Tag: Employment

COVID-19, Cybersecurity, Labor & Employment, Regulatory

Telecommuting? Buckle Up

Are Your Employees Telecommuting Now? COVID-19 and Cybersecurity Concerns for Businesses

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Susan Kohn Ross

A topic of immediate concern to businesses that has not received a great deal of attention (but should) is cybersecurity. There are unscrupulous people out there who will try to take advantage of the situation! This is especially worrisome with the increased usage of telecommuting to facilitate business continuity.

Within the Dept. of Homeland Security sits the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA which is “responsible for protecting the Nation’s critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats.” CISA, through its National Cyber Awareness System, released Defending Against COVID-19 Cyber Scams, see here for the full text.  In short, beware of emails with malicious attachments and hyperlinks. Also be careful about social media pleas, texts and calls having to do with COVID-19.

The NCAS recommends:

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment, Regulatory

Best Practices for Maintaining Employee Privacy Regarding COVID-19

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Susan Kohn Ross

The situation surrounding COVID-19 is, to the say the least, fluid and scary. The ultimate outcome of the disruption to the business community is also unclear. There are nonetheless a couple of topics we can talk about right now with some degree of certainty on which businesses may want to focus as we all struggle to deal with the very human toll of this pandemic. One is employee privacy and is addressed in this edition. The cybersecurity topics worthy of immediate attention will be covered in a subsequent blog post.

We start here with the confidentiality obligation of employers regarding information about the health of their employees. If someone on your staff becomes infected, as a general proposition, as the employer, you may not share that information with other employees. The Centers for Disease Control published an Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers, and stated: “If an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace but maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Since COVID-19 has spread to many different countries, the privacy laws in those countries also need to be considered. For example, the European privacy law – the GDPR – addresses privacy around health data, plus local public health authorities in those countries will have their own protocols to follow.

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

Three New Coronavirus Developments for Employers

Coronavirus 2019-nCOV medical still life concept
Photo credit: istock.com/rabbitti

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Stephen Franz

There are several new developments at the federal and state level regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and its impact on California employers and workers.  The United States House of Representatives passed the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” (H.R. 6201), tentatively creating new paid leave obligations related to the coronavirus for many employers.  Moreover, two California government agencies have issued important new guidance on coronavirus and its impact on employers and workers:  The California Labor Commissioner’s Office issued an FAQ Memo and the California Employment Development Department (EDD) also issued relevant guidance.

Continue reading “Three New Coronavirus Developments for Employers”

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Immigration

USCIS Releases New Form I-9, Effective Today

Close-up of an immigration form and #2 sharp pencil
Photo Credit: istock.com/alexskopje

By Benjamin Lau and Frida Glucoft

On January 31, 2020, the USCIS issued a new Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification with edition date 10/21/2019. The form is effective immediately. The new Form I-9 is available on the USCIS website at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.

The form includes the following updates:

Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:

  • Added the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Sections 2 and 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
  • Combined all the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) into selection C #2 in List C.
  • Renumbered all List C documents except the Social Security card. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C changed from List C #8 to List C #7.

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Labor & Employment

The Ever-Expanding Dynamex Decision

Exam Answer sheet in exam room
Photo credit: iStock.com/noipornpan

By Jeremy Mittman

Why This Matters

The day after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court applies retroactively (see here), California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) released an opinion letter concluding that Dynamex’s ABC test applies to both IWC Wage Order claims and certain Labor Code provisions that enforce Wage Order requirements. The California Court of Appeals has ruled that Dynamex applies only to claims brought under the IWC Wage Orders (see here) and the DLSE’s recent opinion letter seems to expand what that means.

While California state and federal courts are not bound by DLSE opinion letters (meaning they could reach a different conclusion as to exactly which California Labor Code claims fall under Dynamex), the DLSE’s opinion letter reflects the way that agency will be interpreting Dynamex moving forward. This will impact employers who face DLSE wage claims where employees contend they were improperly classified as independent contractors. Continue reading “The Ever-Expanding Dynamex Decision”

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Labor & Employment

Dynamex Goes Back in Time

Businessman holding sign clock. Concept business time is money
Photo credit: iStock.com/marchmeena29

By Jeremy Mittman

Why This Matters

On Thursday, May 2, in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court applies retroactively. In Dynamex, the Supreme Court adopted a new standard for determining whether a California worker is an employee or independent contractor under the California Industrial Welfare Commission’s (“IWC”) wage orders. As we have previously discussed (see here, here, and here), Dynamex’s reach continues to grow and the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Vazquez should be of particular concern to employers, who now face potential liability for their past decisions to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees under a standard that did not exist at the time. Continue reading “Dynamex Goes Back in Time”

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Labor & Employment

California Court of Appeals Dials in on Call-In Practices

By Jeremy Mittman and Louise Truong

Recently, the California Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 split decision that employees who are required to call in two hours prior to the start of their shifts to ask whether they needed to report to work are entitled to reporting time pay.  In Ward v. Tilly’s, Inc., the Court held that Tilly’s on-call policy triggered the “Reporting Time Pay” provision of California’s Wage Order 7, which applies to the retail industry. The Ward majority held that Wage Order 7’s Reporting Time Pay provision applied because Tilly’s workers “reported” for work when they called-in.

Under the Reporting Time Pay provision, employers are required to pay employees reporting time pay, as follows: “Each workday an employee is required to report for work and does report, but is not put to work or is furnished less than half said employee’s usual or scheduled day’s work, the employee shall be paid for half the usual or scheduled day’s work, but in no event for less than two (2) hours nor more than four (4) hours, at the employee’s regular rate of pay.” For example, if a sales clerk is scheduled to report to work for an eight-hour shift and only works for one hour, the employer is still obligated to pay the employee four hours of his or her regular rate of pay.  Continue reading “California Court of Appeals Dials in on Call-In Practices”

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International Business, International Trade, Labor & Employment, Regulatory

Website Accessibility – Americans with Disabilities Act Impact

hands of business person working on computerBy Jonathan Turner and Susan Kohn Ross

Background

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) mandates that public accommodation must be provided to disabled persons to allow for the “full and equal enjoyment” of the related privileges, goods, services, advantages and accommodations as those provided to able bodied persons. The owner of any business is responsible for making sure those accommodations are made with “reasonable modification.” The ADA makes it very clear that a business that does not provide for that accommodation is engaging in unlawful discrimination 42 U.S.C. section 12182(b)(2)(A)(iii).

The statute provides for various examples of where public accommodations must be provided, including locations such as an inn, a restaurant, a theater, an auditorium, a bakery, a laundromat, a depot, a museum, a zoo, a nursery, a day care center, and a gymnasium. Noticeably absent from that list are websites. That’s because websites did not exist at the time the statute was passed, and Congress has not expressly addressed the issue in the interim. Continue reading “Website Accessibility – Americans with Disabilities Act Impact”

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Labor & Employment

CA Employers Hungry for Time-Rounding Meal Breaks

time to eatBy Jeremy Mittman and Stephen Rossi

Why This Matters

On November 21st, the California Court of Appeals ruled in Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC regarding meal breaks and how they get tracked. Overall, Donohue is a positive wage and hour development for California employers. The case is also helpful in providing a roadmap for a design of an exceptionally good (and now, court approved) electronic meal break recording system (further described in the explanation of the decision), which enables an employer to track the reason for a noncompliant meal period and obtain notification with minimal administrative burden. California employers would be well-served to consider adopting a similar meal break monitoring system, which—considering the cost of defending against meal break claims, a perennial favorite of plaintiffs’ attorneys—would be money well spent. The Court’s decision and the intricacies of the case are further described below. Continue reading “CA Employers Hungry for Time-Rounding Meal Breaks”

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Labor & Employment, MSK Blog

New York City & State Implement Stronger Protections Against Workplace Harassment

New York City Dawn
Photo credit: iStock.com/Sean Pavone

By Greg Hessinger

As states begin to focus heightened attention on sexual harassment in the workplace in the wake of the #MeToo movement, New York State (“NY State”) and New York City (“NYC”) have implemented stronger protections for employees against workplace harassment. The new requirements, which have been passed into law in NY State and NYC, will impact employers’ training, policies & procedures, and employment agreements for New York employees.

New York State: Continue reading “New York City & State Implement Stronger Protections Against Workplace Harassment”

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