Labor Law Updates

On June 26, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that requires all states to recognize and issue licenses for same-sex marriages. The decision is one of the most significant changes to constitutional law in many years, and its impact is far-reaching, including implications for employers.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released its long-awaited proposal to change overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If the new regulations are adopted, the weekly salary threshold will increase from $455 to the current 40th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time salaried employees, or $970. These proposed changes could affect nearly 11 million workers. As an employer, here’s what you need to know.

As anticipated, 2015 has ushered in ​a series of employment law rulings, regulations and trends. At the halfway point of the year, here are eight of the biggest changes employers have faced so far this year:

Although the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 requires businesses to provide workplaces “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm” to employees, roughly three million workers are seriously injured – and another 4,500 workers are killed – on the job every year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Every worker should be paid for the hours they work. This may seem obvious, but it isn’t always the case. Workers across the nation are routinely denied wages they’ve rightfully earned, which can lead to the recovery of large sums of back pay later. In fact, since 2009, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has collected $1.3 billion in back wages for more than 1.5 million workers nationwide.