By now, you have undoubtedly heard about the current administration’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the proposed travel ban against foreign nationals from certain countries (which continues to be vigorously contested in court). Most recently, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS or the Immigration Service) announced its plan to combat fraud and abuse in the H-1B Visa Program.  The H-1B Visa is a highly popular nonimmigrant visa available to foreign nationals who are being offered a “specialty occupation” position as defined by immigration statutes and regulations.  The Immigration Service has a unit dedicated to preventing fraudulent use of this visa.  (If your company has ever filed an H-1B petition on behalf of an employee, you may recall paying a $500 fraud prevention fee – that fee is used to fund the Immigration Service’s site visits, interviews, and investigations). 

Q.  I understand that the Philadelphia Wage Ordinance was supposed to go into effect soon. Do I need to take action to comply now?

A.  As we blogged previously, the new Philadelphia Ordinance would make it unlawful for employers in Philadelphia to inquire about a prospective employee’s wage history or require disclosure of wage history as a condition of employment. Employers would only be permitted to rely on such information if the prospective employee knowingly and willingly disclosed his or her wage history to the employer.

Q.  My company is thinking about hiring a summer intern. Is there a requirement that we pay the intern, or can we hire him or her on a voluntary basis?

A.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, many companies are looking at their workforce needs during the summer months. Summer internships provide an excellent way for interns to get much needed “real world” job experience, while helping employers by adding another set of hands to complete projects that have not been completed during the rest of the year.

But must the employer pay for this assistance?

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals became the first Federal Appellate Court to hold that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  While some states have already enacted laws protecting against that type of discrimination, and many employers have added such protections into company equal employment opportunity policies, this marks the first time sexual orientation has been deemed protected at this level under the federal Civil Rights Act.

Q.  My company has employees in New York City.  We often ask applicants about their salary history as a starting point for negotiating and setting a new salary.  Are we still permitted to do this?

A.  Effective October 2017, it will be unlawful for employers to ask job applicants in New York City about their salary history.  Salary history includes “current or prior wage, benefits, or other compensation.”  The ban includes inquiries to an applicant’s current or former employer and searches of publicly available information for salary history.

If your company was one of the 375 government contractors or subcontractors who recently received a Scheduling Letter from the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP), you’re probably not reading this post. You’re too busy scrambling to pull together responses to the 22 items in the Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing and making sure your affirmative action plans are up to date.

But if you didn’t receive a scheduling order… read on.

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of posts, we began the discussion of what the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), enacted in May 2016, really means for employers in defending their trade secrets.  In particular, we addressed some of the “good” the DTSA offers for employers, including:  (1) a clear path to federal court, (2) ex parte seizure orders and (3) international application.  In Part 3, we addressed the bad — four potential downsides of the DTSA for employers, including mandatory disclosure of whistleblower protections.  In this final Part 4, we outline questions left unanswered by the DTSA which are worth watching for future developments.

As we approach the filing deadline for FY 2018 H-1B cap petitions, there are a couple of updates of which you need to be aware.

First, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has just announced that starting April 3, 2017, it will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions.

Uber made headlines last week when Susan Fowler, a former engineer, claimed that she was harassed by her direct supervisor and her complaints were ignored by the human resources department. Uber took another hit a few days later when a recently-hired executive resigned amidst allegations that he had harassed employees at his former company.

How can you prevent your company from becoming the next media story?