The House General and Housing Committee has two bills addressing various workplace and labor issues recently passed by the Senate pending review and action. The first, S.103, would dramatically undermine the existing court precedent for standards for determining harassment and discrimination in the workplace, as well as prohibit settlement agreements between employers and departing employees […]
Federal Agencies Regulatory Agenda
Last week, the Biden Administration published its “Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” (click here), the biannual report on actions administrative agencies plan to issue in the near and long term. Although the Agenda tends to be aspirational, it provides important insights about proposed regulatory and deregulatory actions, as well as broader priorities, at […]
Upcoming Webinars
AIV’s national allies and partners at NAM, the Manufacturing Leadership Council, and the Manufacturing Institute are hosting the following webinars that might be of interest to Vermont manufacturers and other employers: Making Zero Defects Possible: A Quest for Manufacturing. January 27 at 11:00 am. Click here. The Way Forward: The State of Manufacturing in 2021 […]
Override of Global Warming Legislation Veto
The Senate Tuesday voted to override the Governor’s veto of H.688. This follows the House’s successful override vote last week. Enactment of H.688 over the Governor’s veto presents a number of concerns and challenges for the future. The biggest issues with H.688 are not necessarily about the issue of climate change. Rather, they concern the […]
Updated Resource Guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice and the Enforcement Division of the US Securities and Exchange Commission recently updated their Resource Guide to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Click here. This second edition of the guide is intended to provide information to businesses and practitioners on how to best comply with […]
Legislation Regulating Non-Compete Agreements Goes to the House Floor
H.1, legislation regulating non-compete agreements, was approved by the House Commerce and Economic Development Thursday and will be taken up on the House Floor next week. The Committee and stakeholders have been wrestling with H.1 since early last year. The bill has gone through some extremely restrictive and burdensome versions over that time. Although issues […]
Update and Action Alert | Chemical Liability and Medical Monitoring
Members are encouraged to contact Senators to express their opposition to S.37, establishing criteria for medical monitoring liability related to chemicals, and to support the Governor’s veto of the bill. S.37 would make sweeping changes to the potential liabilities that companies could face for medical monitoring costs that individuals might associate with releases of chemicals. […]
Update and Action Alert | Statewide Testing for PFAS and New ANR Authority Regarding Chemicals of Concern Advances; Other Chemical Bills Pending Significant Action
This coming week should see relatively little movement on the several chemical bills of concern to Vermont manufacturers and other employers, but this could change quickly in the next week or two. For additional information and links related to the bills below, click here. PFAS and Chemicals of Emerging Concern The most recent development was […]
Proposal to Allow Attorney General to Investigate Employee Misclassification and Add Additional Penalties
S.108 would allow individuals to ask the Attorney General to investigate and impose penalties in cases of misclassification of employees as independent contractors with regard to worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, wage and hour, minimum wage, and paid sick leave. It is currently under review in the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. There are a […]
ACTION ALERT | Legal and Financial Liabilities Related to Chemicals
S.37 is currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which could act on the bill as soon as this coming Tuesday, February 26. AIV and other stakeholders have provided testimony, and will continue to engage the Committee on this bill. As reported previously, S.37 contains provisions addressing legal and financial liability provisions that had been included […]