Insights on Labor, Employment & OSHA

Foreign nationals and employers should plan all international travel more carefully and further in advance. This is not a travel ban but has opened the path to create a travel ban in the future, as he did in his earlier Administration.

The H-1B is the most common work visa for foreign nationals in professional-level jobs in the United States. Effective January 17, there is a new H-1B “modernization” rule which introduced some significant changes and codified some existing processing practices to the H-1B visa program.

On June 18, 2021, a group of ACE American Insurance Company employees filed a class action suit alleging that ACE misclassified them as exempt employees.

Earlier this month, the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), William Cowen, rescinded a slew of his predecessor’s policy memoranda. While general counsel (GC) memoranda are not the official legal position of the NLRB, if adopted by the Board they could have far-reaching ramifications for covered employers.

Though most in-house counsel (and even a lot of employment lawyers) are unaware, M.G.L. c. 149, Section 19B makes it unlawful for any employer to subject its employees or job applicants to a lie detector test.

Proposed legislation introduced in the US Senate last week would deny tax-exempt status to certain organizations that support undocumented immigrants. The legislation would change the eligibility requirements for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

With 2025 underway, the AFS Health Care team highlights some of the most pressing legal issues facing the health care industry this year.

In 2025, the retail and fashion industries are bracing for a transformative year, heavily influenced by the policies of the new Trump Administration. These policies promise rapid and significant changes, particularly in areas such as trade, tariffs, and immigration, which will profoundly affect global supply chains and labor dynamics.

ArentFox Schiff represented Triumvirate Environmental, Inc. in its recently completed transaction with Boston-based private equity firm, Berkshire Partners, pursuant to which Berkshire made a significant growth investment in Triumvirate, based upon a company valuation of $1.8 billion.

On December 21, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the New York State Fashion Workers Act, which imposes new regulatory obligations on fashion companies, advertising agencies, model management companies, and other entities that work with fashion models.

Many parties are rightly concerned about the impact of yesterday’s announcement that nearly all federal funds will be frozen for an indeterminate period. Minutes before it was intended to go into effect today, a federal judge in Washington, DC, temporarily ordered the freeze to be lifted until at least Monday February 3, when a full hearing will occur as to whether the freeze is permissible under federal administrative procedure laws and the First Amendment.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce the addition of Partner Andrew S. Wong to its Complex Litigation practice in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

On January 14, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) published two opinion letters, FLSA2025-1, which addresses tip pooling under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and FMLA2025-1-A, which provides guidance on how employers may coordinate paid family leave benefits with leave taken under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Following his inauguration on January 20, President Trump signed a slew of executive orders, including a handful related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Educating employees about sexual harassment — what it is, that it is unlawful, that your organization won’t tolerate it, how to prevent it, how to respond to it, etc. — can contribute to safer and more productive workplace, plus reduce exposure to successful harassment claims. Recognizing that, on their own, many employers have implemented sexual harassment prevention training programs.

Employers are paying close attention to pay transparency laws, which are the latest trend in employment legislation. Often expanding on existing pay equity laws, many state and local governments have enacted or proposed legislation with the stated goal of reducing pay inequity and combating wage discrimination.

On June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a federal law enforced by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), went into effect. The PWFA mandates that employers with at least 15 employees, along with other covered entities, provide reasonable accommodations for employees with known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Beginning on January 1, 2025, New York employers in the private sector will be required to provide up to 20 hours of paid leave during any 52-week period for employees to attend prenatal appointments or obtain health care services related to their pregnancy.

Employment arbitration agreements are an important tool for employers who wish to resolve workplace disputes in a more streamline fashion and, more importantly, avoid class and collective actions. However, enforcing arbitration agreements can become challenging and complex, especially when multiple related entities and non-signatories are involved.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce the election of 15 new partners, effective January 1, 2025.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has reinstituted a union-friendly standard for determining whether an employer’s unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Going forward, an employer acting unilaterally must show that the union surrendered its right to bargain through a “clear and unmistakable waiver.” This significantly raises the bar employers must clear to act unilaterally, while providing unions with more avenues to challenge employer actions.

ArentFox Schiff’s Rob Carrol, Lynn Fiorentino, Jeffrey Weston, Noah Woo, Brett Young, Alex Rafuse, Marissa Rael, and Sai Paspulati provided an overview of new California employment laws that will go into effect next year, recent regulatory changes, and a recap of noteworthy legal developments this year.

On November 4, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed into law the Safe Hotels Act, establishing a licensing requirement for hotels that operate in New York City. The Act requires most new and existing hotels to implement consumer safety and cleanliness protocols, maintain continuous front desk coverage, directly employ certain “core” employees, and train its employees to identify and combat human sex trafficking.

On November 16, New York’s Clean Slate Act took effect. The purpose of the Act is to aid in curbing discrimination in the workplace against individuals with certain New York State criminal convictions. As discussed below, the Act will limit the types of criminal convictions that employers can access and dictates how they must handle the information that they are made aware of when considering it in connection with employment actions, such as hiring or continued employment.

In Rodriguez v. Lawrence Equipment, Inc., Case No. B325261 (Nov. 8, 2024), the California Court of Appeal held that an employee who loses their Labor Code claims in an individual arbitration no longer has standing to pursue a claim on behalf of others in court under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).