On August 20, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an order setting aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ban on employee noncompetes (the “Noncompete Rule”). While the same...more
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or the “Commission”) voted to finalize a rule abolishing the vast majority of employee noncompetes across the United States (the “Noncompete Rule” or “Rule”). The FTC...more
4/25/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
In recent months, we have written quite a bit on the continuing trend to restrict employee non-compete agreements. For example, last month we reported on New York’s sweeping ban on non-competes, which was passed by the state...more
As online digital health services continue to enjoy broader use and appeal, federal regulators are concerned some telemedicine online patient-user interfaces fail to accommodate persons with disabilities and limited English...more
9/13/2022
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Health ,
Disabilities ,
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) ,
Mental Health ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Telemedicine ,
Title VI
More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the face of all sorts of uncertainty amid multiple new variants and waves of infection, employers could at least be confident of one thing – it is generally okay to...more
7/15/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EEO ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
New Guidance ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Title VII ,
Virus Testing
The Supreme Court Thursday afternoon released its much-anticipated decisions regarding the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued late last year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
As we teed up for our readers, the various appeals over the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) health care worker vaccination mandate were argued before the U.S....more
Despite continuing disputes as to the legality and enforcement of the CMS vaccine mandate for certified providers and suppliers, CMS has indicated it will proceed with enforcement of the mandate in those states where it is...more
12/30/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Mandates ,
Enforcement ,
Exemptions ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations
Employers, mark your calendars!
After months of uncertainty, speculation, and numerous contradictory district and circuit court rulings, a Supreme Court announcement on Wednesday evening (December 22) has brought...more
Developments immediately before the holiday break have many employers scrambling as the OSHA ETS has seemingly come back to life. The Sixth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision by a 3-member panel, dissolved the temporary stay...more
Readers will recall that in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EEOC published a plethora of responses and updates to frequently asked COVID-19 questions. As the months went by, the pace of EEOC updates slowed, and...more
6/1/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Incentives ,
New Guidance ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
Employers who have been following the Department of Labor’s (DOL) guidance on independent contractors may feel that they are sitting on a playground seesaw.
As we previously reported this past January, in the waning days...more
On March 27, 2020, the EEOC conducted a webinar that answered some of employers’ most frequently asked questions about compliance with public health directives and federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws during the COVID-19...more
3/31/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health and Safety ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Risk Management ,
Workplace Safety
First, the good news: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided notice that it won’t renew the requirement that covered employers provide “Component 2” pay data as part of their annual EEO-1 reporting...more
As we recently reported, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently ordered the EEOC to move forward with stalled Obama-era requirements that employers who are required to...more
Allegations of workplace sexual harassment and assault have recently made headlines from Silicon Valley to Hollywood and have brought down the careers of numerous high-profile executives. Partially a response to the uptick in...more
As the Trump administration settles in, those of us who counsel employers have cautioned to “expect the unexpected.” Certainly, the last five weeks have brought a bevy of twists and turns. However, one consistent theme from...more
The long and contentious presidential campaign is over. So, now what? What does President-elect Trump’s victory mean for employers?...more
11/16/2016
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Affirmative Action ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Mike Pence ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Presidential Elections ,
Right to Work ,
State and Local Government ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Until recently, the word “gig” had two common meanings: -
..A live music performance; and -
..A long trident used to hunt swamp-dwelling amphibians -
However, a noted linguist recently crowned “gig” as the...more
5/11/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Class Action ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
Settlement ,
Uber ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Many companies in the technology industry pay workers as “independent contractors” or “1099 workers.” In theory, classifying individuals as independent contractors rather than employees can bestow significant economic...more
(Spoiler alert) The 1958 cult classic “The Blob”, starring a 28-year-old Steve McQueen, ends with the villainous mass incapacitated, frozen, and dropped into the Arctic Ocean. It seems that humanity is saved. However, just...more
What if it looks like someone may need a religious accommodation, but the individual never asks? Does the company still have a duty to accommodate? In a much awaited opinion, the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, determined...more
6/11/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Appearance Policy ,
Dress Codes ,
Duty to Accommodate ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
It is that fun time for New Year’s resolutions. Right up there with promises to go to the gym and to try to get along with one’s in-laws, many will make plans to do more volunteer work in 2015. From an employer’s point of...more
“Help, there is an angry man waving a gun around in the lobby!” These are the kinds of words no employer wants to hear and can make all other concerns seem trivial in comparison. Sadly, the statistics confirm what we...more
We often counsel employers to be wary of employment law considerations in situations that may not seem obvious at first glance. For example, prohibiting employees from using certain language on social media sites has proven...more