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Recent Blog Posts

  • The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”) recently extended the deadline for employers to provide sexual harassment training for their employees, from October 1, 2020, to January 1, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CHRO announcement is available here. The CHRO website states that this is a blanket extension, and employers do not need to make a request to obtain the extension. Previously, the CHRO announced a 90-day extension for employers, under limited circumstances, which required employers to... More
  • As featured on #WorkforceWednesday:  Like many of you, this week, we are honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and reflecting on her employment law legacy. See the video below. Video: YouTube, Vimeo, MP4, Instagram.... More
  • Outside of the United States, terminating employees can be difficult even in “normal” times.  The concept of “at-will” employment is uniquely American, and generally, employers in non-US jurisdictions only may terminate employment for “cause” or for other statutorily permitted reasons.  Moreover, terminated employees in many countries are entitled to statutory notice, severance and other benefits, which is far more the exception than the rule for US employees. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have increased employee job protections even further,... More
  • On September 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1383 (“SB 1383“), expanding job-protected family leave for employees of companies with five or more employees. Previously, only employees of companies with 20 or more employees were entitled to these protections. According to the Governor’s office, this law, which becomes effective January 1, 2021, will expand job-protected family leave to nearly six million additional Californians. Existing Law The California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) currently makes it any an unlawful employment practice... More
  • On September 9, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1867 (“AB 1867”), mandating supplemental paid sick leave for employees of companies with 500 or more employees. AB 1867 fills gaps left open by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) (previously discussed here) and the Executive Order signed by Newson on April 22, 2020, which only applied to essential food workers (previously discussed here). The sick leave portions of the law are effective immediately and covered employers must... More
  • As we approach the last quarter of 2020 and the business community begins to plan ahead for 2021, New York employers should be aware of the changes coming to the New York Paid Family Leave (“NYPFL”) program. On January 1, 2021, the amount of employee contributions, the number of weeks of leave and benefits, and the amount of weekly benefits granted under the program are scheduled to increase. This will be the last of three annual increases in weekly benefits. The... More
  • Part 6 of a series featuring our video Rules of the Road: Return to Work in the Time of COVID-19. Simple in theory. Challenging in practice. While we all intuitively know that we should stay home when we are feeling unwell, a fall 2019 survey suggests just the opposite—that approximately 90% of workers generally “push through” and come to work anyway. The reality is that employees come to work when they are sick for a myriad of reasons: to stay atop long... More
  • Updates to USCIS Policy on New Forms, Premium Processing, and Filing Fee Increases Take Effect on October 2, 2020 As previously reported in Epstein Becker Green’s August 2020 Immigration Alert, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will increase filing fees effective October 2, 2020.  In line with the announcement, USCIS has updated its Policy Manual and the Federal Register with the following changes: USCIS will revise the edition date of certain forms. As a result, any affected form filed... More
  • On August 13, 2020, 11 years after the enactment of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the “FW Act”), Australian employers received guidance from the High Court regarding how to count the entitlement to “10 days” of personal leave per year of employment, as required under Section 96 of the FW Act. The High Court determined that employees’ leave entitlement is equivalent to the average of employees’ “ordinary hours” of work over the course of a two-week period (i.e., 1/26th of... More
  • As we have previously highlighted, many countries have introduced creative new approaches to address the economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.  As employees continue to work from home and employers reconsider whether employees must return to the workplace at all, some jurisdictions are implementing measures to accommodate the needs and interests of both employers and employees in the ever-changing and evolving employment environment.  Luxembourg is yet another example of a country that has sought to develop solutions with its neighboring... More