For all you folks out there just yearning for employment law news, we have a few “News and Notes” for you as we hit mid-week.
We’ve all heard the talk about the Obama Administration’s push to change the overtime white-collar exemptions but did you know that the Department of Labor also is beginning the process of examining the use of technology, including portable electronic devices, by employees away from work and outside of scheduled work hours. It’s extremely early in the process but employers should be aware that there are some potential changes on the horizon. We’ll keep you up to date.
Also, as a follow-up to some of our recent social media posts regarding the trend of paid leave in various companies, we thought we would point out some of the bills filed in Congress on this very issue. While all the bills are Democratic bills and unlikely to go very far, it shows an increasing trend toward paid leave in this country.
Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D) of Vermont recently introduced a bill to require U.S. employers to provide at least 10 paid vacation days. Senator Sanders also supports the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) of New York, which would mandate 12 weeks of paid family leave (essentially turning FMLA leave from unpaid to paid). In addition to these two bills, Senator Patty Murray (D) of Washington introduced the Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee 7 days of paid sick leave to American workers. It will be interesting to see where the issue of paid leave goes in the coming months and years.
Employment law is an ever-changing area of the law and we will do our best to keep you updated!
