Reproduced with permission from Daily Labor
Report, 222 DLR A-5 (Nov. 16, 2012). Copyright 2012
by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
(800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com

Labor and Employment partner Darrell Gay was recently quoted by Bloomberg/BNA Daily Labor Report after he commented on a wide range of legal and human resources issues employers face following the damage and disruption brought by Hurricane Sandy.

The article described a discussion hosted by Arent Fox’s New York office on November 14 titled “Sandy’s Aftermath: What It Means For Your Labor/Employment & Insurance Issues.” The panel provided insight on a host of insurance and labor related issues caused by Hurricane Sandy upon governmental bodies, not-for-profit organizations, and commercial entities.

“It's a whole new world,” said Mr. Gay, who moderated the session and focused the conversation on wage and hour implications, employee leave considerations, disaster contingency plans, and best practice considerations. “Employers need to ‘fill in the blanks’ of their emergency planning, to lay out specifically, for instance, how to get the business back up and running with employees working remotely. People in services want to do their jobs, he said, but they will require guidance.”

Mr. Gay recommended that “employers make sure they have ‘real records,’ such as written, signed declarations of hours actually worked, and guard against undocumented hours being put in by employees working remotely without formally telling a supervisor what they are doing. Employer policies should tell employees, ‘Don't work unless we know about it,’” Mr. Gay said.

The speakers on the labor and employment panel were Pico Ben-Amotz, Acting General Counsel at the New York State Department of Labor, David An, Investigator at the US Department of Labor, and Reginald Odom, Vice President of Labor and Employee Relations at NYU Langone Medical Center. Arent Fox Insurance partner Elliott Kroll spoke about insurance and risk management issues resulting from the hurricane.

To read the complete article, click here.