For employers, 2021 was a challenging year. The post-election landscape, evolving federal and state law, and the effects of a seemingly endless global pandemic created a difficult business climate. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 were met with stiff resistance — legal and otherwise; still, employers persist in earnest to maintain their operations safely
Lisa A. Milam
Congress Passes Federal Law Restricting Arbitration Agreements, Class Waivers for Sexual Assault, Harassment Claims
A new law making predispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers covering sexual assault and sexual harassment claims invalid and unenforceable has passed in Congress and is headed to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 amends the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to give employees…
Appeals Court Creates Circuit Split on Whether Bristol-Myers Applies to Collective Actions
In its 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state court could not exercise specific personal jurisdiction over nonresident plaintiffs’ claims against a nonresident company. Left unresolved by the Court was whether its decision, handed down in a mass tort action, applied to…
Build Back Better Act Threatens Class and Collective Action Waivers
The U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2021, passed the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), ambitious climate protection/social spending legislation that now awaits deliberation in the Senate. Tucked inside the massive bill are numerous provisions of interest to employers. One such provision would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to…
Class Action Trends Report, Fall 2021
The Fall 2021 edition of the Jackson Lewis Class Action Trends Report looks at the class action risks that arise as employers navigate return-to-work during this precarious stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employee symptom screening, mask and vaccine mandates, returning reluctant remote workers to the office–all pose operational challenges as well as potential exposure to…
Virginia’s new overtime law authorizes collective actions
Virginia employers are at increased risk of class action wage litigation following passage of the Virginia Overtime Wage Act.
“Previously, Virginia had been content to rely on the overtime pay requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),” note Kristina H. Vaquera and Shaun M. Bennett in a recent Jackson Lewis legal alert…
ADA Does Not Require Websites Be Accessible, Appeals Court Holds
A website is not a “place of public accommodation” within the meaning of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal appeals court has held in a groundbreaking decision on disability discrimination. And an inaccessible website is not necessarily equal to the denial of goods or services. Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.…
Four Ways Manufacturing Employers Can Reduce Risk of Class Action Litigation
How can manufacturing employers reduce the prospect of costly wage and hour class and collective actions?
In this legal update, James M. Stone, head of Jackson Lewis P.C.’s Manufacturing Industry Group, and Eric J. Gitig, an associate in the firm’s Los Angeles, California, office, offer guidance to minimize the risk of class litigation, particularly…
Workplace Law Under a Biden Administration
As President-elect Joe Biden selects members of his Cabinet and prepares for his transition into the presidency, he and a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives may pursue a number of significant pieces of federal workplace legislation. Many of these employment law measures successfully passed the House in 2019 and 2020. And, with the…
Hacked Healthcare Provider Refuses to Pay Ransom, Attackers Target Psychotherapy Patients
From Finland — by way of our Jackson Lewis Workplace Privacy, Data Management, and Security Report blog — comes the story of a healthcare provider whose refusal to pay a ransom to cyberattackers resulted in a particularly disturbing compromise of customer data: the threat of public disclosure of patient psychotherapy records.
“This incident reveals a…