The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a ruling in Atlanta Opera, Inc., which alters the test employers must use to determine whether workers are independent contractors or employees. In its decision, the NLRB ruled that makeup artists, wig artists, and hairstylists working at the Atlanta Opera were employees, not independent contractors. As a result of the ruling, the workers could file an Read More

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued new guidance on using artificial intelligence (AI) in employment practices under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the EEOC advises that employers may not rely on representations by vendors that their AI tool complies with Title VII. Instead, they must ensure that the tool has no adverse discriminatory impact. Otherwise, the Read More

In January 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) under the Trump administration issued a final rule defining the standard for when a worker is an independent contractor for the purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This standard remains in effect, although the DOL under the Biden administration issued a new proposed rule redefining the standard in October 2022. According to House Republican Read More

Employees at two New York Starbucks stores – Buffalo and Rochester - filed decertification petitions within two weeks of one another, seeking to dissolve the unions at those stores. The Buffalo store was the original center of the union organization movement in the high-dollar coffee chain. Workers United, the union representing both stores, attributes the decertification petitions to union-busting tactics and Read More

Twitter has decreased the amount of paid parental leave that it previously offered some U.S. employees by as much as 90%. The San Francisco-based social media company formerly offered employees 20 weeks of paid parental leave. According to an internal memo, Twitter will now provide 12 weeks of paid leave for birthing employees and two weeks of paid leave for non-birthing employees, subject to any requirements under Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, a case concerning the protections against retaliation for employee whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The legal issue involve whether the whistleblower bears the burden of proving that an employer acted with retaliatory intent or whether the employer bears the burden of proving that it had no intent to retaliate against the Read More

According to a recent study based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, American worker productivity has declined for an unprecedented five straight quarters in a row. Remote work critics claim that returning to traditional, in-office work will cure the problem. However, other factors may also contribute to the decline in worker productivity. First, employers are working longer hours than last year but Read More

A new federal law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), became effective on June 27, 2023. PWFA adds to existing protections for pregnant workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the PWFA, employers with fifteen or more qualified employees in both the public and private sectors must provide reasonable accommodations to employees with known Read More

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 758,994 H-1B cap-subject visa registrations for FY 2024, the highest number ever received. In response, USCIS selected 110,791 registrations to meet the annual H-1B visa quota of 85,000, equivalent to a newly low selection rate of 14.6%. Selected employers had until June 30, 2023, to submit their full H-1B visa petitions for adjudication. Although the Read More

A federal district court in Connecticut dismissed U.S. v. Patel, a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s antitrust case involving a jet-engine manufacturer with no-poach agreements concerning recruiting and hiring aerospace engineers with several firms that competed for its projects. Employers and HR professionals are hailing the decision as reassurance that the federal government will not apply so broadly the antitrust Read More