In an eagerly awaited decision, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas Ada Brown issued yesterday a nationwide injunction striking down the Federal Trade Commission’s Noncompete Clause Rule,...more
In the year since the Supreme Court’s highly anticipated decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (SFFA), effectively eliminating race-conscious...more
On June 3, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit authorized a preliminary injunction in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund Management, LLC et al., ruling that a grant contest that awards funding and mentorship...more
6/11/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Early Stage Companies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
First Amendment ,
Grants ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Minority-Owned Businesses ,
Startups ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Venture Capital ,
Women-Owned Businesses
As we previously reported, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 23, 2024, its Non-Compete Clause Rule (Final Rule), which aims to ban all new post-employment non-competition restrictions and invalidate most...more
2023 has seen its fair share of headlines with respect to developments in non-competition law: in January, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule that would ban most non-competes; in May, the National Labor Relations...more
US Market Review and Outlook -
Venture capital financing and liquidity activity contracted in 2022 from the record-breaking levels of the prior year, in the face of declining equity markets, rising interest rates and...more
4/7/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Capital Raising ,
Convertible Notes ,
Corporate Financing ,
Early Stage Companies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Equity Financing ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
Qualified Small Business Stock ,
Venture Capital
In preparation for the 2023 proxy season, proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced updates to their voting guidelines for investors, effective on January 1, 2023, and February 1,...more
2/7/2023
/ Audits ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies
Over the next three months, recently passed laws requiring employers to include wage and salary ranges in job postings will take effect in California and New York City. These two jurisdictions join a growing number of states...more
Companies are responding in a myriad of ways to the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs), including by expanding healthcare travel benefits to reduce barriers to accessing care in...more
10/4/2022
/ Abortion ,
Corporate Governance ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Benefits ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Institutional Investors ,
No-Action Letters ,
Proxy Season ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Roe v Wade ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders ,
Travel Expenses
On Monday, August 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral argument on a challenge to the Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule (the “Rule”). The Rule requires Nasdaq-listed companies to publicly disclose Board...more
Employee communications and use of company devices are often key issues in trade secret and related litigation. United States law, for the most part, has been very supportive of an employer’s ability to engage in aggressive...more
The 2022 proxy season has highlighted shareholders’ ever-growing focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In 2021, a new trend emerged as 13 shareholder proposals were filed calling on companies to conduct “civil...more
6/10/2022
/ Audits ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Proxy Season ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Race Discrimination ,
Race Relations ,
Shareholder Proposals
On Friday, May 13, a California Superior Court judge struck down Senate Bill (“SB”) 826—California’s landmark gender diversity law regarding the representation of women directors on the boards of publicly held corporations...more
Overturning nearly 20 years of lower-court precedent, on April 4, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a landmark decision holding that an employer is strictly liable for treble damages for any late...more
Following a rare showing of bipartisan support, yesterday President Biden signed into law a landmark bill making it easier for individuals to pursue workplace sexual harassment claims in court and striking a blow to...more
Yesterday the Supreme Court stayed the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS), resolving months of legal uncertainty over its fate. In blocking the...more
On November 5th, 2021, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency regulation that assigns US employers a central role in the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Several...more
11/9/2021
/ Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Comment Period ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Mandates ,
Motion for Relief ,
OSHA ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Preemption ,
Public Comment ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
In response to one of the worst outbreaks in the COVID-19 pandemic, attributable largely to the highly contagious Delta variant, President Biden on September 9 announced his six-prong Path Out of the Pandemic plan. To...more
9/13/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In the face of criticism for its recently proposed standards about mask wearing and social distancing, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) has now announced revised amendments to its...more
On May 28, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released long anticipated guidance regarding mandatory employer vaccination policies. The updated guidance confirms that, at least under federal...more
As COVID-19 vaccinations become increasingly available to the general public, employers are considering whether to mandate or encourage their workers to get vaccinated. Below we share some common vaccine-related questions we...more
2/10/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On December 16, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 guidance to clarify that employers may implement mandatory vaccination polices once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available, but...more
Besides casting votes for federal, state, and local officials, voters throughout the country had the opportunity to change laws directly through ballot referendums on Election Day. Voters endorsed several ballot measures...more
On September 11, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued revised regulations implementing the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) after a New York federal court struck down key provisions of the original...more
On July 6, Massachusetts released new guidance for employers as the state transitioned into Phase III of its reopening plan. Among the safety protocols for businesses including barber shops, fitness centers, and retail...more