On April 29, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace (the “Guidance”). The Guidance sets forth the EEOC’s position on harassment that constitutes...more
5/7/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
New Guidance ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Teleconferences ,
Title VII
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in SFFA v. Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. While the Court’s ruling has fundamentally altered the landscape for higher...more
7/24/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Protection ,
Firm Leadership ,
Hiring & Firing ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VII
On May 11, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Ciminelli v. United States, its latest in a series of recent rulings reinforcing a narrow interpretation of wire fraud under federal law.
Ciminelli presented the Court...more
As this academic year comes to a close, higher education institutions are waiting to see what the future holds for race-conscious admissions. As these institutions are well aware, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in...more
5/17/2023
/ Admissions ,
Bias ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Harvard University ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Race Discrimination ,
Strict Scrutiny Standard ,
Universities
This is the second part in our 2023 series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations. Up next: crypto enforcement.
The days of decreased IRS enforcement activity may be coming to a close. Although...more
It has been a tumultuous year for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and its recent no-poach criminal prosecution strategy. No-poach agreements, which are arrangements between companies that place restrictions on the hiring...more
12/23/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Venture ,
No-Poaching ,
Popular ,
Wage-Fixing ,
White Collar Crimes
A recent ruling from a federal district judge in Texas has called into question the finality of deferred prosecution agreements. Deferred prosecution agreements are negotiated and entered into by the government and criminal...more
In the 2022-2023 term, the Supreme Court will address the definition of “property” under the federal wire fraud statute, which prohibits a person from “obtaining money or property by means of false pretenses.” 18 U.S.C. §...more
As colleges and universities know, higher education institutions have a duty to protect the confidentiality of student records, codified in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. When...more
This is our eighth and final post in our First 100 Days series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the early days of the Biden administration. Our previous entry was on pandemic-related fraud....more
March 18, 2021 On March 12, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board withdrew its proposed rulemaking that would have prevented college student workers from organizing unions. As a result, the Board’s 2016 decision granting...more
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder six months ago, Americans flocked to the streets to voice their anger against institutions that perpetuate racial oppression. Protestors experienced the murder of Floyd as the latest in a...more
The rise in opioid use and addiction in the United States has raised complicated issues for employers. On August 5, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) addressed some of these issues by issuing...more
On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court weighed in on whether religious employers are required to offer their employees health plans that include contraceptive coverage. In its opinion in Little Sisters of the Poor v....more
7/14/2020
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employer Rights ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v Pennsylvania ,
Religious Exemption ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump v Pennsylvania ,
U.S. Treasury
On Sunday, May 10, 2020, a groundbreaking New York City law went into effect prohibiting most employers from requiring job applicants to submit to marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) tests during the hiring process. The...more
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order requiring New York employers to provide certain employees with masks or other face coverings, at the employer’s expense. The order applies only to those...more
Massachusetts law requires that non-exempt employees be paid at least 1.5 times their hourly rate for hours worked beyond the first 40 hours per week, and that certain employees be paid at least 1.5 times their hourly rate...more
Less than a month after proposing an increase to the salary threshold for certain overtime exemptions, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has announced another possible rule change impacting the way employers pay employees...more
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill prohibiting employers from asking job candidates about their salary history. The new law will go into effect on October 31, 2017....more
On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed a bill repealing the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces regulation. The President’s action ends any uncertainty surrounding the status of the rule, dubbed the...more
3/31/2017
/ Blacklist ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Obama Administration ,
Repeal ,
Trump Administration
The United States government has reported that border searches of electronic devices in the U.S. increased from 4,764 in 2015 to 23,877 in 2016. Because electronic devices have immense data storage capacity and can hold...more
In a recent decision, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge clarified the standard for determining whether employers must pay employees for time spent on meal breaks under Massachusetts law. In Devito v. Longwood Security...more