On Friday, June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron, USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Chevron often required courts to defer to federal agencies when those agencies were interpreting statutes they...more
7/1/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The U.S. Department of Labor released a final rule on April 23, 2024, raising the salary threshold to qualify for certain overtime exemptions under federal law. Most importantly, it significantly raises the minimum salary...more
4/24/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Reform ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On March 8, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas struck down regulations promulgated by the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or “Board”) defining joint employment (the “new Rule” or “2023...more
3/11/2024
/ Controlling Employer ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Vacated
The U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule on January 9, 2024, defining “independent contractor” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final regulation rescinds a 2021 rule defining the same term. In place...more
1/9/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases asking whether to overturn Chevron USA, Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council. Chevron is a landmark administrative law decision. It requires courts...more
The National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel recently published a memo, along with other resources, to clarify parts of the Board’s recent decision dealing with union organizing demands for bargaining orders.1 The...more
11/14/2023
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
Federal appropriations are set to expire at midnight (ET) on Saturday, September 30. Unless lawmakers agree to a spending plan before then, much of the federal government will shut down....more
10/2/2023
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Government Agencies ,
Government Shutdown ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory Agencies
The wave of COVID-19 litigation is not coming; it has arrived. Even before most states open back up for business, plaintiff’s lawyers are suing employers for a variety of alleged violations related to the virus, including...more
Ahead of a second round of lending, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that businesses applying for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) must consider other sources of liquidity before certifying...more
The Department of Labor has clarified that gig workers qualify as “unemployed” under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program when they lose a significant amount of business because of COVID-19. ...more
Senate lawmakers agreed on April 21, 2020, to inject cash into the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a mechanism for offering forgivable loans to small businesses. Lawmakers also agreed to allocate more money for disaster...more
The CARES Act included a variety of new provisions to help employers and workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those provisions were two aimed at student-loan repayment. ...more
On March 31, 2020, the IRS published new guidance clarifying how employers can claim tax credits for giving employees paid leave and maintaining their payrolls during the COVID-19 crisis. The agency explained that employers...more
On April 2, 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued an interim final rule clarifying certain parts of the new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The new rule came just one day before PPP opened, and it includes...more
4/3/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Payroll Periods ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) was enacted on Friday, March 27, 2020. The CARES Act creates a half-dozen new programs to help distressed businesses and workers deal with COVID-19 and related...more
The D.C. Circuit recently rebuffed the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to assert jurisdiction over adjunct faculty at Duquesne University, a religious college. Duquesne University v. NLRB, No. No. 18-1063 (D.C. Cir....more
2/3/2020
/ Bright-Line Rule ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Jurisdiction ,
Labor Disputes ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
Religious Schools ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Starting February 1, 2020, covered District of Columbia employers must notify employees about their right to paid leave under the DC Paid Family Leave Act (PFLA)....more
In the November 2019 election Virginia gained a Democratic “trifecta”—both legislative chambers and the governorship are now controlled by one political party. It has been over two decades since Democratic lawmakers...more
1/7/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Ban the Box ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dress Codes ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Human Rights Act ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Leave of Absence ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Race Discrimination ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Right to Work ,
Salaried Employees ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
Already a tough place for employers, New Jersey may be about to get even tougher. The Garden State is one of only a handful of states widely using the so-called ABC test, which makes it harder for businesses to classify...more
11/8/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Assembly Bill (AB) 5, currently pending in the California legislature, would impose the “ABC” test on California businesses and workers, dramatically altering the legal standards applied in evaluating whether a worker is an...more
8/9/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Pending Legislation ,
Risk Assessment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In a recent decision, AIM Aerospace Sumner, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (Board) held that an employer could rely on a decertification petition to withdraw recognition from a union, even though the employer...more
In Maryland this year, spring brings warm weather and new employment laws. The General Assembly passed, and Governor Larry Hogan signed, several new laws regulating the workplace. ...more
5/29/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Ban the Box ,
Breastfeeding ,
Employment Contract ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Wage and Hour
On November 29, 2018, the Australian Government passed the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (the “Act”), which requires all companies operating in Australia and meeting a threshold of AU$100 million in total annual global revenue to...more
12/4/2018
/ Australia ,
Child Labor ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
International Labor Laws ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Slavery ,
Supply Chain