DEAR READERS: Before you accuse me of legal malpractice, take a look at tomorrow's date.  

Habit 1: Discriminate, retaliate, harass -- have a ball! There's a new sheriff in town, with a more employer-friendly, compliance-assistance-oriented U.S. Department of Labor (we think) and the nullification of burdensome regulations like the gone-and-not-lamented Fair Pay and Safe ...

Two big developments of interest to employers:

The Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the nomination of Alex Acosta, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, in a 12-11 straight party-line vote. This means that Mr. Acosta's nomination will be voted on by the full Senate. According to The Washington Post, no date has yet been set for the Senate vote.

A "print and save" for California employers, to be sure. Richard Bromley and Aaron Rutschman of our Los Angeles-Century City Office have a comprehensive guide to the Golden State's often-confusing laws on paid meal and rest breaks. If you have operations in California, you need to read this and keep a copy for future reference.

The March 2017 edition of ConstangyTV's Close-Up on ...

The North Carolina General Assembly voted today to repeal the infamous HB 2 "bathroom law," and Governor Roy Cooper has signed the repeal into law. The law is very short. It repeals HB 2 and provides that local governments, and the state university and community college systems, cannot regulate access to multi-user restrooms, locker rooms, or changing facilities until ...

Game Over. Dunzo. Finito. Bye Felicia. These are things we can now officially say about the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Rule.

On Monday, President Trump signed a Congressional joint resolution of disapproval into law, officially invalidating the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Rule. Congress legislatively vetoed the Rule by using the Congressional Review ...

It was a bleak and frigid night on I-88 somewhere in northern Illinois. The icy wind whipped across the flatlands, grazing the endless rows of white, brittle remains of last year's corn crop. The only place to be that night was in your house, wrapped in your Snuggie, with a warm glass of brandy, watching videos of past vacations at Daytona Beach.

Alphonse Maddin knew he had to ...

Franchisors received some encouraging news this week from President Trump's Acting Solicitor General, Nicholas Geale. Mr. Geale says that he prefers not to bring enforcement actions based on a theory that franchisors and franchisees are "joint employers." He also said that he hopes the U.S. Department of Labor will focus on helping employers to comply with the law and less on ...

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 Wesleyan ...

This latest decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on sexual orientation discrimination is weird. A panel of the court found 2-1 in Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital that the plaintiff did not have a valid Title VII claim against her employer for sexual orientation discrimination. Whether you agree with it or not, the panel opinion was fairly ...

You may have heard by now that not one, but two, federal courts have struck down President Trump's second attempt at a travel ban Executive Order. As always, Will Krasnow and Jeanette Phelan from our Immigration Practice Group have the story, including links to the two court decisions. Last we heard, President Trump is done with rewrites -- he plans to take the battle to the Supreme ...

The Federal Acquisition Regulations were recently updated to include a requirement that certain federal contractors provide privacy training to some of their employees. The training obligation does not apply to all employees of contractors who are subject to the requirement, and the requirement does not apply to all federal contractors.

Effective January 19, 2017 ...

Bob Ortbals co-wrote this post.

Employers get ready. Paid family leave is coming. The latest move comes from Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R), who granted paid parental leave to all state executive branch employees by executive order on March 13, 2017. Effective immediately, executive branch employees are entitled to paid leave for the birth or adoption ...

The U.S. Senate has passed, 49-48, a resolution of disapproval of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule. The resolution of disapproval passed the House in February, and we've reported on it here and here.

If the President signs the resolution, as is expected, then Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces will be dead.

The controversial rule, issued by the Obama Administration in August 2016 ...

Remember the Garbage Pail Kids from the '80s? I have had an inspiration that will make my fortune! I'm going to create a set of collectible "HR Horribles"™ trading cards, representing the employees who make Human Resources professionals' lives a living heck.

Here is my first set:

Randy Romeo. Romeo has never met a woman he didn't like, especially if she reports to him, because ...

President Trump has issued his new and improved "travel ban" Executive Order, which reduces the list of "banned" countries from the original seven to six (Iraq is now off the list), provides more of a rationale for banning foreign nationals from the six countries, makes exceptions for permanent legal residents and others, and otherwise addresses some of the issues that caused so many ...

Two Trumpian developments of interest to employers will occur on March 15, next Wednesday:

Alex Acosta's confirmation hearing is scheduled to take place that day. Mr. Acosta is President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, and is expected to have relatively smooth sailing. On the other hand, is there anything that has been "smooth" about the President's first months in office?

A ...

I've written here and here about the lawsuit filed by the AARP against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, seeking to invalidate the EEOC regulations relating to wellness programs and the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.

On Wednesday, the EEOC filed a motion asking the court to throw out the lawsuit. The EEOC argues ...

The next time employers offer sexual harassment training, they might want to require employees to bring their mobile devices.

According to Leah Fessler, virtual assistants Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon), Cortana (Microsoft), and Google Home (you have to ask?) need some consciousness-raising.

They are all perpetuating pernicious sexual stereotypes, which Ms. Fessler says can ...

Work card renewal for foreign workers gets easier. First, I neglected last week to include this Immigration Dispatch by Elizabeth Joiner on changes to the process for renewing Employment Authorization Cards (aka "work cards") that should make things easier for foreign workers. Please do read, and, Elizabeth, I apologize for the delay!

The January-February edition of the Executive ...

Yesterday, the Missouri Supreme Court reinstated a St. Louis city law that will hike the city’s minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2018. Originally enacted in 2015, the law had been invalidated by a trial judge hours before it was to become effective.

As originally passed, the city’s law provided for graduated increases to the minimum wage as follows:

• October 15, 2015 - $8.25 per ...

President Trump's address to Congress last night didn't have much on labor and employment issues, apart from the creation of jobs (which is no small thing and would be awesome if it pans out).

But he did mention "paid family leave," ever so briefly.

Credit (or blame) for the concept of paid family leave goes to the President's daughter Ivanka, herself a businesswoman and mother of two young ...