Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC holding that whistleblowers are not required to prove their employer acted with “retaliatory intent” to be protected under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”). Instead, whistleblowers only need to prove that their protected activity was a “contributing factor” in the employer’s adverse personnel action against them.

Congress enacted SOX to prohibit publicly traded companies from retaliating against employees who report what they reasonably believe ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has released its enforcement and litigation statistics for FY2022. In summary, the EEOC’s data shows that there were 73,485 charges of discrimination filed in FY2022, which represents 12,154 more charges than were filed in FY2021. Of those charges, retaliation continues to be the most frequently cited claim -- accounting for 51.6 percent of all charges filed in FY2022. Race, color and sex discrimination claims increased marginally while religious discrimination claims more than sextupled from the prior fiscal ...

On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2023-1 (FAB) to help employers (1) better understand their wage and hour obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) with regard to their non-exempt teleworkers; and (2) how to apply the eligibility rules under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when employees telework. Although the FAB does not break new ground or change the FLSA or the FMLA and their regulations, it does provide guidance on the DOL’s enforcement positions going forward.

Highly ...

On January 1, 2023, the amendments to the Illinois One Day Rest in Seven Act (“ODRISA”) took effect, and the changes are significant. Employers with one or more employees in Illinois should take note of these new amendments to avoid costly penalties.

New Rest Breaks

The amended ODRISA requires covered employers to provide non-exempt employees with a minimum of 24 hours of rest within every consecutive seven-day period. Prior to January 1, 2023, the ODRISA required employers to provide eligible employees with at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in every “calendar ...

Just this month the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, No. 20-1573, 2022 WL 2135491 (U.S. June 15, 2022), wherein it partially reversed the California Supreme Court’s holding in Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC. The case deals with the controversial Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”) is authorized to enforce California’s labor laws; however, because the legislature believed that the LWDA did not have sufficient resources to ...

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) withdrew its COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) as of January 26, 2022. The ETS had mandated that employers with 100 or more employees require all employees to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear face coverings and undergo weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. This action came shortly after the United States Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the ETS. 

Although OSHA has withdrawn the ETS as an emergency temporary standard, it has announced that it ...

On August 28, 2021, Missouri joined the growing list of states with legislation aimed at protecting employees who experience domestic or sexual violence. Missouri’s Victims Economic Safety and Security Act (“VESSA”) applies to all employers with at least 20 employees. This new law provides unpaid leave and reasonable safety accommodations to employees who are victims of domestic or sexual violence or who have a family or household member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence. It also requires employers to give notice of the new law to all current employees and ...

• Check the COVID-19 infection rates in your area, which can be accomplished by consulting the applicable state and local health ...

On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court handed the LGBTQ community a major victory. In Bostock v. Clayton County and companion cases, the Supreme Court held that an employer who terminates an individual for being homosexual or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Courts ruling involved a trio of cases, with each employee filing a lawsuit under Title VII alleging discrimination based on sex. Title VII applies to employers with at least 15 employees in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year and makes it unlawful ...