DC News & Law Update July 24

Congress Debates Subsequent Reduction Package deal.

Because the Buzz has anticipated for some time now, this week the U.S. Senate started crafting a “Section 4” response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas progress was made, as of this writing, no official invoice textual content has been launched. Meaning federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation premiums will expire this weekend with none form of legislative extension. Certainly, whether or not to proceed such unemployment insurance coverage enhancements (and in that case, by how a lot) is likely one of the important sticking factors inside Republican Senate ranks. Clearly, the Buzz will probably be monitoring this example and could have extra as issues develop.

DOL Points Extra Wage and Hour Steerage.

The U.S. Division of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division launched new steerage this week addressing COVID-19–associated points below the Honest Labor Requirements Act, Household and Medical Depart Act, and Households First Coronavirus Response Act (discover the July 20, 2020, entries on the backside of every checklist). A number of the points coated embody telework, telemedicine, and returning staff to work.

Enterprise Teams Problem Visa Ban.

This week, a coalition of enterprise teams filed a authorized problem to President Trump’s June 22, 2020, proclamation extending and increasing a ban on entry into the USA for sure visa holders. Filed in the USA District Court docket for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit claims that the proclamation “takes a sledgehammer to the statutes Congress enacted with respect to high-skilled and short-term employee immigration.” The lawsuit alleges, partially, that the proclamation is bigoted and capricious as a result of it doesn’t rationally relate to the unemployment issues it purports to handle. For instance, the proclamation covers sure spouses and youngsters who usually are not permitted to work in the USA, anyway, and thereby does nothing to alleviate the unemployment disaster.

NLRB Addresses Offensive Conduct Customary.

This week, the Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB) modified its customary for addressing the self-discipline of staff who interact in abusive conduct whereas additionally collaborating in protected exercise. The brand new customary applies the Board’s well-known Wright Line check for mixed-motive circumstances and requires employers to display that the identical self-discipline would have occurred “even within the absence of the protected exercise.” The earlier fact-specific checks for such conditions usually made it difficult for employers to keep up workplaces that had been freed from harassment and discrimination.

EEOC to Examine Pay Knowledge.

Late final week, the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC) introduced that the Nationwide Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Drugs will “conduct an impartial evaluation of the standard and utility of the EEO-1 Element 2 knowledge for FY 2017 and 2018, which was collected final 12 months as the results of a courtroom order.” The evaluation will look at “the utility of pay bands in measuring pay disparities and potential statistical and analytically acceptable makes use of of the info” and “will even inform the EEOC’s strategy to future knowledge collections.” The undertaking, which can embody public conferences and stakeholder enter, isn’t anticipated to be accomplished till December 2021. James A. Patton, Jr. has extra.

Compelled Labor Reporting Invoice Launched.

This week, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) launched the “Slave-Free Enterprise Certification Act of 2020.” The invoice would require coated firms to carry out yearly audits—the particulars of that are prescribed by the laws—of their provide chains to detect the presence or use of compelled labor. Experiences detailing the findings of such audits should be submitted to the Secretary of Labor and posted on firm web sites. The findings of the reviews should be signed and authorized by the coated entities’ chief government officers. The invoice permits the DOL to levy civil penalties of as much as $100 million for violating the audit and reporting necessities, and as much as $500 million if such violation is willful.

ADA Anniversary.

This Sunday, July 26, 2020, marks the 30th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (ADA). Whereas signing the landmark civil rights laws into legislation, President George H. W. Bush stated that the ADA “represents the complete flowering of our democratic rules.” The EEOC has created a web site commemorating the anniversary of the ADA.

Congressman John Lewis.

Civil rights champion and 17-term congressman John Lewis (D-GA) died on July 17, 2020, after a six-month battle with pancreatic most cancers. Political leaders from all over the world paid tribute to the civil rights icon this week. On the Buzz, we keep in mind certainly one of Congressman Lewis’s final acts of grace and sophistication that occurred simply weeks earlier than his most cancers prognosis. Congressman Lewis will lie in state within the U.S. Capitol Rotunda starting on July 27, 2020.