2019 kept US employers on their toes. From intensifying scrutiny of independent contractor relationships, data privacy changes, and hostility to arbitration agreements to continued pressure to examine pay data, increasing employee activism and politically charged discourse in the workplace, it has been a busy year! Click here to continue reading the US Employment Law Digest.…

Join us on January 28, 2020 for our California Employment Compensation Update in Los Angeles. We’ll clarify the impact of employment and compensation developments in California, the US and abroad that raise opportunities for the visionary companies that seize them. We will offer a choice between two sessions: 1. Predictions for the Year Ahead in Employment Law or 2. Developments Impacting Share-Based Compensation Click here to view the invitation.…

U.S. merger and acquisitions activity had another busy year in 2019, with total domestic M&A transactions at $1.1659 trillion, almost equal to 2018’s momentous year, according to reports from the fifth annual global transactions forecast by Oxford Economics Ltd. and Baker McKenzie. With these transactions, many companies have been looking to acquire businesses with unionized facilities. Purchasers unfamiliar with operating unionized sites, though, can sometimes move too quickly, potentially triggering a host of legal…

On December 30, 2019, Judge Kimberly Mueller in the Eastern District of California issued a temporary restraining order that enjoined California from enforcing AB 51. AB 51 prohibits employers from requiring, as a condition of employment, employees’ waiver of any right, forum, or procedure for an alleged violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or the California Labor Code. (For more on AB 51, read here).…

Going into 2020, employers should be mindful of several new state laws aimed at limiting the enforceability of noncompete agreements against low-wage employees. Crucially, while protecting low-wage worker job mobility is the key aspect of these new state laws, each has its own unique nuances and one-off requirements, further complicating employer efforts to protect their legitimate business interests when key employees leave. This article summarizes these new state noncompete laws (all of which became effective…

Join us in our Toronto office for our Client Appreciation and Learning Event on January 30, 2020. Our program will start with a year-in-review to bring you up to speed on key workplace law developments of 2019 and how they impact you, followed by two panel discussions on the timely issues of diversity and inclusion and pay equity. We’re also excited to have our colleague, The Honourable Peter MacKay, P.C., joining us for an insightful…

Join us for our Annual California Employer Update on January 8 in Palo Alto and January 9 in San Francisco. We’ll clarify the impact of employment and compensation developments in California, the US and abroad that raise opportunities for the visionary companies that seize them. We will take a closer look at key developments through both a local and global lens: • New employment laws impacting California employers • Wage and hour updates and trends…