The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a new rule on tip pooling last Friday that subject employers to more significant monetary penalties for mishandling workers’ tips. Under the previous DOL regulation, put in place during the Trump administration, an employer could be subjected to civil penalties if the employer’s action of mishandling or illegally…
Passed as part of the 2023 state budget, New Hampshire now has a paid sick leave program with the state paying the premium for state employees while private employers and employees may opt-in, at a price. Under the plan, which will pay benefits up to 60 percent of an employee’s wages for up to six…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has filed a set of ordinances with the City Council, that would dramatically change the landscape for businesses within the Windy City. The Mayor’s package, which she has dubbed the “Chi Biz Strong Initiative”, defines a business as guilty of wage theft if it fails to timely pay a covered employee…
The Golden Arches will be dishing out sweets soon in 2 different directions and for 2 very different reasons. For the first time in eight years, McDonalds said it is adding baked goods to its breakfast menu in the hope of strengthening its weak breakfast daypart. The company announced this week that it would begin…
Elsewhere around the nation there are other laws that have taken effect with the flip of the calendar and we want to ensure you’re aware of them as well. Hairstyle or hair texture is now considered protected under New Jersey anti-discrimination laws after the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act)…
With Governor Phil Murphy still on vacation last week, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver signed legislation into law that significantly strengthens the penalties for wage theft in New Jersey. S.1790, which Oliver signed last Friday with much fanfare, updates the New Jersey Wage Payment and Wage Hour laws by increasing penalties and enforcement activities. Under the…
One week ago yesterday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB 1267, An Act Concerning Penalties for Failure to Pay Wages, into law. The law provides that employers who refuse to pay a wage claim, falsely deny a wage claim with an intent to not pay, or underpay a claim as a means to harass or…
Amidst all this talk (and legislative activity) about increasing wages and protecting workers, We couldn’t miss the irony of a story from a few weeks reporting that a class action lawsuit has been filed against the Democratic National Committee on behalf of 40-50 “field organizers” who allege that they were denied overtime compensation and minimum…
To underscore the importance of staying on top of employment law issues, in the first 6 months of 2015, New York has collected over $18 million from employers in the state and paid those monies to employees who have alleged they were illegally denied minimum wage, overtime pay or fringe benefits. According to Governor Cuomo’s…
Florida’s Osceola County, which includes the cities of Kissimmee, St. Cloud and Buenaventura Lakes, has passed an ordinance that provides for recovery of wage theft and underpayment of wages claims to be resolved without going through Florida courts. The ordinance, approved on a 4 -1 vote, is based on a similar one in Miami-Dade County,…
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