The Supreme Court of Minnesota, in Burt v. Rackner, Inc., has ruled that discharging an employee for refusing to share tips is illegal under the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act (MFLSA).

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signed the “Lactation in the Workplace Ordinance”, increasing protections for nursing mothers working in the geographic boundaries of San Francisco.

Finding it wholly inconsistent with the statute and the regulation it purports to interpret, the Ninth Circuit, in Marsh v. J. Alexander’s, LLC, has held invalid the United States Department of Labor’s “80/20” tip credit rule, or “20% Rule,” which limits the availability of the tip credit when tipped employees spend more than 20% of their time performing non-tip generating duties.

December 1, 2017 is the proposed deadline for affected employers to electronically submit injury and illness records to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA may still change the requirements in the final rule; however, affected employers should prepare to meet the proposed deadline. OSHA has set up a website, called the Injury Tracking Application (ITA), for affected employers to electronically submit their data.

California continues its expansion of equal pay protections with the enactment of Assembly Bill 168, which prohibits employers from seeking, considering, and relying on an applicant’s salary history when determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or what salary to offer.