Hiring overseas employees is a complex issue, with many rules and laws to navigate. Hunton & Williams partners Tom Murphy and Emily Burkhardt Vicente discuss the labor and employment considerations that companies should keep top of mind when thinking about hiring workers outside of the United States.… Continue Reading
Imagine that you are a company with two openings for the same position. After selecting the two most qualified candidates, you offer each candidate a salary equal to his or her prior salary, plus 5%, pursuant to your established policy for setting new hire salaries. On its face, your policy has nothing to do with sex, but does it violate the Federal Equal Pay Act?… Continue Reading
There has been a flurry of activity and uncertainty related to immigration issues since President Trump took office. Watch as Hunton & Williams partners Adam Rosser and Emily Burkhardt Vicente discuss the concerns faced by the business community and the future of the H-1B visa program in the US.… Continue Reading
Beginning next week, on March 13, 2017, San Jose employers must offer existing part-time employees additional work hours before hiring any temporary, part-time, or new worker. This is a result of a vote last fall by voters in San Jose, California who approved “The Opportunity to Work Ordinance” (Ordinance No. 2016.1, codified at Chapter 4.101 of the San Jose Municipal Code) – a local measure that directs employee hours and hiring practices.… Continue Reading
Government agencies like the SEC are challenging what have long been standard provisions in separation agreements. Hunton & Williams LLP partners Kevin White and Emily Burkhardt Vicente discuss those challenges and provide tips for companies on revising their standard agreements to mitigate against them.… Continue Reading
A common misconception among banks and financial services companies is that if they are non-unionized, the National Labor Relations Act does not apply to them. Hunton & Williams LLP partner Emily Burkhardt Vicente and senior attorney Amber Rogers discuss the key points non-unionized financial services companies should know about the NLRA.… Continue Reading
Gone are the days when most workers stay at one job for their entire career. Losing key talent to a competitor is one of the biggest challenges many employers face. Hunton & Williams LLP partners Roland Juarez and Emily Burkhardt Vicente discuss strategies that companies across industries can employ to protect themselves from unlawful employee raiding.… Continue Reading
One month into 2017 and new pay equity laws already are springing up with activity in Philadelphia, New York, and New Orleans. These new developments make it clear that states and localities will continue to proffer their own individualized pay equity laws into 2017.… Continue Reading
While the Trump Administration has not declared equal pay to be a key initiative, equal pay challenges for employers are not likely to go away. The Trump Administration has given no indication it will roll-back new EEO-1 reporting requirements, and the void in federal legislation will likely be filled by an increasing hodge-podge of state legislation. Hunton & Williams LLP labor and employment partners Bob Quackenboss and Emily Burkhardt Vicente discuss the challenges that companies will face, and what they can do to prepare.… Continue Reading
Each year, companies that do business in California brace for the new bills signed into law by the governor in the last few months of the year. Hunton & Williams partner Emily Burkhardt Vicente discusses the five new laws California employers should be aware of this year, and how they can prepare.… Continue Reading
When it comes to employee wage equality, California already has one of the most expansive laws in the country, and it is now attempting to go even further. On June 23, the Wage Equality Act of 2016 (“Wage Equality Act”), SB 1063, took one step closer to becoming law as it passed the California State Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment.… Continue Reading
With its May 26 Lewis v. Epic-Systems Corp. decision, the Seventh Circuit became the first circuit to back the reasoning in D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012), and held that a mandatory arbitration agreement prohibiting employees from bringing class or collective actions against their employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This decision creates a circuit split regarding the enforceability of arbitration agreements with class action waivers in the employment context, and the issue is now ripe for potential Supreme Court review.… Continue Reading
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor published its final rule increasing the salary requirement for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar exemptions to $47,476 per year ($913 per week). Though the new salary level is not as high as the $50,440 per year level predicted by the DOL in its July 2015 proposed rule, the final rule nonetheless more than doubles the current salary requirement of $23,660 per year ($455 per week). … Continue Reading
Last Monday, the California Supreme Court in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. clarified the meaning of California’s requirement that all working employees be provided with suitable seating “when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” … Continue Reading
Over the weekend, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill aimed at prohibiting mandatory employment arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. … Continue Reading
On Friday October 2, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1506 into law, amending California’s Private Attorneys General Act to provide an employer the right to cure certain technical violations of the California Wage Statement Law (Labor Code § 226) before the employer can be sued.… Continue Reading
Emily Burkhardt Vicente will present “Litigating Private Attorney General Act Claims in the Aftermath of Supreme Court Decisions” at the California State Bar’s Annual Meeting on Sunday, October 11, 2015.… Continue Reading
The Ninth Circuit ruled on Monday, September 28, that California Private Attorney General Act claims cannot be waived in employment arbitration agreements, following the rule announced by the California Supreme Court in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal. 4th 348 (2014).… Continue Reading
For many employers and employees, arbitration is a quicker and less costly means of resolving employment-related disputes. As a result, it has become standard practice for many employers to require as a condition of employment that employees agree to arbitrate employment-related claims. Mandatory arbitration clauses are routinely found in employment agreements or given to employees … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to take up a challenge to the California Supreme Court's holding that California Private Attorney General Act ("PAGA") claims cannot be waived in employment arbitration agreements containing a class action waiver.… Continue Reading
A California appellate court recently invalidated an arbitration agreement that an employee had voluntarily entered into on the basis that it contained an unenforceable waiver of the employee's claims under the California Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") and, under the parties' agreement, that provision could not be severed.… Continue Reading
As is often the case, the coming new year brings a slate of new requirements for California employers to grapple with. Employers should have these developments on their radar to ensure compliance in 2015 and beyond.… Continue Reading
