Workplace Policy Institute

Our Mission

What We Do

Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute^® (WPI^®) partners with the employer community to engage in legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts on issues that impact your workplace. We provide clients with unique insights into local, state and federal labor policy developments and work to affect workplace policies throughout the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Our Team

Littler’s WPI harnesses the deep experience, expansive resources and focused dedication of the global leader in labor and employment law. Our team of attorneys ensure that policymakers in Washington and around the country hear the voice of employers. The WPI team is well versed in international, national and state policy to help organizations understand, comply with and address the laws, regulations and policy decisions that affect the employer community.

What WPI Can Do For You

Our Impact

WPI and our business allies work together to define and shape labor and employment policy on the state and national levels. By overturning burdensome labor regulations, successfully advocating for clients embroiled in government investigations and litigation, and positively impacting recent legislative initiatives, WPI continues to be a strong voice for employers and their workplace.

Littler has filed multiple suits in a variety of jurisdictions to enjoin or declare invalid newly passed statutes and regulations. These include ongoing suits against the state of California challenging AB 51 and AB 2455, as well as previous litigation challenging SB 54 (imposing state mandates on refinery contractors), and the New York City Fair Workweek challenge. Other suits in which Littler has participated in recent years include challenges to state and local project labor agreements, residential hiring preferences, and apprenticeship mandates. At the federal level, Littler’s WPI has led numerous coalitions of business groups challenging unlawful regulations burdening employers, including the 2016 overtime rule, the “blacklisting” rule, the injury reporting rule, the NLRB notice posting rule, and the home care overtime rule. WPI has also filed comments on behalf of clients on recent regulatory proposals such as joint employer, regular rate, and the fluctuating work week to ensure that these final rules provide clarity and flexibility for employers.

WPI’s Professional Services

WPI can help you and your organization:

• Engage with key policymakers in Congress, the administration and relevant agencies
• Build coalitions with like-minded organizations to identify and respond to policy trends at the federal and state levels
• Coordinate advocacy efforts and issue campaigns at the state and local levels of government
• Understand the effect of the most complex policy developments
• Explain legislation, regulations and court rulings to your employees and/or members
• Address agency regulations and case decisions
• Provide testimony before Congress
• Prepare amicus briefs for court cases
• Draft official comments to executive agencies
• Produce white papers studies, and reports on issues important to your stakeholders
• Deliver live workshops and presentations at your conferences
• Stay current with updates on:
  • The status of federal and state legislation and regulations
  • Cases pending before the Supreme Court
  • Amicus briefs being considered (or that should be considered)

The Future of Work

The Emma Coalition

WPI is also shaping the answers to future challenges by taking a prominent advocacy role in the growing fields of artificial intelligence, robotics and the gig economy. For years, organizations have been discussing, studying and making predictions about the effects of “technology-induced displacement of employees,” or TIDE. Despite all the attention on TIDE, there is no organization specifically devoted to helping employers and their workers prepare for it. Littler’s WPI and the National Restaurant Association have established the Emma Coalition to fill this glaring need. The Emma Coalition brings together the brightest minds among workers, industry groups, educational institutions and other private and public organizations to prepare the workforce for the coming TIDE through education, training, and engagement with policymakers.

Learn About The Emma Coalition

Littler Edge^™

Designed to help your organization with its employment and labor law compliance efforts, Littler Edge provides access to the best of the firm’s collective knowledge and experience, all in one location.

Littler Edge includes Littler GPS^® – Littler’s online database containing employment-related legislative and regulatory updates at the state and federal level, as well as 50-state and federal law-based surveys on over 80 employment law topics. GPS provides access to several surveys that cover local laws, such as paid sick leave, protected classes, scheduling laws, and equal pay and salary history laws, among others. Updated on an on-going basis, Littler GPS keeps users informed by sending email alerts with links that allow quick navigation to the new information. The tool also delivers concise, substantive analysis regarding how employers will be impacted, and, most important, how employers should comply.