“Shall” means “shall” in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held in Smith v. Spizzirri, No. 22–1218 (May 16, 2024). The Court explained the language in the FAA providing a court “shall on...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) first updated enforcement guidance on workplace harassment in 25 years is broken down into the three components of a harassment claim: (1) the covered bases and causation;...more
5/21/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Investigations ,
Liability ,
Reasonableness Factors ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Supervisors ,
Title VII ,
Training ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) first updated enforcement guidance on workplace harassment in 25 years is broken down into the three components of a harassment claim: (1) the covered bases and causation;...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its first updated enforcement guidance on workplace harassment in 25 years on April 29, 2024. The guidance reflects a number of new developments concerning workplace...more
An employee challenging a job transfer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act must show the transfer brought about some harm with respect to an identifiable term or condition of employment, but that harm need not be...more
4/26/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lateral Transfers ,
Muldrow v City of St Louis ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
Even as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Mo., No. 22-193, on Dec. 6, 2023, on the narrow issue of whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job transfers that do...more
In a $35 million settlement that emphasizes the “S” for social in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) issues in public filings, publicly traded video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. has agreed with...more
3/28/2023
/ Activision ,
Board of Directors ,
DFEH ,
Disclosure ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Sexual Harassment
The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to adopt numerous amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program.
The whistleblower program serves as a significant tool for the Commission to encourage...more
As the country faces a wave of COVID-19 closure orders, individuals are being encouraged to report violations. Hypothetically, these reports could originate from just about anyone – employees, employees’ family members,...more
Too often, internal investigators mistakenly conclude that their reports are for the exclusive review of decision-makers. Sometimes, this may be true. However, more often than not, there are two audiences of which an...more
Codes of Conduct are designed to set forth an organization’s values and principles, while detailing expectations for employees. In many ways, it is one of the most important documents an organization can develop. At times,...more
A February 20, 2019 article from Bloomberg Law provides statistics to explain the significant delays experienced by litigators and attorneys alike in Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s investigation of...more
We follow the leader wherever we go, and that applies to compliance, as well. While federal and state laws require organizations to adopt compliance programs, a low level of commitment to these compliance efforts from the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court term that ended June 2018 included decisions on many topics important to workplace law, including class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements, public-sector “agency shop” arrangements, and...more
6/29/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
CNH Industrial N.V. v Reese ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
NLRA ,
Over-Time ,
PASPA ,
Reversal ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sports Betting ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump v Hawaii ,
Union Dues
The need for an effective compliance program to assist companies in preventing, detecting and, if necessary, promptly correcting issues before they become problems is nothing new. However, there is an increased focus by the...more
On March 19, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its highest ever Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) bounty awards to three whistleblowers. These SEC awards represent a new milestone in the SEC’s ongoing...more
A former employee who failed to show he reported alleged securities law violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA), cannot...more
The anti-retaliation provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 protects only employees who complain directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Supreme Court has...more
2/23/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Reporting ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced the appointment of William D. Duhnke III as Chairman and J. Robert Brown, Kathleen M. Hamm, James G. Kaiser, and Duane M. DesParte as board members of the Public...more
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is not subject to suit under New Jersey’s expansive whistleblower statute, the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, the New Jersey Appellate Division has held. Sullivan v. Port...more
Proposed legislation that would make whistleblower settlement agreements involving public entities available to the public has been approved unanimously by the New Jersey Assembly on March 23, 2017.
The New Jersey...more
In Somers v. Digital Realty Trust, 15-17352 (9th Cir. March 8, 2017), a split Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals widened an existing circuit court split by ruling that Section 21F of the Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) protects...more
By determining that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX” or the “Act”) preempts California’s ethical rules, the Northern District of California ruled that an in-house attorney can rely on privileged communications and confidential...more
Federal contractors may be subject to liability under the federal False Claims Act for violating regulatory requirements not expressly stated in their contracts, according to U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Universal Health...more