|
April
29, 2009
Employment law encompasses
a broad area of the employer/employee relationship, including federal
and state statutes, administrative regulations and judicial decisions.
For businesses to succeed, they must stay abreast of this ever-shifting
area of law. The Daily Transcript asked a few local leaders to
share their insight and advice about upcoming and ongoing changes in
employment law.
With
the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Employee Free Choice Act, the
Obama administration has already pushed for some pro-employee legislation.
What else can we expect from the White House in the future, and is there
any silver lining for employers?
 Leonid 'Lonny' Zilberman
Partner, Employment Practice
Group
Wilson Petty Kosmo &
Turner
What we've seen so far is just
the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In addition to new legislative initiatives,
another big change may be the regulatory environment at the Department
of Labor, NLRB, EEOC and OSHA. The new Secretary of Labor (who has strong
union ties) and the new chair of the National Labor Relations Board
(a former Teamsters' legal counsel) are likely to have a different take
than former Bush appointees on a variety of employment-related regulations.
Some of the new initiatives,
sometimes referred to as "fairness" legislation, coming down
the pike include The "Arbitration Fairness" Act, which would
prevent employers from requiring employees to sign agreements to arbitrate
future disputes as a condition of employment, and The "Paycheck
Fairness" Act, which would eliminate the "any factor other
than sex" defense to explain wage differentials.
There also are initiatives
geared toward providing pay when employees take sick or family leave.
One is the Paid Family Leave Act, which would allow employees to take
paid leave under the FMLA and is very similar to California's Paid Family
Leave Act.
The Paid Sick Leave Act would
require employers with 15 or more employees to provide paid sick leave
for employees working more than 30 hours per week and would accrue up
to seven days of paid sick leave annually.
Perhaps the silver lining for
California employers is that the president's initiatives will "level"
the playing field (if enacted), because California has already taken
the lead on many of the federal initiatives that the administration
is contemplating.
Another silver lining for employers:
Many of the employment initiatives may be rejected by Congress this
year because of the continuing effects of the poor economy on unemployment. |
