May 2018

Q.  Can my company require its employees to sign an arbitration agreement mandating that they arbitrate all employment disputes, and limiting their ability to participate in a class action against the company?

A.  On May 21, in a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that arbitration agreements in which an employee waives the right

Q.  What is the standard for determining if an individual is an employee or an independent contractor in California?

A.  On April 30, the California Supreme Court adopted a new and more onerous test (the ABC test) for determining whether individuals are employees or independent contractors. In its decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v.

On Wednesday, May 23, from 3 – 4 pm ET, Troutman Sanders attorneys, Alan Wingfield, Wendy Sugg, and Meagan Mihalko will present a webinar discussing employment-purpose background screening laws. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes technical paperwork requirements on employers desiring to obtain background screenings, and many millions of dollars have been paid in

Q: Can I require an employee to do work while the employee is on FMLA leave?  What if the employee volunteers to work while on leave?

A: Under most circumstances, employees should not be required or permitted to perform work while on leave.  The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees a maximum of twelve weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and personal medical reasons in a twelve month period.  During that time, employers are prohibited from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any rights provided under the FMLA.
Continue Reading Employees Should Not Be Working While on FMLA Leave

Q.  Do I need to provide paid sick leave to employees in New Jersey?

A.  Last week, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act, mandating paid sick leave for full and part-time workers in the Garden State. Similar to the laws in other states, the New Jersey law provides for employees to earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employees may use up to 40 hours of earned sick leave in a benefit year.  They may also carry over up to 40 hours of earned sick leave from one year to the next.  Earned sick leave is not paid upon termination, unless a company policy or collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise.
Continue Reading New Jersey Becomes Tenth State to Enact Paid Sick Leave

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court embraced a standard that presumes workers in California are employees instead of independent contractors. The April 30, 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County moves away from a more flexible classification test that had been in effect for nearly

Q.  Am I permitted to ask about an applicant’s salary history in Philadelphia?

A.  In a ruling that could provide a roadmap for challenging salary history bans in other jurisdictions, a Philadelphia federal judge issued an opinion on April 30 invalidating a major element of the Philadelphia salary history ordinance enacted by the city in

Q.  How do I help my company avoid unconscious bias in the workplace?

A.  A bias is a prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group as compared with another. We all have biases. Biases can be based on any number of stereotypes, whether it is race, gender, age, national origin, religion, etc.  In a perfect world, individuals would not act on their biases, however, our world is far from perfect and employees can and do bring their biases to work.
Continue Reading Confronting Racial Bias in the Workplace-How to Avoid Becoming the Next Hashtag Movement