Each edition of Employment Law Yearbook provides a comprehensive overview of the most important developments in employment law over the past year, including critical case decisions, legislative changes, government agency actions, and other events of interest to employers, employment and HR professionals, corporate attorneys, and employee advocates. Employment Law Yearbook 2019 details and analyzes recent legal developments, including:
- California test for determining independent contractor status: The California Supreme Court has adopted a new test—the “ABC test”—to determine whether workers are to be classified as employees or independent contractors. Under this test, articulated in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court, workers are presumptively considered employees, but the employer may demonstrate a worker is more appropriately classified as an independent contractor if it proves all of several articulated factors. Chapter 1, Wage-and-Hour Issues, section 1:2.3[A], Independent Contractors.
- Transgender discrimination: The Sixth Circuit, in EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., became the first federal appellate court to hold that discrimination based on an employee’s transgender status is sex discrimination under Title VII. A group of sixteen states has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decision, but the Court has not yet decided whether to take up the case. Chapter 3, Gender and Sexual Orientation Discrimination and Sexual Harassment, section 3:2.2, Sexual Orientation and Gender Stereotyping.
- Noncompete agreements: In August 2018, Massachusetts enacted a law that places limitations on noncompete agreements entered into on or after October 1, 2018. The law also adopts the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Chapter 9, Guarding Trade Secrets, Section 9:3.1, Background.
- New standard for evaluating facially neutral policies: In Boeing Co., the NLRB overturned the Lutheran Heritage “reasonably construe” standard and adopted a new balancing standard for evaluating facially neutral policies that potentially interfere with the exercise of section 7 rights. The NLRB delineated three categories of work rules based on the new standard. Chapter 11, Employee Blogging and Social Media, section 11:4.1[B][1], The New Standard of Reasonableness.
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