On November 6th, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that found Home Depot unlawfully terminated a Minnesota employee who refused to remove a Black...more
11/12/2025
/ Appeals ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Home Depot ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Political Expression ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Section 7 ,
Termination ,
Wrongful Termination
On October 14, Cuyahoga County passed legislation banning discrimination based on natural hairstyles. The ordinance, modeled after California’s CROWN Act (Creating A Respectful Open World for Natural Hair), makes Cuyahoga the...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an internal directive that its investigators close all pending charges for disparate impact claims by the end of the month or seek special permission from EEOC...more
9/24/2025
/ Disparate Impact ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Notice of Right to Sue ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Right to Sue Letter ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Workplace Investigations
On August 19, 2025, the Fifth Circuit ruled on consolidated appeals stemming from preliminary injunctions sought by—and granted to—three companies challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) structure. ...more
9/2/2025
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Removal For-Cause ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Separation of Powers ,
Unfair Labor Practices
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (“WARN Act”) requires covered employers to provide 60 days’ notice to employees in the event of a “plant closing” or “mass layoff.” Some states also have...more
When is an employer liable for the harassment of an employee by a non-employee?
The Sixth Circuit answered this question on Friday in Bivens v. Zep, Inc., holding that Title VII imposes liability for customer (or other...more
8/14/2025
/ Chevron Deference ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Non-Employees ,
Split of Authority ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Title VII
For 40 years, courts applied the precedent set by the United States Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc. by deferring to administrative agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes....more
On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed that reverse discrimination plaintiffs are not required to produce additional evidence at the outset of their case to proceed with their claims. Ames v. Ohio...more
On April 28, 2025, the Cleveland City Council passed Ordinance No. 104-2025 (the “Ordinance”), which requires employers to provide an open job’s salary range on job postings and prohibits employers from inquiring about an...more
Since Trump’s first day back in office, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) has been at the forefront of political discourse. As we previously reported, Trump issued several Executive Orders targeting DEI efforts and...more
4/1/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
First Amendment ,
OFCCP ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Trump Administration
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), two federal agencies responsible for policing discrimination in the workplace, recently issued informal guidance outlining what could...more
On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Ames v. OH Dept. of Youth Services, which questioned whether the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals correctly decided that a heterosexual plaintiff should have...more
3/11/2025
/ Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
The Trump Administration has issued swift changes in policy, and the effects are now reaching the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). While the EEOC is still awaiting quorum to vote on major actions, it is...more
2/24/2025
/ Abortion ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Quorum ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Signaling a strong shift away from the policy positions of the former administration, Acting National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel William Cowen issued a GC Memorandum on February 14, 2025, rescinding 31 GC...more
2/18/2025
/ Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
The Ohio Pay Stub Protection Act, which requires employers to provide earnings and deductions statements to their employees, will take effect on April 9, 2025....more
Shortly after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump signed more Executive Orders on his first day in office than any other president in history. The wide-ranging Orders effectuate many of the...more
President Donald Trump has expectedly fired Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and unexpectedly fired Gwynne Wilcox, one of the board’s two Democratic members. The firings mark...more
As previously reported, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory in NLRB v. Starbucks Corp. by vacating part of an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) requiring...more
1/24/2025
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Split of Authority ,
Starbucks ,
Unfair Labor Practices
Negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are set to resume this week – just days before a January 15, 2025 resolution deadline before the ILA may...more
1/8/2025
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Exporters ,
Importers ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
Longshoremen ,
Ports ,
Strike ,
Supply Chain ,
Unions
On Friday, December 27, 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory by vacating an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) on the grounds that the Board exceeded its authority...more
12/30/2024
/ Appeals ,
Back Pay ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Damages ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Reinstatement ,
Starbucks ,
Termination ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Vacated ,
Wages
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) made it more difficult for employers to make changes to their employees’ working conditions without approval from their union. ...more
Once known for its catchy commercials about rolling back prices, Walmart—America’s largest private employer—is rolling back something else: its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The retail giant’s...more
In an apparent effort to publish as many worker-friendly opinions as possible before the transition of power from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued...more
On Friday, a federal court in Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Final Rule that sought to raise the salary thresholds that must be met for executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”) and highly...more
11/19/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On November 8, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) handed down its decision in Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB 135, turning 40-year-old precedent regarding what employers can and cannot...more