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On January 28, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated a controversial Federal Labor Relations Authority decision that would have potentially allowed agencies to make unfettered changes to working conditions during the term of a collective bargaining agreement as long as the changes were not expressly addressed in the agreement.

As Illinois rang in the new year, amendments to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (IFWA) passed in SB 672 took effect. The changes substantially restrict (prospectively from January 1, 2022) the use of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements by Illinois employers.

In December 2020, D.C. enacted the Non-Compete Agreements Amended Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-563), which prohibits employers from requesting or requiring employees to sign non-compete agreements. However, employers raised concerns about the broad nature of the Non-Compete Act.

In the latest move to encourage salary transparency and equity, New York City will make it mandatory for companies to disclose salary ranges on all New York City-based job postings. The New York City Council recently passed a bill that would require employers to state the minimum and maximum salary for all open jobs.

On January 1, 2022, changes to Minnesota’s laws for lactation breaks and pregnancy accommodations went into effect. The new rules provide a considerable boost to new mothers. Previously, employees were only permitted to take one, unpaid lactation break during the whole workday.

In a Notice issued on December 28, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invited both the parties to The Atlanta Opera, Inc. and Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Union, Local 798, IATSE, Case No. RC-276292, and the public to submit briefing regarding whether the NLRB should reconsider its standard for determining whether an individual worker is an “independent contractor” and thus not covered by federal labor laws.

Happy New Year! The federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) may not have gone up, but on January 1, 2022, new state minimum wage laws took effect around the country, including in the following states:

On December 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) and the U.S Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division signed a Memorandum of Understanding “to reaffirm their commitment to administer and enforce the protections afforded to military service members and veterans by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.”

On November 19, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), a $2 trillion dollar piece of legislation that includes the first federal paid leave program. If passed into law, starting in 2024, the BBBA would provide all U.S. workers with 4 weeks of paid leave for (1) becoming new parents; (2) to treat their own serious health condition; or (3) to care for a loved one with a serious health condition.

The Equal Pay Act’s requirement that employers provide employees equal pay for equal work applies to rates of pay within each pay type employees receive, not to total compensation, according to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued on December 3, 2021.