Prior to the enactment of Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (“GRCA”), Georgia courts uniformly struck down non-compete provisions that used “in any capacity language”, i.e., a non-compete that prohibited an employee from...more
Last month, in American Plumbing Professionals, Inc. v. ServeStar, LLC, Georgia’s Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s determination that a non-compete provision was unenforceable and void because its territory was too...more
Applying the “economic realities” test, the Fifth Circuit (with jurisdiction over federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) recently held that a consultant for an oil and gas company was not subject to FLSA...more
2/26/2020
/ Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contract Terms ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) (“RCA”) governs Georgia non-compete agreements entered into after May 2011. Very few courts have interpreted the RCA since its inception. In Bearoff v. Craton,...more
9/4/2019
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Business Disputes ,
Business Litigation ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Chapter 11 ,
Chapter 7 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Liquidation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Selling a Business ,
Statutory Interpretation
Approximately one year ago, in Epic Systems Corp., the United States Supreme Court upheld the enforceability of mandatory arbitration agreements that prohibit employees from bringing employment claims on a class or collective...more
4/26/2019
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Arbitration ,
Consent ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Motion to Compel ,
Preemption ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS
The Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) governs non-compete agreements in Georgia entered into after May 2011 and sets forth that such agreements can be used only with respect to certain employees. ...more
3/14/2019
/ Appeals ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Duties ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
This month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s award of attorneys’ fees to an employer after it had been granted a preliminary injunction against its former employees. See Kelly...more
Executive Summary: In New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, the U.S. Supreme Court held yesterday that the Federal Arbitration Act’s (FAA) exclusion of certain “contracts of employment” from the Act’s coverage applies to transportation...more
1/16/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS
Last month, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued AMN Healthcare, Inc. v. Aya Healthcare Servs., Inc., 28 Cal. App. 5th 923 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018), a decision calling into question the validity of non-solicitation...more
12/7/2018
/ Anti-Piracy ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Staffing Agencies
Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (the “RCA”) became effective in May 2011, but it took nearly six years before a court published a decision interpreting the statute in the context of a non-competition provision....more
The federal Equal Pay Act already imposes limitations on employers when it comes to compensating employees of the opposite sex for equal work....more
4/20/2018
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Pay Gap ,
Popular ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
Georgia’s recent Restrictive Covenant Act, enacted in 2011, does not directly address non-solicitation of employees a/k/a non-recruitment covenants, thereby leaving such provisions subject to the principles developed by...more
11/21/2017
/ Appeals ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Geographic Markets ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants