On February 14, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (DOE) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), which calls for educational institutions to immediately cease race-conscious practices in student...more
2/25/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Dear Colleague Letter ,
Department of Education ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
First Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
OCR ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Title VI ,
Universities
On January 9, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky entered an order vacating the 2024 Title IX regulations (the Final Rule). The case is Tennessee, et al. v. Cardona (Civil Action No. 2: 24-072)....more
1/17/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Final Rules ,
First Amendment ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities ,
Vacated
Recently, in Johnson v. NCAA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that, depending upon the surrounding circumstances, student-athletes may qualify as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This...more
7/23/2024
/ College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Student Athletes ,
Universities ,
Wage and Hour
On February 5, the regional director for Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) ruled that the student-athletes on Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team are “employees” under the National Labor...more
2/12/2024
/ College Athletes ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Regulations ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Scholarships ,
Student Athletes ,
Wage and Hour
As more employers are requiring their employees return to the workplace, a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Oross v. Kutztown University, suggests that employers should...more
8/7/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Remote Working ,
Telecommuting
On March 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Houston Community College System v. Wilson, holding that the public censure of one of the plaintiff's elected trustees by his board colleagues did not violate...more
The National Labor Relations Board (Board) recently conducted an election in which student workers in the Office of Admission (Admissions) at Hamilton College (College) voted 25 to 20 to be represented by Local One of the...more
On September 29, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Abruzzo instructed NLRB officials nationwide that scholarship athletes at private universities within NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) are...more
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed a Superior Court order in Pittsburgh Logistics Systems, Inc. v. Beemac Trucking, LLC et al., No. 31 WAP 2019, finding a no-hire provision between competing, sophisticated...more
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry recently amended Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA) regulations to increase the minimum salary employees must receive in 2021 and beyond to qualify for one of the so-called...more
10/8/2020
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On September 24 — more than five years after the Obama administration first proposed updating the overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released the final version of...more
9/24/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
As we discussed in an earlier client alert, the National Labor Relations Board announced in May that it would be issuing proposed rules that would establish a “standard for determining whether students who perform services at...more
9/20/2019
/ Colleges ,
Comment Period ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Definition ,
Graduate Students ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Student Employees ,
Students ,
Union Organizers ,
Universities
In a significant development for private colleges and universities, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it intends to propose rules that would establish a “standard for determining whether students who...more
Many private colleges and universities have faculty handbooks and/or collective bargaining agreements that, among other things, establish internal disciplinary procedures and make promises to faculty about academic freedom....more
7/11/2018
/ Academic Misconduct ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Terms ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Online Commentary ,
Professional Disciplinary Actions ,
Protected Activity ,
State and Local Government ,
Universities ,
WI Supreme Court ,
Work Suspensions
On November 22, just eight days before the much-discussed amendments to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (Final Rule) were scheduled to take effect, a federal district court judge for the Eastern...more
While new overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are being challenged in court, employers should still prepare for a likely December 1 effective date.
On September 20, 2016, 21 states and more than 50...more
9/29/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
State Employees ,
State Sovereignty ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The greatly expanded Persuader Rule will require employers to report any agreement or arrangement with a lawyer or third-party consultant to “persuade” employees — directly or indirectly — about their union organization and...more
Employers must identify all employees presently classified as exempt who are making less than the new salary threshold and take action to comply with the final rules.
Nearly a year after releasing proposed regulations,...more
Most employment discrimination cases begin with agency action, in which the aggrieved employee brings his/her claim or Charge to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or its state or local agency equivalent, for...more
The start of a new year is always a good time to survey the landscape and see what is on the horizon. 2015 promises to provide: legislative battles over increases to the minimum wage, increased wage and hour litigation and...more
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that “the risk of an Ebola outbreak in the United States is very low,” it is promulgating new protocols to more precisely address safety issues in the health...more
10/21/2014
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Ebola ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
NLRA ,
OSHA ,
Physicians ,
Workplace Safety
On August 26, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime claims brought against a myriad of health care systems and their...more
In a case appealed from the tax court, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, recently affirmed that an out-of-state employer was subject to the New Jersey corporation business tax because it allowed one of its...more