Employment Highlights

Employment Highlights

• The Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act (House Bill No. 2654) introduced on June 14, 2015 and aiming to protect the rights of expectant parents and ensuring that parents aren’t forced to choose between job and pregnancy, is now before Congress.
   
• Following the signing of the bipartisan bill on November 2, 2015, OSHA to have a “catch up adjustment” that will raise fines up to 80% starting from August 1, 2016, since earlier fines were based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 1990.
   
• Judge ordered $13.5 million in legal fees to be paid to the challengers by twenty-five states that unsuccessfully defended same-sex marriage bans in federal court.
   
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation (Intro. 108-A) on January 5, 2016 that now covers “caregiver status” i.e. one who’s caring for a minor child or an individual with a disability, as a protected category under employment who can’t be terminated, demoted or denied a promotion because of his/her status or perceived status as a caregiver.
   
• An ERISA plan cannot enforce an equitable lien against a participant’s general assets when the full amount of the settlement is spent on non-traceable items (Montanile v. Bd. of Trs. of the Nat'l Elevator Indus. Heath Benefit Plan, No. 14-723, 2016 U.S. LEXIS 843).
   
• The DOL Wage and Hour Division has expanded the definition of “joint employer” to cover liabilities in case of wage and hour violations such as overtime pay to entities not employing direct workers, but that have contracted with third parties for labor.