As the world focused its attention on the COVID-19 pandemic, other legal issues took a back seat. In California, however, the topic of whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee has come to the fore.
The federal government recently released its unified federal regulatory agenda–the document that outlines regulatory and deregulatory actions agencies expect to take in coming months. Issues involving labor and employment featured prominently on the list.
Each year, Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute provides its “July is the New January” report on labor and employment laws that become effective in the middle of the year.
On June 1, 2020, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance temporarily requiring certain companies that rely on “gig economy” workers to provide paid sick and safe time to those workers for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.
The tsunami of new employment laws and regulations in the last two months has challenged employers and human resources professionals, created a host of new employee rights, and caused many bouts of compliance head-scratching.
Earlier this year, Governor Murphy signed a package of legislation aimed at tightening worker misclassification enforcement in New Jersey. One of these new measures, Assembly Bill 5843, established a new posting requirement for employers.
