In today’s post-#MeToo climate, we are finding that employees are more likely to speak up about workplace misconduct. Some of the concerns are well-founded; some of them are not. This uptick in complaints, however, means that employers need to take action to ensure employees know how to complain and to properly and fully investigate complaints.

On February 9, 2022, California’s governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 114. The Bill restores California’s paid sick leave, which previously expired September 30, 2021. The agreement comes amid the omicron surge and the resulting labor shortage across the state’s workforce.

On January 6, 2022, the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) and the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) proved us right, announcing their formal agreement to coordinate information sharing, conduct joint investigations, and pursue joint enforcement of violations.

There are some buzzwords and key phrases that, if you spend enough time hanging around the HR strategists in any corporate environment, you’ll be bound to hear: “minimize attrition”, “increase employee engagement”, “maximize potential.” These are great ideas, and they sound fantastic when you put them on paper, but what do they mean in practice?

Right now, all of us are doing our best to keep ourselves and our people safe. We are living and working through a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and are swimming together through uncharted territory. For some, this has meant an unexpected shuttering of service locations. For many others, this has resulted in a sudden transition to working from home rather than from an office.