When it comes to Environmental, Social and Governance issues, the "S" is beginning to creep in on the "G" in the boardroom. Jackson Lewis ESG co-chairs Laura Mitchell and Monica Khetarpal offer some context and insights for how senior leadership and boards can manage through tumultuous times by better aligning the organization's values with its risk profile.

2024 is starting out where 2023 ended for DEI initiatives in the workplace and related scrutiny. But this dynamic could change if the mid-December Muldrow oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court are an indicator. Jackson Lewis ESG co-chairs Monica Khetarpal and Laura Mitchell discuss how an ESG audit can help organizations take stock of their risk and recalibrate, if necessary, with real effectiveness across the entire employee life cycle.

2024 is shaping up as a year of unique challenges that could impact how employees are showing up to the workplace and handling life challenges or emotionally charged events. Jackson Lewis principals Michael Griffin and Michael Thomas discuss why employee well-being is important and what employers can do to promote an environment where everyone contributes to the quality of workplace culture.

DEI-minded employers are increasingly finding fertility, surrogacy, and adoption benefits are one of the better ways to incentivize and retain employees. Jackson Lewis Employee Benefits practice co-leader Melissa Ostrower and principal Kellie Thomas share what 2024 has in store for employers seeking to add more inclusive family forming benefits — and the laws implicated when offering them.

In the wide world of DEI, everything has changed, and nothing has changed at all: It's not lawful to make decisions based on protected characteristics. It is lawful to increase outreach efforts. Positive employee relations and clear communications matter. Listen in as Jackson Lewis Corporate Diversity Counseling co-leaders Samia Kirmani and Michael Thomas declare DEI is definitely not dead and discuss the legal developments out there — and which ones matter.

Jackson Lewis Construction industry co-leaders Dion Kohler and Sean Paisan discuss the key labor law and occupational safety and health-related issues affecting the construction industry in 2024. Topics include the significant NLRB decision regarding the election process of union organizing, protected concerted activity, and ramped-up OSHA construction-based enforcement efforts that coincide with the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

A recent Seventh Circuit decision is a game changer, both providing a new analysis of whether and under what circumstances an employer must accommodate an employee's commuting restrictions, and harmonizing what has been held as a conflict among other circuit courts that have decided this issue. Jackson Lewis Disability, Leave and Health Management practice co-chairs Joe Lynett and Katharine Weber explain where the rubber hits the road.

2024 will be a leave-and-accommodations marathon for employers. In the absence of preemptory federal laws in this area, leave entitlement activity on the state and local level will continue to be an exercise in endurance for employers' compliance efforts. Jackson Lewis principals Katharine Weber, Joe Lynett and Patty Pryor give the issues a trial run as only they can.

Contractors — especially those with campus-like settings — should be prepared to provide a lot more information to support their affirmative action compliance efforts. Stacey Bastone and Alyssa Calabrese, attorneys with Jackson Lewis' Affirmative Action, OFCCP, and Government Contract Compliance practice, discuss how recent updates to the OFCCP supply-and-service scheduling letter will affect compliance evaluations in 2024.

Staffing challenges has led to increased frustration for patients and their families and increased risk for healthcare workers' safety, security, and health. Physical violence, harassment, and other threatening behavior against healthcare workers is a genuine cause of concern for healthcare organizations and regulators leading the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to consider implementing a new workplace violence standard for the healthcare industry.