This alert will explore what the federal government may consider to be “illegal DEI” in light of legal challenges to President Trump’s multiple executive orders (EO’s) pertaining to diversity, equity, inclusion, and...more
3/13/2025
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Trump Administration
The Trump administration has taken two actions that will dramatically increase White House control over federal commissions, boards, and officials that were previously considered independent. These actions are likely to...more
2/27/2025
/ Chevron Deference ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Government Agencies ,
NLRB ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration
As the Trump administration transitioned into power, the White House issued over 25 executive orders in the first days in office addressing a variety of topics including many focused on employment laws. While the flurry of...more
UPDATE: On 8 January 2025, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) officially withdrew its proposed rule that would have (1) barred federal contractors from seeking and using job applicants’ compensation...more
1/24/2025
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
OFCCP ,
Pay Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
General Overview of the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance -California has long been at the forefront of promoting equal employment opportunity for individuals with criminal histories. Statewide laws such as the Fair...more
10/14/2024
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance
On 28 June 2024, the US Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Loper Bright) overturned the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which required courts to defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of...more
10/3/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Government Agencies ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OSHA ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Statutory Authority ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Union Elections
Introduction - On 29 April 2024, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued nonbinding guidance (Guidance) on how federal contractors and subcontractors (collectively...more
On 29 January 2024, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that would prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information...more
3/28/2024
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Notice Requirements ,
NPRM ,
OFCCP ,
Pay Transparency ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Subcontractors ,
Wage and Hour
On 29 June 2023, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, and reversed the longstanding rule that race can be considered as a plus factor among...more
Introduction - Employers across the country need to pay close attention to developments in California relating to its pay transparency law, also known as Senate Bill 1162 (SB 1162). For many years, pay transparency was a more...more
Health care employment law was once again a critical focus for many legislative bodies in 2022. While much of our 2021 Year in Review focused on how states addressed the COVID-19 pandemic itself, most notably with respect to...more
2/21/2023
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Nurse Practitioners ,
Pay Data ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Telehealth ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and the sustainable economy are concepts that often overlap and frequently intertwine. Whether viewed separately or together, they have significantly changed global investing and...more
2/14/2023
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices
The U.S. Treasury Department released a preliminary draft of Notice 2022-61 (the Notice) on 29 November 2022 and the final on 30 November 2022. Taxpayers now have 59 days to begin construction on qualified projects without...more
Effective 18 August 2022, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP) revised Directive 2022-01 on “Advancing Pay Equity Through Compensation Analysis” (the Revised Directive) to provide further explanation of how OFCCP...more
Social factors, the “S” in “ESG,” consider how a business handles its relationships with suppliers, contractors, employees, and communities. These factors increasingly are becoming the target of class action plaintiffs’...more
This Alert addresses the following: The Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP) has issued its first Directive of the Biden Administration, the Pay Equity Audit Directive (DIR 2022-01) (Directive)....more
On 2 March 2022, President Biden released his administration’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan (Plan) to “enable America to move forward safely” from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Plan focuses on four main areas—(1)...more
Illinois may be on the road to becoming the “California” of the Midwest based on the latest developments in its employment laws. The following is a look at the key regulatory changes for 2022 and possible changes for 2022 and...more
SCOTUS Rules on Vaccine Mandates: (1) Blocks OSHA’s ETS and (2) Allows CMS Mandate to Go into Effect - On 13 January 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued two rulings on the challenges to the Occupational Safety and...more
UPDATE: Shortly after the publication of this alert on December 20, 2021, the United States Supreme Court announced that it will hear arguments on January 7, 2022 on both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s...more
12/24/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Although most federal contractors have been focused on compliance with COVID-19 vaccination mandates, it’s important to take a moment to look at another compliance topic related to equal employment opportunity obligations. On...more
As we wrote on 10 September 2021, the President, as part of the Administration’s comprehensive national strategy, issued Executive Order 14042 (the EO) directing the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) to publish...more
OVERVIEW - Nearly nine months after a change in administration, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has begun to set its course through a series of major initiatives announced within just a few days. ...more
Health Care partners Sarah Carlins and Jackie Hoffman interview Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety partner Craig Leen in this episode of Triage, recorded in collaboration with our Working Wise podcast. As the former...more
7/8/2021
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Clinics ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
OFCCP ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Physicians ,
Subcontractors ,
Wage and Hour