PA’s Prevailing Wage Law Shows Its Teeth
5/7/21
By: Joshua Ferguson and Courtney Mazzio Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Law was enacted in 1961 to protect construction workers from out-of-state competition, mandating those contractors pay the wages that “prevail” in each region on all government construction projects more than $25,000. Violations of this state labor law has caught the attention of the Attorney General in Pennsylvania, who has used the violations as justification…
Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Announce New "Safer at Home" Restrictions
11/18/20
By: Justin Boron The City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania announced new measures this week aimed at curbing the spike in COVID cases in the region, but neither appear to be ready to initiate a broad-based shutdown like the one that began in March earlier this year. Set to take effect Friday, the…
9/21/20
By: Ashley Hobson On Monday, September 14th a federal judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania struck down the Governor’s restrictions on the size limitation of persons at gatherings and the mandatory closure of “non-life sustaining” businesses. The restrictions, which were similar to those across many states, have since been lifted as all counties entered…
PA Supreme Court Rules Uber Drivers Entitled to Unemployment Benefits
8/7/20
By: Erin Lamb In Lowman v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled 5-2 that Uber drivers are not engaged in independently owned businesses when driving for Uber and are therefore eligible for unemployment benefits. The ruling is expected to open the gates for more “gig economy” workers to not only…
Pennsylvania Offers Certain Employers Help with Hazard Pay
7/23/20
By: Justin Boron Last week, the governor made $50 million available to businesses, health care non-profits, public transit agencies, and certain economic development organizations to cover hazard pay for ‘front line’ employees exposed in life-sustaining industries exposed to COVID-19 risks. The payments must go toward paying employees in certain industries, including healthcare, food manufacturing, food retail,…
New Jersey and COVID-19: What Businesses Need To Know About Reopening Plans
7/13/20
By: Ashley Hobson New Jersey has been one of the most proactive and reactive states amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the publication of this Blog, the State has only entered into the second stage of its reopening, which still excludes indoor dining and attendance at bars, indoor exercise at gyms and other fitness studios,…
U.S. Department of Education Announces Temporary Halting of Wage Garnishments
3/30/20
By: Jeffrey A. Hord On March 25, 2020, the Department of Education (DOE) announced that it will temporarily halt seizing wages and/or withholding tax refunds from borrowers who have defaulted on their student loans held by the federal government. As part of the Trump Administration’s multifaceted response to the COVID-19 national emergency, the DOE has…
PA Supreme Court Elevates State Pay Standards Above the FLSA on Fluctuating Work Week
2/12/20
By: Justin Boron Going forward, Pennsylvania employers should be wary of relying on federal rules for their pay policies. As a general principle, courts and regulators interpret Pennsylvania’s wage and hour laws consistently with the Fair Labor Standards Act. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court called this principle into question when it held that the fluctuating…
Pay History is out for New Jersey Employers, Mostly…
2/10/20
By: Justin Boron As of 2020, New Jersey employers, in general, may no longer ask applicants past salary information. If they do, it constitutes an unlawful employment practice. See N.J. Stat. § 34:6B-20. New Jersey joins more than a dozen other states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and multiple local governments that have enacted…
The Ban is Back – New Life Given to Philadelphia’s Salary History Ban
2/10/20
By: Courtney Mazzio Back in 2017, Philadelphia was among the early adapters of the salary history ban that we see starting to trend nationwide. However, prior to the enactment of the Philadelphia wage equity ordinance, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia initiated an action against the City of Philadelphia, challenging the constitutionality of the…
9/26/19
By: Justin Boron The judicial trend in favor of arbitration and class action waivers continues—this time in employee benefit plans. Last month, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel validated an arbitration and class action waiver agreement contained in an employee retirement plan, and in doing so, it overturned a 1984 precedent holding that fiduciary…
8/26/19
By: Sean Riley Pennsylvania recently became the first state in the country to enact clean slate legislation, which provides for the automatic sealing of non-violent misdemeanor criminal records for those who qualify after a set period of time. The law is expected to seal approximately 30 million cases by June 2020 which corresponds to roughly…