On Monday, President Trump issued a Proclamation restricting certain foreign workers from entering the U.S. through the end of 2020, claiming it is necessary to curb the “economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.” The ban specifically targets work visas that many American employers rely upon to fill U.S. labor shortages. With the stated purpose of reducing competition against Americans for jobs in the U.S. economy, the Proclamation restricts visa issuance to certain H-1B professional…

Employers should take note that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status now clearly violates federal law. In a landmark decision issued on June 15th, in Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court held (6-3) that an employer who fires an individual for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.…

Employers who use the fluctuating workweek method of compensating employees and those who rely on the retail establishment exemption from overtime are both in for some changes. Recently the Department of Labor (DOL) passed two key regulations altering the application of certain rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applicable to each. First, the DOL has authorized employers to offer bonuses and hazard pay to workers with fluctuating workweeks, without destroying the validity of…

In light of COVID-19, the federal government has extended temporary guidance relating to remote verification and relaxed restrictions on documents supporting I-9 verification. With respect to the latter, given ongoing stay-at-home orders and restrictions on renewing state driver’s licenses, state ID cards, and other forms of List B identity documents due to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a temporary policy regarding expired List B identity documents used to complete Form I-9,…

Employees in Chicago have been granted new protections if they must stay at home to comply with a state or local stay order or to care for someone under such an order under a new Chicago City Council ordinance enacted late last month. The Anti-Retaliation Ordinance, SO2020-2343 protects employees who work as few as two hours in a two-week period and is effective immediately.…

The explosive growth of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic has re-shaped notions about how we work, presenting novel challenges for management. Re-opening business worksites brings new legal and operational challenges in continuing to effectively manage remote workers, while deciding whether, when, and which remote workers should return to the worksite. The new focus on teleworking requires consideration of a host of issues including technology, productivity and communications, cybersecurity, time and recordkeeping, and best practices for…