On July 5, 2017, Washington became the fifth state in the nation to approve a paid Family and Medical
Leave law. The new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2020, is one of the most generous in the
country and will apply to any person or business that employs at […]

Washington law is clear that employees working more than five hours must be allowed a 30-minute meal period, unless the employee chooses to waive the meal period. However, an employer’s responsibility for ensuring that employees actually take meal breaks has been less clear. Recently, the Washington Supreme Court […]

The new administration made it clear that it is making immigration a priority and employers should expect stepped up enforcement of workplace immigration laws. Based on the administration’s indications, ICE audits will increase, new investigation officers will be hired, and enforcement in this area will get a lot of […]

Equal pay has been in the news of late, with marches and other efforts by advocates to raise public awareness of pay inequity between men and women in the workplace. These efforts have focused on strengthening the 1963 Equal Pay Act, which requires employers to pay men and women the same for equal work. Recent developments […]

Washington is known for having among the country’s strongest protections ensuring the payment of wages. When a company becomes insolvent, former employees will seek payment of their earned wages from the former company managers and […]

On April 21, 2017, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s broad interpretation of “concerted protect activity” worthy of protection under federal labor law, when it determined that an employee’s vulgar Facebook post about a supervisor […]

Waymo is the self-driving car subsidiary of Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. On February 23, 2017, Waymo
filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco, accusing Uber and two other companies of stealing its
trade secrets. The allegations in the […]

On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed a measure under the Congressional Review Act as well as an Executive Order which set aside President Obama’s Executive Order 13673 requiring federal agencies to determine whether businesses seeking to perform federal contracts were […]

Perhaps you remember (or have heard of) the line: “don’t trust anyone over 30.” That slogan emerged in the 1960s, when the Baby Boomer generation was coming into its prime and rejected the traditions of the “Establishment”—the structures and beliefs of their parents’ and grandparents’ […]

In recent years, a wave of new laws has been seen in cities across the country increasing
the minimum wage for workers in each locality as well as requiring employers to provide
workers with paid sick leave. A number of cities […]

Employers’ obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are often confusing and vague. Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued two resource documents in Q&A format, which summarize the workplace rights of job applicants and employees who […]

After waking up to the news of a Trump victory, a number of clients have asked whether the long list of pending Obama regulatory labor and employment changes, which were assumed to be “safe” under the expected Clinton win, will be rescinded under a Trump administration […]