On April 19, 2024, the EEOC published the final regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), which will be codified in 29 CFR 1636 and will go into effect as of June 18, 2024. PWFA’s Reasonable Accommodation Requirement PWFA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees (including applicants) with “known limitations” related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause an undue hardship. PWFA greatly expands what an employer was previously required to accommo ..read more

On April 1, 2024, OSHA published its final rule clarifying that employees may designate non-employee third parties as their representative during an OSHA inspection.  This final rule amends 29 CFR § 1903.8(c) by making two effective changes.  First, employees may either select another employee or a non-employee third-party to serve as their representative during an inspection.  Second, the regulation no longer suggests that non-employee third-party representatives would be limited to individuals with formal credentials, such as safety engineers or industrial hygienists. &nb ..read more

Back in September (2023), the U.S. Department of Labor published a rule that markedly changed the salary thresholds for some of the key white collar exemptions, including, for example, the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. In broad strokes, for an employee to qualify for one of these exemptions, they must (a) meet certain job duties requirements and (b) be paid a minimum salary, week in and week out. The DOL’s proposed rule would change the current minimum salary (of $684) by over 50%. Recently, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division took some final steps in connection with the ..read more

On March 8, 2024, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated a new rule promulgated by the National Labor Relations Board on joint employment status (“New Rule”).  This same Court previously issued a temporary pause on the New Rule’s effective date.   In short, the Court’s March 8 decision invalidated the New Rule and held the NLRB’s current joint employment rule, which has been on the books since 2020 (29 CFR § 103.40), should remain in effect. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among other industry groups, challenged the New Rule.  They claimed t ..read more

The purpose of this E-Alert is to inform firm clients about some important developments under federal labor law and the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) recent enforcement activities. In mid-2023, the Board issued a decision, Stericycle, 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023), wherein it adopted a new standard related to employer policies.   In short, the Board determined that if an employer rule or policy has a reasonable tendency to chill employees from exercising their rights, it is presumptively unlawful. Although the employer has the ability to prove a defense, this new employee-frie ..read more

On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor announced its final rule addressing contractor versus independent contractor status under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Currently, the rule is effective March 11, 2024.  There will undoubtedly be legal challenges which could force the rule to be paused (i.e., enjoined). Note:  How time flies. We first reported on this issue back in October 2022 when the DOL released its proposed rule.  In that post, we discussed some of the (we think interesting) historical underpinnings and context surrounding these issues.&n ..read more

Following this past legislative session, numerous and significant changes will take place in Minnesota landlord-tenant law, most of which become effective on January 1, 2024. These updates include sweeping changes to evictions, eviction notices, tenant privacy rights, early lease renewals, cannabis regulations in renting, and many other landlord-tenant matters. While some of these changes have been in the works for years and thus are more widely known, others might catch uninformed landlords by surprise. This summary provides a quick review of the most substantive changes made to Minnesota’s l ..read more

Frank the Elf is retiring soon after 112 years on the job at Santa’s Workshop.  We thought it would be interesting to get his thoughts on how the job of an elf has changed over all these years. Over a pint of Christmas cheer at The Coal Mine (our local pub) Frank covered quite a bit of territory. How has the workplace changed since you started out?  It’s no longer the fun, free-wheeling place we used to work. All these laws and regulations have really stifled our creativity and our productivity. Can you give me an example?  I can give you hundreds.  For instance, they ..read more

BACKGROUND  In 2021, the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) was enacted to substantially expand upon existing anti-money laundering (commonly referred to as “AML”) as well terrorism deterrence provisions under federal regulations.  For many years banks and other financial institutions and investment firms were required by federal AML regulations as well as the USA PATRIOT Act to maintain records, file reports and obtain identification from customers. For most entities formed on or after January 1, 2024, the CTA requires the entity to electronically file a report with the Departme ..read more

On January 1, 2021, the U.S. Congress enacted the set of federal statutes known as the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) which has the primary objective of protecting against money laundering through U.S. entities. Beginning on January 1, 2024, the CTA requires certain entities (which may include a homeowners association (“HOA”)) to report certain information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“FinCEN”) regarding their “beneficial owners” and “controlling individuals.” For entities formed before January 1, 2024, the information must be repo ..read more