The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced yesterday that it will indeed start requiring employers with 100 or more employees to include compensation information in their annual EEO-1 reports. This includes companies that are not federal contractors as well as those that are.

The new reporting obligations will begin on March 31, 2018, for the 2017 calendar year.

For ...

Last week, two lawsuits were filed in federal court in Texas seeking to block the Final Rule on white-collar exemptions to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was issued in May. Meanwhile, legislation that would delay the effective date of the rule until June 2017 just passed the U.S. House of Representatives, and there is other legislation pending in ...

Our Franchise Industry Group is out with a new bulletin this week, discussing the recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Williams v. Jani-King.

The plaintiffs in this case, former franchisees, claim that they and other franchisees are actually misclassified "employees" of Jani-King, the franchisor.

Although the court hasn't made a final decision on ...

The U.S. Department of Labor announced today its Final Rule implementing Executive Order 13706, Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. We are reviewing the Final Rule and will publish an Affirmative Action Alert with more details.

In the meantime, here are the highlights from the DOL’s Fact Sheet:

*Covered contractors are “nearly identical” to ...

I spent some time yesterday at the new Small Business Resource Center, which went live this week on the website of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I think it's great.

Small businesses, which may be just below or at the cusp of coverage by federal anti-discrimination laws, are often confused about (1) whether they are covered, and (2) if so, what they need to do.

The EEOC ...

The U.S. Department of Labor announced last week that covered federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to pay workers an hourly minimum wage of $10.20 an hour beginning January 1, 2017.  The minimum cash wage for tipped workers will increase to $6.80 an hour.

The annual increases are required by an Executive Order issued in February 2014, which mandates that ...

As our regular readers know, Employment & Labor Insider is a non-partisan blog. But with the first Presidential debate coming on Monday night, I thought it would be helpful to look at the two major presidential candidates and their positions on issues of interest to employers.

The following comes from each of the candidates' websites, supplemented by some news stories, with a ...

NOTE FROM ROBIN: This is the second and final installment in a series on the law regarding patronage dismissals in public sector employment by Damon Kitchen, head of our public sector industry group.

In last week's installment, I provided an introduction to the issue of patronage dismissals in the public sector, and a discussion of the Supreme Court's Elrod (1976) and ...

Louise Davies is an Affirmative Action Paralegal in Constangy's Winston-Salem, North Carolina, office. For more than 15 years, she has helped employers develop affirmative action plans and respond to audits and on-site investigations by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. She also conducts diversity training for employers. Louise is a graduate of ...

Thanks to Law360 for alerting us to this!

Straight from the courthouse to you -- I haven't even read this yet, but here is a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed today in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.

UPDATE (4:41 p.m. EDT): Here's another one, filed in the same court - this one is some trade groups and a slew of Chambers of Commerce in Texas!

  ...

A national database of truck drivers who have failed drug or alcohol tests, or refused to take them, will soon be a reality.

That’s according to Juan Moya, Program Manager for the Drug and Alcohol Program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, who spoke this week at a conference of the Substance Abuse Program Administrators Association. Mr. Moya said that the ...

NOTE FROM ROBIN: This is the first in a two-part series on the law regarding patronage dismissals in public sector employment by Damon Kitchen, head of our public sector industry group. Damon, welcome to the blog! 

It’s election season, and each year, like the dead leaves that fall from the trees, many loyal and long-term employees of vanquished incumbents face the prospect of getting ...

The always-interesting, always-entertaining Mallory Schneider Ricci has a new post at FOCUS, our women's leadership blog, about whether companies need to market separately to women.

If you haven't read Mallory before, you definitely want to start. Check out "Is Your Shirt Too Blue?" from July.

You won't be sorry!

Ever since the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions in 2012, many state and local jurisdictions have adopted laws limiting employers’ ability to inquire about applicants’ criminal histories. And many employers not covered by those laws are ...

Labor Day marked the beginning of the "serious" election season. In 2012, I posted on dos and don'ts for employers, but many of my old recommendations aren't going to work in today's labor law climate. Here's an updated guide to help employers and their employees survive to November 8, and beyond, which I think will comply with the latest positions of the National Labor Relations ...

A recent complaint filed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs illustrates that it's not only federal contractors who need to be sure they comply with affirmative action requirements, but also those who contract with the federal contractors - a.k.a. "subcontractors."

The OFCCP's allegations against Maryland construction subcontractor Potomac ...

This just in, via Law360: Fox News has settled Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment lawsuit against former CEO Roger Ailes for a (reported) whopping $20 million. That's less than the reported $60 million contract buyout of Mr. Ailes, but still pretty good.

Since the link to Law360 won't work, and it requires a paid subscription anyway, here's a link to an article in Vanity Fair

I hope your "labor" today consists of this:

And not this:

Have a great day!

Employers should beware of being too quick to believe an employee who accuses a co-worker of wrongdoing. If the accuser has an illegal motive (such as discrimination or retaliation), and if the employer is "negligent" in investigating before taking action against the co-worker, then the employer could be legally responsible.

So says the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...

Employers, imagine that a retaliation charge has been filed against your company. What can you do to make the EEOC investigator love you?

Late last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues, accompanied by a Q&A, and a Small Business Fact Sheet.

I had three fairly detailed blog posts on the ...

And some catching up we have to do!

Everyone is back to school, and our friend David Phippen is back with the July-August edition of the Executive Labor Summary. David has the best summary of the National Labor Relations Board's position on employer handbook policies that I've ever seen. (Well, with the possible exception of the last one he did . . .) Seriously, do check it out. He also ...