Retail Labor and Employment Law - What You Need to Know Now

In an article written by Corporate Counsel’s Shannon Green published on May 23, 2013,   Epstein Becker Green labor and employment attorneys, Jeffrey M. Landes and Susan Gross Sholinsky, were interviewed concerning the legal issues that retail industry employers are currently facing.      The interview followed a retail executive roundtable held in EBG’s New York office on May 21, 2013.    

Following is an excerpt:

Increased government regulatory activity has been on the minds of most employers for the past several years, and U.S. retailers are no exception. At a roundtable event tailored exclusively to their retail clients, lawyers from Epstein Becker Green discussed some of the key legal risks members of the industry are facing.

Click here to read the entire Corporate Counsel article.

Please join Epstein Becker Green’s Health Care & Life Sciences and Labor & Employment practitioners as we continue to review the Affordable Care Act and its ongoing impact on retail employers and their group health plans.

In less than a year, retail employers employing at least 50 full-time employees will be subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions. Under these provisions, if retail employers do not offer health coverage or do not offer affordable health coverage that provides a minimum level of value to their full-time employees, they may be subject to a tax penalty under the proposed regulations just issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

During this program, Epstein Becker Green practitioners will:

• Review the basics of the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions and proposed regulations
• Define employer status under the proposed regulations
• Clarify the definition of "full-time" employees and dependents who must be offered coverage
• Discuss the determination of affordable and minimum value coverage
• Review employer liabilities and penalties

This is the third session in the Employer Affordable Care Act Webinar Series for retail employers on upcoming rules and regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act. Please stay tuned for upcoming webinars on:

• Exchange Implementation
• Essential Health Benefits
• Quality Reporting
• And others...

Epstein Becker Green Presenters:
Mark E. Lutes
Frank C. Morris, Jr.
Adam C. Solander

Wednesday, January 9, 2013
1:00 - 2:00 pm EST
10:00 - 11:00 am PST

Registration Is Complimentary and Webinar Space Is Limited

Don't Miss This Opportunity! To Register, please click here.

Contact Elizabeth Gannon at 202/861-1850 or [email protected] for more information. If you missed the first two webinars in the New ACA Implementation Regulation series, the audio recording and presentation slides are now available.

We are pleased to announce today that the Employer Defense Law Blog has a new look and a more focused approach.   The Employer Defense Law Blog will now be known as the Retail Labor and Employment Law Blog, which  will provide insights, news, updates, and commentary on labor and employment law developments affecting employers in the retail industry.

For more than three decades, Epstein Becker Green attorneys have been advising and representing retail clients on a wide array of matters that impact their businesses. Our services have included, among other things, drafting worldwide policies and procedures related to global retail operations; negotiating collective bargaining agreements for countless retail and service unions; advising clients in the retail industry on all aspects of the employment relationship; representing and defending retail clients in connection with federal, state, and local administrative charges and in mediations, arbitrations, and lawsuits; and conducting wage-hour, human resource, and compliance audits for retail companies.

As a subscriber, if the topic of  labor and employment law in the retail industry is not of interest to you, please review EpsteinBeckerGreen’s full array of blogs focused on industries such as financial services, hospitality, and health care.  We also offer blogs that follow important and headlines issues concerning wage-hour matters, trade secrets and non-competes, and labor law for management, to name a few.

Thank you for your readership. We hope that you will continue to monitor labor and employment news and insights through your subscriptions to Epstein Becker Green’s law blogs.

We are pleased to announce that Epstein Becker Green’s first app - Wage & Hour Guide for Employers - is now available for download in the App Store on iTunes, for both iPhones and iPads.  You can find this complimentary app by searching for “Wage Hour” or clicking here.

The Wage & Hour Guide app enables employers to access up-to-date federal wage and hour guidelines as well as various state guidelines, which can differ by jurisdiction. In addition, users can obtain insights and commentary about the latest wage and hour developments and issues by accessing this blog directly through the app. To provide the best user experience possible, the app provides users with the ability to download the guide to their iPhone or iPad for reference anywhere at any time – with or without an Internet connection, all at no cost.

As you may know, the authors of this blog are attorneys at Epstein Becker Green, a national law firm with approximately 300 lawyers practicing in ten offices throughout the U.S.

On July 19, 2011, Epstein Becker Green’s Jay P. Krupin testified before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concerning the Board’s dramatic rulemaking proposals to modify the representation election process. The firm was one of only a handful of management-side firms invited to provide testimony on behalf of clients at this first-ever NLRB hearing.

Vigorously arguing against the proposed changes, Jay asserted, among other things, that the “blatantly pro-labor” proposals to shorten the pre-election period would significantly hinder employees’ ability to make informed decisions. Jay further admonished the Board for improperly usurping Congress’s power to change federal labor law, and reminded the Board that the legislature has specifically refused to act on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have called for the changes that the Board now seeks to implement by fiat.

Read more about Jay’s testimony and watch a video of it on the Epstein Becker Green website.

This blog is dedicated to a discussion of many of the different areas of employment law confronted by employers in today’s workplace – and the changes regularly occurring there.

Perhaps more than ever before, change happens rapidly in the workplace.  In part, change has occurred because of changes in technology.  Not long ago, the notion of drafting a social media policy to govern employees’ postings on the Internet was unimaginable.  Now, employers grapple with such policies and their consequences.

Change also comes to the workplace because of changes in administrations.  During the last two years, the administration in Washington has moved aggressively in a number of areas affecting employers.  The EEOC promises more vigorous enforcement.  The NLRB makes law that affects non-unionized workforces.  Congress and the courts consider issues that impact the relationship between employers and employees.

Today’s global companies also bring about other changes for employers.  With an increasingly globally mobile workforce, companies must consider not only U.S. and state law, but the laws of other countries where they are doing business and hiring and firing.  Change here means greater complexity.

The economy also brings about change.  Downsizing, contingent workers, and similar issues arise because of an economy that continues to challenge.

Given the rapid nature of these changes, it is only natural that we discuss these issues in the blogosphere.  We can post developments and guidance quickly – hopefully adding thoughtful and beneficial insight for employers.