2013 … Continue Reading

DOL’s New Persuader Rule Is Intended to Aid Union Organizing

Our colleagues Adam C. Abrahms and Steven M. Swirsky, attorneys at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Management Memo blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the retail industry: “Department of Labor Releases New Persuader Rule Intended to Aid Union Organizing.”

The US Department of Labor has finally issued its long awaited Final Rule radically reinterpreting the “Advice Exemption” to the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (“LMRDA.”).  The Final Rule eviscerates any meaningful use of the Advice Exemption, which would be swallowed up by the new expansive … Continue Reading

DOL to Revise Definition of “Spouse” in FMLA Regulations

 By Anna A. Cohen

In its Agency Rule List for Spring 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed to amend the Regulations implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by revising the definition of “spouse” in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (U.S. June 26, 2013).   In Windsor, the Supreme Court struck down the provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denied federal benefits to legally married, same-sex couples.  The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified … Continue Reading

Persuader Rule Postponed: Employers Get Temporary Reprieve from Assault on Attorney-Client Privilege

On Epstein Becker Green’s Management Memo blog, our colleague Adam C. Abrahms writes about the Department of Labor’s delay, once again, of its timeline for finalizing the Persuader Rule.

Below is an excerpt from the blog post:

As we noted in “First Kill All The Lawyers,” last November the DOL announced its intention to move forward this month with the Administration’s Proposed Rule change which would eviscerate the Advice Exemption to the Persuader Rule . Yesterday, the DOL again delayed its timeline for finalizing the Rule.

In November the DOL’s announcement asserted that it intended to publish … Continue Reading

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