Wage & Hour Division Issues Anticipated Joint
Employment Rule. As the Kansas City Chiefs staged their
epic comeback, the Wage & Hour Division put out its Final Rule
clarifying the standard for joint employment under the Fair Labor
Standards Act in a rare (for labor agencies) Sunday afternoon announcement. For more on the Final Rule's
regulatory revisions, see Seyfarth's Wage & Hour Litigation
blog.
PWFA Update. The House Committee on Education and Labor
approved on Tuesday an amended version of the
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 2694), incorporating several improvements.
These included requiring that the employee be able to perform the
essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable
accommodation; did not have a veto over which accommodation was
acceptable; and must make known to the employer the condition in
question. Other changes strengthened the interactive process to
determine the appropriate accommodation (as under the ADA),
clarified that good faith on the part of the employer during the
accommodation process would limit damages, and specified that the
legislation applied to employers with 15 or more employers.
Late in the process, however, questions came up in regard to
possible requirements imposed by the bill on faith-based employers.
This issue was not resolved, resulting in all but two Republican
committee members opposing the bill. Nevertheless, Ranking Member
Foxx made clear that she was otherwise supportive of the compromise
reflected in the revised bill. Whether or not the religious
exemption issue can be worked out before House Floor consideration
or in the Senate remains to be seen. Seyfarth testified on the
original legislation on October 22, helping to lay the ground work
for improvements.
POWADA Passes House. The House also approved late
Wednesday the Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination Act (H.R. 1230), 261-155 with 34 Republicans voting
Yes. Note that the Senate counterpart (S.485) has bipartisan support with Senators
Grassley (R-IA) and Collins (R-ME) as sponsors. The Administration
has issued a veto threat. Stay tuned. Seyfarth also
submitted an analysis of this legislation on June 4 to the
Committee.
Bill Seeking Expanded Nursing Mother Accommodations
Introduced. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) this week
introduced the "Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP)
for Nursing Mothers Act" (H.R. 5592). The bill would eliminate the
application of many FLSA exemptions (including the exemption for
executive, administrative, and professional employees) to the
existing nursing mother provisions. It would apparently require
application of the nursing mother provisions to employment outside
the United States. And it would provide additional remedies for
violations of the provisions. The bill would also apply by statute
the Wage & Hour Division's existing requirement that an
employee be "completely relieved from duty" for the break
to be noncompensable.
Grand Rapids Limits Employment Screening. As we've
seen over the past few years, state and local governments continue
to jump into the labor and employment space. Grand Rapids, Michigan
just joined the fray, with amendments to its Human Rights Ordinance
that place restrictions on users and providers of background
screening reports. For more information, see Seyfarth's
Legal Update, prepared by the Background Checking & Drug
Testing
team.
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