The Department of Labor recently revised the Occupational Safety and Health Act regulations to increase scrutiny on employers by (1) publishing employers’ injury records on the internet, (2) providing greater anti-retaliation protections for employees who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses, and (3) imposing new requirements on employers’ for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses. The new regulations take effect on August 10, 2016 and will be phased in over the next three years.
On Monday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finalized its wellness program regulations under both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The regulations go into effect in January 2017, and apply to all workplace wellness programs, including those provided to employees outside of the employer’s health plan. The final regulations closely track the EEOC’s proposed rules and will generally allow employers to provide certain limited incentives in exchange for employees providing health information or undertaking medical examinations as part of a voluntary wellness program.
This morning the U.S. Department of Labor issued new federal overtime regulations extending overtime pay eligibility to 4.2 million more employees across the country, including over 100,000 employees in Michigan. The White House claims that this expansion will increase wages by $12 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
On May 11, President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA). The DTSA provides the first federal civil claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. Previously, employers had to rely on a patchwork of state laws to bring such claims. Now, employers will have access to the federal judiciary. Not only will this allow the federal court system to craft a more consistent body of law, it will make it easier for large companies to protect trade secrets across the nation. In addition, the DTSA provides a host of new remedies for employers to protect their trade secrets, as well as new protections for employees that employers must be aware of.
April 14, 2016 marked one year since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enacted new rules truncating union representation proceedings. The NLRB celebrated this anniversary by releasing new data comparing representation case filings, processing and results under the first year of the new rules as compared with the same period one year prior.
