Employment Law Issues (2022): Pay for work-related commute and travel activities, Workplace romances, New sexual harassment arbitration ruling, and Military paid leave

Allan S. Bloom | Proskauer Rose LLP

Allan S. Bloom is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and advisor who represents management in a broad range of employment and labor law matters. As a litigator, Allan has successfully defended a number of the world’s leading companies against claims for unpaid wages, employment discrimination, breach of contract and wrongful discharge, both at the trial and appellate court levels as well as in arbitration. He has secured complete defense verdicts for clients in front of juries, as well as injunctions to protect clients’ confidential information and assets.

As the leader of Proskauer’s Wage and Hour Practice Group, Allan has been a strategic partner to a number of Fortune 500 companies to help them avoid, minimize and manage exposure to wage and hour-related risk. Allan’s views on wage and hour issues have been featured in The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg and Fortune, among other leading publications. His class-action defense work for clients has saved hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages. Allan is regularly called on to advise boards of directors and senior leadership on highly sensitive matters such as executive transitions, internal investigations and strategic workforce planning. He also has particular expertise in the financial services industry, where he has litigated and arbitrated cases, including at FINRA and its predecessors, for more than 20 years.

A prolific author and speaker, Allan was the Editor of the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Journal from 2012 to 2017. He is a member of the NYSBA’s House of Delegates, sits on the Executive Committee of the NYSBA’s Labor and Employment Law Section, and is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Joshua R. Goodbaum | Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C.

A graduate of Harvard and Yale, and a Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for employment law, Josh Goodbaum represents employees and other civil rights plaintiffs in litigation and negotiation.

Josh’s experience as a Connecticut employment lawyer who represents employees runs the gamut, from discrimination (on the basis of race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, pregnancy, or national origin) and sexual harassment, to wrongful termination, retaliation, non-competition agreements and other restrictive covenants, contract disputes, and wage and hour issues, including claims for unpaid overtime and commissions. He has counseled employees and executives in the negotiation of separation agreements of all sizes – from less than $25,000 to more than $25 million. And he has represented employees in virtually every sector of the Connecticut economy: accounting, banking, construction, entertainment, finance, government, healthcare, higher education, hospitality, insurance, law, manufacturing, and technology.

Josh’s representation of employees has earned him preeminent status in the Connecticut legal community. He was named the 2022 New Haven area “Lawyer of the Year” for “Employment Law – Individuals” by The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. He has been recognized by Connecticut SuperLawyers since 2015, when the Connecticut Law Tribune also dubbed him a “New Leader of the Law.” Martindale-Hubbell ranks him as AV Preeminent, which indicates that his fellow lawyers and judges rate him at the highest level of professional excellence. And since 2019, Lawdragon has included him in its annual list of the nation’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers.

Beyond his focus on employment law, Josh regularly assists his fellow lawyers with appeals and other complex legal projects, regardless of the subject matter. He honed his writing skills while serving as a law clerk for Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch of the Supreme Court of the United States when Justice Gorsuch was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Josh’s writing has appeared in a variety of legal publications, including the Harvard Law Review.

Josh was elected by his peers to serve in the Connecticut Bar Association House of Delegates. He previously served as Chair of the Bar Association’s 650-member Labor & Employment Law Section, and he currently serves on the Executive Committees of the Labor & Employment Law, Federal Practice, and LGBTQ Sections. Josh also serves as an invited member of the Editorial Board of the Connecticut Law Tribune, which is comprised of prominent lawyers and retired judges.

Josh earned his law degree from Harvard Law School magna cum laude, reflecting a grade point average in the top ten percent of his graduating class. While at Harvard, Josh served as a Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review and Co-Chair of the Public Interest Auction. Josh went to college at Yale University, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in history. Between college and law school, he worked for an industrial supply distribution company in Chicago.

Josh is a native of the New Haven area and serves on the Board of Directors of the New Haven Legal Assistance Association and the Ronan-Edgehill Neighborhood Association. In his spare time, he enjoys choral singing, playing tennis, and doting on his rescue dog, Mungo.

Allison P. Dearington | Jackson Lewis

Allison P. Dearington is a principal in the Hartford, Connecticut office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Her practice is focused on employment litigation, including class and collective action defense, and preventive counseling.

Allison represents employers in state and federal courts, before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in arbitration. She defends a variety of employment claims including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, failure to accommodate, violations of First Amendment rights, wage and hour violations including misclassification claims and tip-credit claims, breach of contract, and denial of public accommodations.

Allison also has an active advice and counsel practice, advising employers on a wide range of employment-related issues. In addition, she has experience drafting employee handbooks and workplace policies, conducting investigations into internal employee complaints, drafting contracts, and conducting training seminars.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Allison served as law clerk to the Judges of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. She also was an associate at a boutique labor and employment law firm in Hartford, CT that focused on the representation of municipal employers. During her undergraduate studies, Allison interned for the United States Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Allison previously served as chair of the Greater Hartford Junior League’s Career Connections for Young Women Committee (CCYW). CCYW was focused on inspiring young women in the Hartford area to focus on career planning, financial independence and improving their academic performance.

Jason J. Ranjo | Morgan Lewis

Jason J. Ranjo advises a client roster that represents a cross-section of organizations in the pharmaceutical, energy, communication, retail, banking, and technology industries. He focuses on employment-related matters, including consultation on issues involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour disputes, and contractual breaches. A former officer in the US Army and New Jersey Army National Guard, Jason also counsels clients on employee compensation and benefits under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). He is an associate representative for the firm’s Veterans Lawyer Network.

Jason’s experience includes representing single-plaintiff and collective action cases before US federal and state courts, administrative agencies, and arbitration panels. Before entering the labor and employment arena, he worked as an associate in the commercial litigation practice of another international law firm. Jason has also served as a law clerk for Justice Barry T. Albin of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Session I – Do We Have to Pay for That? The Compensability of Travel and Commute Time in a Post-Pandemic World | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

1. Fundamental Principles | 1:00 pm – 1:05 pm
2. The “Normal” Commute | 1:05 pm – 1:10 pm
3. Mid-Day Travel | 1:10 pm – 1:15 pm
4. Multiple Worksites | 1:15 pm – 1:20 pm
5. Pre-Commute Activities | 1:20 pm – 1:24 pm
6. Same-Day Travel to Another City | 1:24 pm – 1:28 pm
7. Travel Involving an Overnight Stay | 1:28 pm – 1:32 pm
8. Travel From Hotel to Worksite, and Vice Versa | 1:32 pm – 1:36 pm
9. Travel Across Time Zones | 1:36 pm – 1:40 pm
10. Time Spent Driving | 1:40 pm – 1:44 pm
11. Remote/Flexible/Agile Work Considerations | 1:44 pm – 1:48 pm
12. Consequences of Compensable Travel Time | 1:48 pm – 1:52 pm
13. Does Paying for Travel Time Make it “Hours Worked”? | 1:52 pm – 1:56 pm
14. State Laws | 1:56 pm – 2:00 pm

Break | 2:00 pm – 2:10 pm

Session II – Workplace Romance and Changes in the Law of Sexual Harassment | 2:10 pm – 3:10 pm

1. Introduction and overview of risks created by office romances | 2:10 pm – 2:20 pm
2. Strategies for employers to limit risks and avoid liability | 2:20 pm – 2:35 pm
3. Tips for employees who want to date at work | 2:35 pm – 2:40 pm
4. #MeToo and the campaign against mandatory arbitration | 2:40 pm – 2:45 pm
5. New federal law ending forced arbitration of sexual assault and harassment claims | 2:45 pm – 3:00 pm
6. Tips for employers with arbitration policies | 3:00 pm – 3:05 pm
7. Q&A | 3:05 pm – 3:10 pm

Break | 3:10 pm – 3:20 pm

Session III – Paid Military Leave | 3:20 pm – 4:20 pm

1. Introduction to USERRA, including overall purpose and provisions covering non-seniority-based benefits, such as pay. | 3:20 pm – 3:30 pm
2. Overview of Historic Caselaw on Non-Seniority Based Benefits | 3:30 pm – 3:40 pm
3. Discussion of Recent Trends Concerning Military Leave | 3:40 pm – 3:50 pm
4. Review of Recent Caselaw on Paid Military Leave, including White (7th Cir.) and Travers (3d Cir.) | 3:50 pm – 4:00 pm
5. Analysis of Employers’ Reaction to Recent Trends | 4:00 pm – 4:10 pm
6. Lookahead at Future Developments, Including Tips for Employers | 4:10 pm – 4:20 pm