Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

HuntonAK labor and employment lawyer, Amber Rogers, was recently selected by Texas Lawyer as a 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Champion honoree. The award recognizes lawyers who have either “overcome insurmountable odds to achieve success or… had an outsize influence on inclusivity initiatives.”

Amber has been recently recognized in the Dallas Business Journal’s Women in Business Awards, Profiles in Diversity Journal’s Women Worth Watching and D Magazine’s Best Lawyers Under 40.

The Texas Lawyer Diversity & Inclusion Champions were recognized in a virtual awards ...

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause uncertainty for employers across the country, but, as the National Labor Relations Board reiterated on September 18, it does not excuse labor law violations.

NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb issued General Counsel Memo 20-14 to summarize the types of COVID-related complaints that he has advised the agency to pursue since March 2020.  The theme is clear: in the vast majority of cases, the traditional rules of the National Labor Relations Act apply, even during a pandemic.

As Fall settles in and schools reopen, many employees with children (and their employers) are breathing a masked sigh of relief. Back to school means back to work, and back to work means increased productivity and greater job stability during a time when productivity and stability are needed.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation, AB 2257, that provides a carve out to the state’s independent contractor law. Under Assembly Bill 5, all independent contractors are presumed to be employees unless the hiring business can meet the stringent requirements (known as the ABC test) that are set forth in the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision. AB 5 also provided for certain exemptions for certain categories of workers. For a more in depth discussion of AB 5, visit our previous blog post here.

In-House Employment Counsel and Human Resources Executives may soon find themselves called on to provide input into their company’s SEC filings.  The SEC recently issued a new rule that requires a more comprehensive description of a public company’s human capital resources, if material, in the Company’s 10-K filing. These disclosures are likely to include statements about diversity and inclusion, compensation, hiring and other employment metrics that have traditionally been within the province of Employment Legal and Human Resources.

HuntonAK employment partner, Chris Pardo was recognized by Boston Business Journal as a 2020 “40 Under 40” honoree. This list recognizes professionals in the Boston area “who are making a difference in their businesses and communities.” With more than 400 nominations, the recognized individuals were selected based on their career accomplishments, their drive to succeed, and their commitment to serving the community at large.

Chris balances his practice with representation of Fortune 500 clients in the retail, energy, healthcare, hospitality and technology ...

On September 10, 2020, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a Memorandum and Order granting summary judgment in favor of a franchisor in response to claims by a purported class of franchisees that they were not truly independent contractors, but employees of the franchisor.

The main issue addressed in the case was whether specific federal legal requirements that are imposed upon franchisors trump the general Massachusetts independent contractor classification statute. The federal court reasoned that applying the Massachusetts independent contractor classification statute to the franchise business model would render franchisors regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) criminally liable under state law for employee misclassification simply by virtue of their compliance with the FTC’s requirements.

California recently enacted Assembly Bill 1867, requiring all private employers with 500 or more employees to provide COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for their California employees.  Employers must begin providing supplemental sick leave, under the new law, no later than September 19, 2020.  The law will remain in effect until the later of December 31, 2020 or expiration of any federal extension of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Earlier this month, the NLRB General Counsel released a guidance memo urging the Board to apply the “more than ministerial aid” standard when evaluating whether an employer’s assistance in union organizing violates the National Labor Relations Act.

An employer violates Section 8(a) of the NLRA when it provides impermissible support to a union attempting to organize unrepresented employees, and Section 8(b) when it provides impermissible support to employees seeking to decertify or withdraw from a union.  Under current Board precedent, what constitutes “impermissible behavior” under Section 8(a) and 8(b) is governed by two different standards.  When an employer is accused of impermissibly supporting a union’s organizing efforts there’s a “totality of the circumstances” standard.  And, when an employer is accused of impermissibly supporting a decertification petition there’s a “more than ministerial aid” standard.  The application of these different standards to similar employer behavior yielded inconsistent conclusions for what is “impermissible” employer involvement in union organizing. Therefore, the General Counsel now urges the Board to adopt the “more than ministerial aid” standard for both situations.

Artificial intelligence is changing the way companies interact with their employees. HuntonAK’s new Labor and Employment Emerging Technology Practice is focused on helping companies navigate artificial intelligence, process automation and technological advancements that are impacting employers across all industries.

Our team of Labor and Employment attorneys are well positioned to guide employers on the effects and influence of technology in areas of human resources, hiring, employee productivity, workplace safety and collective bargaining.