Below in an excerpt from an article authored by Robinson+Cole Labor and Employment Group lawyers Natale V. DiNatale and Kayla N. West that was published in Industry Week on March 5, 2021.

Within hours of his inauguration, President Biden fired the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) general counsel, Peter Robb, whose term was set to

This week, we continue our 2021 outlook series with a focus on labor and employment. With the new Presidential administration this year, we anticipate a number of changes in labor and employment laws on the federal level. The following are a few of the issues that may impact manufacturers in 2021.

Federal Government Involvement in

Regular readers of this blog know that I have been cautioning manufacturers about what I expect will become a significant “snap back” in federal workplace regulations because of Joe Biden’s election as president.  It may be time to consider the changes which may lay ahead.

During his first term, President Biden will be able to

This is the second of two posts dedicated to reopening plans for manufacturers.  In the first post on May 26, I addressed the first two questions which every manufacturer may wish to ask as it forms its reopening plans.  Manufacturing;  Back to Business (Part One) (May 26, 2020).  Here, I address the next four questions.

While a recent headline-grabbing Forbes article may have caused some concern (“Researchers Say Social Distancing To Prevent Coronavirus May Need To Continue Until 2022”), many manufacturers are now planning to return to “Business as (the New) Normal.”  During the last two months, I have been fielding calls from essential manufacturers on how to

The patchwork of federal, state and local laws addressing leaves of absence, protections of people with disabilities and a manufacturer’s general obligation to provide a safe workplace come head-to-head with public reports of an evolving situation.  Right now, the CDC admits that “[m]uch is unknown about how the virus that causes COVID-19 spreads.”  Manufacturers should

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation released its Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report and, you guessed it, it was “un-good” (a legal term I think).  The Multiemployer Insurance Program recorded a record-breaking deficit of $65.2 billion.  The PBGC warned that the Multiemployer fund will likely be insolvent by 2025, within 6 years from today.  Without the

With the Trump Administration now in its 27th month (half-way through the first term), Federal agencies seem to be picking up the pace of fundamentally altering the legal landscape in which manufacturers operate.  Keeping up with these changes can be a full time job.

In this blog post, I will highlight some of the

The United States Department of Labor finally published its proposed regulation raising the minimum salary to be paid under the “white collar” exceptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act.  To refresh your recollection, virtually every worker must be paid at least minimum wage (currently $7.25 per hour under federal law, with many states having a