On July 25, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notified the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that at least part of the basis for the currently pending legal attack on the Nasdaq’s proposed...more
8/14/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Board of Directors ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Judicial Review ,
Nasdaq ,
Pending Litigation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities Exchange Act
A rash of recent natural disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes to wildfires, serves as a timely reminder to employers of the potential for natural disasters to disrupt their operations and cause imminent hazards in the...more
8/12/2024
/ Compliance ,
Disaster Preparedness ,
Earthquakes ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hurricane Season ,
Natural Disasters ,
NLRA ,
OSH Act ,
Severe Weather ,
State Labor Laws ,
WARN Act ,
Wildfires ,
Work Schedules ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
On July 17, 2024, the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas rejected the State of Texas’s request that it vacate recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on harassment and...more
7/26/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
LGBTQ ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On July 17, 2024, the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas rejected the State of Texas’s request that it vacate recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on harassment and...more
7/26/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
LGBTQ ,
New Guidance ,
Pending Litigation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On June 17, 2024, a federal court in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi of the portion of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) final rule...more
7/1/2024
/ Abortion ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Standing ,
Statutory Authority ,
Title VII
On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued the final version of new workplace harassment guidance for employers, formally updating the EEOC’s position on the legal standards and employer...more
5/1/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
New Guidance ,
Pregnancy ,
Protected Class ,
Race Relations ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) unveiled its final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), clarifying employers’ responsibilities under...more
On April 17, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States held that an employee challenging a job transfer in an unlawful employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 must show that the...more
Implementation of the requirements for compliance with the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act) has presented unique challenges to employers in the retail and restaurant industries due to...more
Effective January 1, 2024, a new Texas law prohibits public institutions of higher education from, among other things, establishing or maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices or hiring or assigning...more
1/6/2024
/ Certification Requirements ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Compliance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Effective Date ,
Equal Protection ,
Executive Orders ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
New Legislation ,
State Funding ,
Universities
On August 18, 2023, in Hamilton v. Dallas County, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended a longstanding precedent, significantly broadening the types of adverse employment actions that could give rise to an...more
8/23/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Commission on Human Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
En Banc Review ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Public Employees ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
The Hawaiian island of Maui has been ravaged by unprecedented and quickly moving wildfires, which have taken a particular toll on hospitality employers. As the U.S. enters peak hurricane season, the Hawaiian and Canadian...more
8/23/2023
/ Disaster Preparedness ,
Employee Training ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hurricane Season ,
Natural Disasters ,
NLRA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Severe Weather ,
Wildfires ,
Workplace Safety
Fifth Circuit precedent recognizes the “general consensus among courts” that regular, in-person work is an essential function of most jobs. Yet the continued viability of this premise has been in question, given the ability...more
7/12/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Commute Time ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Genuine Issue of Material Fact ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Reversal ,
Split of Authority ,
Summary Judgment ,
Telecommuting ,
USPS
The U.S. secretary of health and human services declared a public health emergency (PHE) due to COVID-19 on January 31, 2020, and since that time, employers have faced a barrage of accommodation requests, largely in the form...more
Recent events have employers once again wondering if they do enough to address the risk of workplace violence. After a mass shooting, for example, businesses and other organizations sometimes look back with 20/20 hindsight...more
The COVID-19 pandemic forced countless businesses to transition their employees to remote work, and through this process, many learned that remote work can offer multiple advantages, including increased employee productivity...more
On August 26, 2022, Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a putative class action representing approximately 100 healthcare...more
9/2/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In the first ruling from a federal appellate court examining COVID-19–related layoffs and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Easom v. US Well Services,...more
On March 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a district court’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) dismissal for failure to state a claim on a pro se plaintiff’s hostile work environment...more
6/22/2022
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Failure To State A Claim ,
Federal Rule 12(b)(6) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Hostile Environment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Reversal ,
Slurs
On May 13, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of an employer, finding that a fired employee had failed to create a genuine dispute of material fact as to pretext. In Owens...more
6/15/2022
/ Appeals ,
Employee Evaluations ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Investigations ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Performance Improvement Plans ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Title VII
On October 11, 2021, Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order (EO) No. GA-40, prohibiting any entity in Texas from requiring any individual, including an employee, to receive a COVID-19 vaccination if that individual...more
Arbitration agreements are intended to expedite the legal process while minimizing fees and costs. In reality, former employees and their counsel often resist submitting their employment claims to arbitration, resulting in...more
7/2/2021
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Discovery ,
Discrimination ,
E-Signatures ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforceability ,
Mandamus Petitions ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Retaliation ,
TX Supreme Court
On June 7, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that prohibits government entities from requiring individuals to provide evidence of COVID-19 vaccination status and strongly discourages private...more
In Tarrant County College District v. Sims, No. 05-20-00351 (March 10, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas held that “claim[s] of discrimination based on sexual orientation may be brought under the...more
On March 10, 2021, the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court of Bexar County’s entry of a temporary injunction preventing the City of San Antonio’s sick and safe leave ordinance from taking effect. The...more