Into the second half of April we go with a strong contender for the No Good Deed prize in the 2024 Has it Really Come to This? Awards,. Employers staring aghast at news in the Times on Saturday that “Offering a seat to older staff risks discrimination” should not worry – there is a great deal less to the case than is reported. Mr Edreira, now 68, was dismissed by Severn Waste Services and claimed age-related discrimination and harassment, alleging that SWS had tried to force him out when he turned 66.  A little while ago, his health had obliged him to move to a less physical role and aro ..read more

Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) on June 27, 2023. The law requires covered employers—which, in the private sector, includes those with 15 or more employees—to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified employee’s or applicant’s known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. While other federal laws, notably the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, already prohibit discrimination against employees or applicants on the basis of pregnancy ..read more

Back in October 2022 we reported here on the EAT’s decision in Bathgate -v- Technip UK Limited. This was a particularly unnerving ruling to the effect that settlement agreements could not cover claims yet to arise because of the requirement under section 147 Employment Rights Act that such agreements must relate to “particular claims”. The Employment Appeal Tribunal concluded that you couldn’t identify a particular claim if the circumstances of it had not yet occurred, seemingly whether or not the employer and/or employee knew or believed that they still might. As a result, Mr Bathgate was in ..read more

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and the Internal Revenue Code Of 1986, as amended (“Code”) contain broad prohibitions on transactions between ERISA-covered employee benefit plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (“Plans”), as well as certain people or entities closely connected to such Plans, known as “parties in interest” or “disqualified persons”. Absent an exemption, the types of transactions that are prohibited include sales and leases or loans between a Plan and a party or parties in interest, or services provided to the Plan by a party or part ..read more

Everyone knows that if there is something about a job which causes a disabled employee particular difficulties with it, the employer is under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to the role to reduce or remove that disadvantage.  But suppose that there are no adjustments to the role which can be made.  Does that duty then extend to looking at other roles for the employee (yes, obviously) and then just how far do you have to go as employer to make that move work?  Based on the EAT’s recent decision in Miller – v – Rentokil, perhaps very much further than you may have th ..read more

It’s never a good sign when a court calls your reasoning “nonsense” or instructs your lawyers to “brush up” on their familiarity with legal doctrines. But that’s exactly what a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit did in a decision that overturned the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or Board) ruling on two unfair labor practice claims against an Arizona-based produce distribution company. In Stern Produce Company Inc. v. NLRB, the court concluded that the NLRB went too far in inferring that anti-union sentiment motivated actions t ..read more

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) published its controversial final “walkaround” rule on April 1, 2024 (available here). The final rule clarifies the rights of employees to authorize a representative – employee or non-employee – to accompany an OSHA compliance officer (CSHO) during an inspection of their workplace. This can include a “third party” (or non-employee) representative, such as a union representative, if OSHA deems the representative “may be reasonably necessary to the conduct of an effective and thorough inspection based upon sk ..read more

Squire Patton Boggs’ Legal Intern Amber Bouie addresses new legislation impacting Texas employers. COVID-19 vaccinations have been the subject of workplace chatter since the vaccines became widely available in late 2020. At first, some states barred government employers from requiring employees receive vaccinations as a condition of continued employment, leaving private sector policies up to the individual employers. This level of discretion is now evolving. Late last year, the Texas legislature passed, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law, Senate Bill 7 (“SB 7”), which effectively ..read more

In 2010, the New York Court of Appeals (which is the highest state court in New York) established a test to determine the territorial scope of the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”) and the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) – each of which protect employees and applicants for employment from employment-based discrimination. In Hoffman v. Parade Publs., a former employee of a New York City-based company sued under the NYSHRL and NYCHRL for age discrimination after being terminated by his employer. 15 NY3d 285 (2010). The plaintiff in Hoffman alleged that the decision to termina ..read more

In a decision providing significant relief for employers, a federal court in Texas struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) 2023 joint employer rule.[i] Being designated a joint employer by the NLRB can have far-reaching consequences for a business, including potential obligations to negotiate with unions representing workers not directly employed by the business and shared liability for labor law violations committed by another employer. The court’s decision puts on hold the NLRB’s rule which would have expanded employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA ..read more