SXSW is widely known for celebrating the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture. Selected to participate in this premier event, the Jackson Lewis Technology industry group, hosted a panel on how employers can advance their DEI initiatives.

Organizations implementing ESG strategies are focused on managing their companies in ways that are ethical, transparent, and responsible to stakeholders. Equally important is implementing good governance practices, including managing privacy compliance and risk.

In 2023, the OFCCP demonstrated renewed vigor in audits, recovering $17.3 million from federal contractors for alleged hiring and compensation discrimination. It also was a year of churn, challenge, and change.

OSHA's revised electronic recordkeeping requirements went into effect January 1 and the agency's new proposed rule on third-party representatives participating in walk-around inspections looms. Jackson Lewis Workplace Safety and Health practice co-leaders Melanie Paul and Courtney Malveaux discuss the OSHA compliance issues on the horizon for enforcement that will impact many employers this year.

The tech theme for 2024 is more regulation. Jackson Lewis of counsel Teri Wood and principal Michelle Duncan tell you what you need to know to make AI work for you amid the rising U.S. and global pressures to regulate — and the attendant enforcement efforts sure to follow.

Laura Pierson-Scheinberg, head of Jackson Lewis' Retail industry group; Melanie Paul, co-leader of the firm's Workplace Safety and Health practice; and principal Shannon Nakabayashi, a wage and hour practitioner, discuss the continuing labor renaissance and the need to focus on employee happiness and organizational wellness. Other topics include OSHA's national emphasis program targeting retailers with warehouses and distribution centers, and the immediate impact and risks involved with how retailers absorb increased labor costs due to minimum wage increases.

Having helped employers make it through one of the most active years in restrictive covenant law, Jackson Lewis co-leaders of the Restrictive Covenants, Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition practice Cliff Atlas and Erik Winton share what to expect for 2024. For starters, the multi-pronged attack on non-competes will likely continue along with more litigation involving other provisions and claims.

The biggest legislative movement in pay equity will continue to be transparency — especially at state and local levels. Jackson Lewis Pay Equity resource group co-leads Joy Chin and Drew Maunz pull together the expanding patchwork of pay equity state law trends to help employers get a better sense of the emerging standards sure to affect operations and compensation approaches.

Jackson Lewis Manufacturing industry group co-chairs Jim Stone and Maurice Jenkins bring their combined 55 years of experience to discuss the sobering and structural challenges 2024 has in store in terms of recruitment and retention. Skill gaps and mismatches, change management, new compensation strategies, internal talent marketplaces, employee referral programs, false barriers to entry, DEI, and more are all on the horizon.

With petition filings up 53 percent during FY2023 and an average union win rate of 71 percent for election petitions in the first half of the same period, the labor renaissance continues to heat up. Jackson Lewis principals Laura Pierson-Scheinberg and Ed Jeffrey tell you what the increase in employee activism, protected concerted activity, and union organizing activities will mean for employers in 2024.