What Does the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Mean for Employers?

APPLIES TO

All Employers with fewer than 500 Employees

EFFECTIVE

April 2, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

Beginning April 2, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) will require employers to provide protected paid leave and paid sick leave to employees through December 31, 2020.

First, the FFCRA’s Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act extends employee leave protections under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as follows:

  • Applicability: Private employers with fewer than 500 employees.
  • Eligibility: Employees employed for 30 calendar days or more may request FMLA benefits for leave where the employee is unable to work (or telework) due to a need for leave to care for the son or daughter under 18 years of age of such employee if the school or place of care has been closed, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to a public health emergency.
  • Paid Leave: The first 10 days of leave are unpaid after which the employer pays the following:
    • at least 2/3 of an employee’s regular pay rate;
    • for the number of hours an employee is otherwise normally scheduled to work (for those with varying schedules, employers should use an average number of scheduled work hours over the six-month period just prior to the date of leave); and
    • up to a maximum of $200 per day and $10,000 in aggregate.

Read more

Coronavirus: How Can Employers Manage This Fast-Changing Situation?

APPLIES TO

All Employers

EFFECTIVE

Going Forward

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

The subject on top of everyone’s mind right now is the coronavirus. What is happening, what does it mean for employers, how bad is it going to get? While no one has all the answers at this point, there are things that employers can do and should be thinking about to protect their employees and their businesses. First and foremost – don’t panic!

What to know … Check resources regularly for updates and information on the virus, because things are changing quickly around the world; this includes, but is not limited to, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Johns Hopkins University.

Read more

NLRB Issues Final Rule on Joint Employer Standard, Eliminates Browning-Ferris Test

APPLIES TO

All Employers

EFFECTIVE

April 27, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

The Browning-Ferris saga appears to be coming to a close. In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a ruling saying that joint employer status can be determined based on control, direct or indirect, of the worker’s terms and conditions of employment. After some back and forth on the validity of this rule, the NLRB recently issued its final rule defining joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), aligning it with the U.S. Department of Labor’s own rule, and invalidating the standard set forth in Browning.

Read more

EEOC Ends EEO-1 Pay Data Collection Component; 2019 Filing Timeline Still Up in the Air

APPLIES TO

All Employers

EFFECTIVE

February 10, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

For the last two years, employers subject to EEO-1 reporting had to notate compensation information and submit pay data alongside demographic data. This February, a D.C. district court recently approved the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) request to consider its 2017 and 2018 pay data collection complete.

Read more

California: Clarification on Defining Exempt Managerial Duties

APPLIES TO

All Employers with CA Employees

EFFECTIVE

December 18, 2019

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

In The Safeway Wage and Hour Cases, the California Court of Appeal revisited how to determine whether a manager’s duties qualify as exempt or nonexempt. Generally, the court identified two types of work that each qualify as exempt from overtime.

Read more

California: Settlement Agreements with Staffing Agencies Don’t Necessarily Cover Staffing Clients

APPLIES TO

All Employers with CA Employees

EFFECTIVE

February 6, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

In Grande v. Eisenhower Medical Ctr., the California Court of Appeal stated that an employee’s settlement of a wage and hour claim with a staffing agency does not prevent the employee from later suing the staffing agency’s client on the same wage and hour claims, where the settlement agreement does not expressly release the staffing agency’s clients.

Read more

California: Employers Must Pay for Screening Time

APPLIES TO

All Employers with CA Employees

EFFECTIVE

February 13, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

In Frlekin v. Apple, Inc., the California Supreme Court stated that employers must pay employees for time spent undergoing security checks before exiting the workplace. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal asked the California Supreme Court to decide the rule in this case two years ago. There, employees were required to clock out and then undergo a security check while still on the premises. The security check was extensive, requiring employees to open and take things out of their bags, and verify the serial numbers of their own Apple products. If they didn’t complete the security check, employees were disciplined. The Court stated that because the employer retained sufficient control over the employee during this process, it was considered working time that should have been compensated.

Read more

Colorado: Emergency Temporary Paid Sick Leave Relief Enacted for Select Industries

APPLIES TO

Employers of CO Employees in Select Industries

EFFECTIVE

March 11, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

On March 10, 2020, the Colorado Governor instructed the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to issue emergency regulations implementing mandatory paid sick leave for employers in the following industries: leisure and hospitality; food services; child care; education, including transportation, food service, and related work at educational establishments; home health, if working with elderly, disabled, ill, or otherwise high-risk individuals; and nursing homes and community living facilities. The rule applies to all businesses who have employees working in any of these types of industries, but only for that portion of the business or employees working in that sub-division or sub-unit that are covered by the rule.

Read more

Colorado: Add New Vacation Pay Requirements to the List of Wage and Hour Changes

APPLIES TO

All Employers with CO Employees

EFFECTIVE

December 15, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

In addition to the bevy of wage and hour changes we previously reported on, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (DLE) adopted its proposed rule concerning vacation pay. Generally speaking, Colorado employers have been required to pay out an employee’s accrued, unused vacation pay upon separation of employment; but a June 2019 Court of Appeal case said that employers could place restrictions on such payments as part of their workplace policies or agreements.

Read more

Maryland: Despite a Veto, Statewide Ban-the-Box Comes Into Play

APPLIES TO

All Maryland Employers with 15+ Employees

EFFECTIVE

February 29, 2020

QUESTIONS?

Contact HR On-Call

(888) 378-2456

Despite being previously vetoed by Governor Hogan, the Criminal Records Screening Act went into effect on February 29, 2020, because of state legislation that overrode the governor’s veto on January 30, 2020. The Act implements statewide ban-the-box provisions, though it does not preempt the more expansive local ordinances already implemented in Baltimore City or Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

Read more