November 2024 E-Update

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DOL Says that Employees May Use FMLA Leave to Participate in a Clinical Trial  This month, the U.S. Department of Labor released an opinion letter asserting that employees may use leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for treatment of a serious health condition as part of a clinical trial. For more, click here.

DOL Offers Guidance on When Per Diem Expense Reimbursements May Be Excluded from Employee’s Regular Rate  This month, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an opinion letter on the issue of when daily expense reimbursements may be excluded from an employee’s regular rate of pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act..  For more, click here.

NLRB Restricts Employers’ Ability to Comment on the Impact of Unionization  In yet another case that upends decades-long precedent, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision that significantly limits the ability of employers to make statements about the potential impact of unionization in the workplace.  For more, click here.

DOL Releases Employer Guide for “Skills-First” Hiring  This month, the U.S. Department of Labor published a guide for employers on “skills-first” or “skills-based” hiring practices, which it defines as “the hiring or promotion of workers around skills, knowledge and abilities that workers can demonstrate they have, regardless of how or where they attained those skills.”  For more, click here.

Delayed Training, Denied Vacation, and Job Transfer May Now Be Adverse Employment Actions.  In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the Supreme Court ruled that adverse employment actions need not be “significant” in order to constitute a violation of Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination; instead, a plaintiff need show only “some harm respecting an identifiable term or condition of employment.”  For more, click here.

Independent Investigation Undermines Employee’s “Cat’s Paw” Discrimination Claim. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit rejected an employee’s claim that the actual decisionmaker in her termination was a “cat’s paw” (i.e. an unwitting dupe) for the discriminatory intent of others, based on the decisionmaker’s reliance on an independent and thorough investigation that resulted in the employee’s termination.  For more, click here.

Federal Contractor Update – Audit List, Mandatory Reporting for Construction Contractors.  The U.S. Department of Labor and its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced several matters of significance to federal contractors and subcontractors this month.  For more, click here.

EEOC Proposes Rule to Add Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a proposed rule that would amend the existing recordkeeping regulations applicable to Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act to add references to the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act. For more, click here.

 

In light of the upcoming holiday season, involving an increase in indoor social events, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance, Reduce Your Risk from Respiratory Viruses This Holiday Season.  For more, click here.