The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it will terminate its temporary policy for expired List B documents on May 1, 2022. As you may recall, this temporary policy was put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting difficulties employees faced with identity document renewals, as required by Form I-9. Since most document-issuing authorities have reopened or now offer adequate alternatives to in-person renewals, DHS has decided to end this flexibility.

The workplace is changing. As more employees embrace opportunities for remote or hybrid work arrangements, companies are leveraging video technology, including both live stream and on-demand (asynchronous) formats, as a primary means of communication with their distributed workforces. For example, video is frequently used to onboard new employees, conduct employee workshops/trainings and engage with employees in virtual town hall style meetings.

On April 4, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a decision in Reuter v. City of Methuen, 489 Mass. 465, (2022), holding that employers are liable for three times the wages owed when they fail to pay wages timely pursuant to the Massachusetts Wage Act (Wage Act). According to the SJC, treble damages are mandated regardless of the length of the delay in payment, the intent of the employer, or whether the employer paid the employee prior to a complaint being filed.

There’s a good chance your company uses contract templates in support of its day-to-day commercial legal needs. In fact, most companies will templatize common, recurring agreements as a time- and cost-saving practice. However, this practice has its limitations. First and foremost, not all contracts can be converted into templates. Moreover, without the right coordination and oversight, the use of templated forms can expose a company to a number of unforeseen consequences. In this 2-part series, we will explore the basic advantages and considerations when developing contract templates, and then discuss best practices for building an effective template library.

A perennial concern for businesses of all sizes is minding the bottom line. Now, more than ever, in the face of rising interest rates and a turbulent stock market, companies are focused on controlling expenses, including their legal spend. Meanwhile, traditional legal models continue to reveal their limitations with respect to cost and efficiency, driving clients to seek more innovative and cost-effective legal solutions.

On March 22, 2022, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) issued a fact sheet providing guidance on New York City’s newly enacted salary transparency law, which we reported on in February. The new law makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for New York City employers with four or more employees (including independent contractors) to advertise a job, promotion or transfer opportunity for a position located within New York City without including a “good faith” minimum and maximum salary .

Stock options can serve as an important tool for attracting new talent to your company and retaining top-quality employees or consultants. To avoid tax surprises and penalties, however, options must be issued at exercise prices set at the then-current value of the company’s stock. Although publicly-traded companies can easily determine this value, a private company has no readily available source for the current value, and therefore, must determine the fair market value of the company’s stock pursuant to Section 409(A) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) – hence the name “409(A) Valuation.” Despite the complexity which the term “409(A) valuation” suggests, it is not mandatory that a company engage a valuation company to perform the valuation. And if your company is a start-up with limited assets and no income, you may justifiably wonder if procuring a formal valuation is worthwhile. In fact, a company can comply with Section 409(A) without engaging a third-party valuation expert; this approach, however, is not risk-free.

As anticipated, on March 3, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“the Act”). As we discussed in a recent blog post, the Act limits the enforceability of U.S. employers’ mandatory arbitration agreements which require that all employment-related claims be arbitrated, rather than litigated.  Under the new law, employees may now opt to pursue their sexual assault or sexual harassment claims in court even if they signed an arbitration agreement with their employer that waived their right to do so.