Gregory S. Lisi shared his forecast for the Employment and Labor Industry in 2024.

The year 2024 will be a watershed year for Labor & Employment Laws for all sized companies.  The big issues will include; 1) tracking wage and hour issues for employees who work from home; 2) working with the uptick in union organizing attempts of small and mid-sized companies; 3) navigating the new criminal penalties for violation of wage and hour laws; 4) Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and Wage notice requirements.

The rise of work-from-home employees increased exponentially since the COVID shutdown.  The mere fact that your employees work from home does not change the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act or most state laws, that the employer has the requirement to keep track of hours and overtime.  Further, keeping track of what an employee does at home runs into many other legal issues, not the least of which is the many privacy laws that exist.  This must be carefully navigated as the laws, and more importantly, the case law, in this area is very under developed.

Post Covid, we are seeing a rise of unions trying to organize small and medium sized companies.  The laws are quite extensive and pro-organization.  Further, the government agency that polices most of these issues, the National Labor Relations Board, is an agency most non-unionized companies rarely deal with and can be fraught with landmines for the unwary employer.

There has always been a “criminal” aspect of state wage and hour laws, but they were rarely invoked.  Now, many states, including most recently New York, are passing new criminal laws for failure to pay proper wages or overtime.  Furthermore, now many county district attorneys are assigning prosecutors part, and even full-time, to wage and hour prosecutions.

Lastly, private attorneys and the various departments of labor are pushing hard on notice and training requirements.  Violations or these requirements can be $10,000 or more per employee.  This can run into significant money depending on the size of your company.

All of these matters have defenses, but you need an experienced law firm who can handle all aspects of labor and employment law.