Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

Federal contractors can make their own determinations on vaccination exemptions and do not need to terminate employees who refuse vaccination, according to new guidance from the Biden Administration.

In December of 2020, the DOL under President Trump issued a final rule dispensing with the longstanding “80/20” tip credit rule—whereby an employer was only required to pay a tipped-employee the full minimum wage rate for non-tip producing work if the employee spent in excess of 20% of their workweek performing such work. In early 2021, the DOL under President Biden delayed the effective date of the Trump-era rule (initially until April 30, 2021, then again until December 31, 2021).

On October 11, 2021, Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, issued Executive Order GA-40, which proscribes entities from compelling individuals to receive the COVID-19 vaccine who object “for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.” Offending entities can be fined up to $1,000 for failing to comply with this order.

A critical ruling in the world of franchising, in Haitayan v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 2021 WL 4078727 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 8, 2021), the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California applied the so-called Borello test to find that franchisees were independent contractors, instead of employees, for purposes of their claims for unpaid business expense reimbursements under California’s Labor Code section 2802.

On October 20, 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) issued a press release to announce its plans to use unspecified technology to conduct online searches for statements in job advertisements that violate the Fair Chance Act (“FCA”). According to the DFEH, during a one-day review, it was able to locate over 500 job advertisements that violated the FCA because they stated that the employer would not consider job applicants with criminal records.

HuntonAK labor and employment partner Chris Pardo was Selected as a Rising Star for Employment Litigation Law, Boston Super Lawyers magazine, 2021.

Governor Newsom has signed SB 331 (the “Silenced No More Act”) into law.  As discussed in our prior blog post, SB 331 will expand the existing restrictions on the confidentiality provisions recently put into place by SB 820 (which restricts the usage of confidentiality provisions in agreements related to sexual assault, harassment, or harassment) to also restrict the usage of confidentiality provisions related to all claims of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation under the FEHA.

HuntonAK Labor and Employment partner and practice group co-chair Emily Burkhardt Vicente was recently named as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion – Law Firm by Corporate Counsel: Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards 2021.

HuntonAK labor and employment partner, Amber Rogers was named to The American Lawyers inaugural list of Trailblazers South 2021.

HuntonAK labor and employment partners Holly Williamson and Scott Nelson have been recognized in the most recent publication of Texas Super Lawyers 2021.