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News, trends and analysis in employment law, HR, safety & workers' comp

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Apr 05 2024
Safety and Health

OSHA expands employee representation rights during inspections

On April 1, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule that “clarifies” (in reality, expands) the rights of employees to authorize a representative to accompany a Compliance Safety and Health Officer during an inspection of their workplace. Federal law gives the employer and employees the right to authorize a representative…

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Apr 05 2024
Labor RelationsLeave LawsWage and Hour

WASHINGTON: Governor signs 2024 bills

The Washington legislature’s regular session adjourned on March 7, 2024, and Governor Jay Inslee has signed several employment-related bills into law: SHB 1905 (pay equity): Expands Washington’s existing pay equity law beyond gender to also include membership in a long list of protected classes: age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin,…

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Apr 05 2024
COVID-19Safety and Health

CDC relaxes COVID-19 isolation guidelines for the public

On March 1, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its COVID-19 isolation guidelines, removing the recommendation to isolate for 5 days, and instead recommending people treat COVID-19 (coronavirus) like any other respiratory illness. Even though many states have rescinded workplace COVID-19 requirements (and have also pared down previous isolation guidance for the general…

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Apr 03 2024
Culture

Culture of Care Chronicles: Transform Your Business, Part 2

Embracing a Caring Mindset, Continued, Part 2 Welcome back, fellow explorers, to the journey into the transformational power of a Culture of Care. In this entry, we plunge deeper into the first pillar, Embracing a Caring Mindset. Remember, the goal is not to offer a rigid roadmap but to stimulate meaningful discussions that lead to…

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Mar 27 2024
Culture

Culture of Care Chronicles: Transform Your Business, Part 1

Embracing a Caring Mindset, Part 1 Welcome back to an exploration of the transformational power of a Culture of Care. In this post, we dive into the first pillar that breathes life into this ethos, steering clear of a step-by-step guide and instead aiming to ignite meaningful discussion. At Vigilant, our commitment to cultivating a…

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Mar 21 2024
Safety and HealthWashingtonWorkers’ Comp

Washington Governor signs two bills impacting workers’ comp

Governor Jay Inslee recently signed two bills impacting Washington workers’ compensation time-loss payments and stay-at-work reimbursements: HB 1927: Allows injured workers who are unable to work for 7 days or more (instead of the current standard of 14 days or more) to receive time loss payments for the first 3 days of work missed due…

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Mar 21 2024
HiringWashington

Washington Governor signs new law on noncompete agreements

On March 13, 2024, Governor Jay Inslee signed SSB 5935, a new law that modifies and expands the definition of noncompetition covenants (noncompete agreements). We intend to report on any other bills of interest to employers that are signed from the 2024 Washington legislative session in a future newsletter. Beginning June 6, 2024, the definition…

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Mar 21 2024
Employee BenefitsHiringLabor Relations

Judge tosses NLRB’s 2023 joint employer rule

A federal district court judge in Texas has invalidated the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s 2023 rule defining when two separate companies are actually joint employers for purposes of compliance with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The judge issued the decision shortly before the rule was scheduled to take effect. The Board is expected…

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Mar 21 2024
Wage and Hour

EEOC releases pay data dashboard from EEO-1 Reports

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently published a data dashboard displaying aggregate compensation data collected in “Component 2” of covered employers’ 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 Reports. As we previously reported here and here, employers with at least 100 employees were required to submit data from those two years for employees’ pay and hours,…

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Mar 19 2024
Culture

Culture of Care Chronicles: Transform your Business – Blog Series Introduction

In the fast-paced world of business, where competition can sometimes overshadow compassion, it’s easy to let business strategy take precedence over culture. As Peter Drucker said, however, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” At Vigilant we take these words to heart and invest heavily in creating a Culture of Care. It has become a way of…

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Mar 18 2024
Safety and HealthWashingtonWorkers’ Comp

Workers’ Comp Costs: What you CAN control

As you know, L&I increased rates for Washington employers in January by 4.9% on average. If you’ve attended one of our recent webinars, you know rate changes fall into the category of things outside of your control when it comes to workers’ compensation costs. You might also recall the ridiculously busy but truthful graphic from…

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Mar 11 2024
Labor RelationsUncategorized

Court extends effective date of joint employer rule to 3/11/24

A federal district court in Texas recently delayed the effective date of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s revised joint employer rule until March 11, 2024. The new rule was originally scheduled to take effect on December 26, 2023, but we previously reported that the Board later delayed the effective date until February 26, 2024. The…

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