Real World Impact: Making good on her promise to make a ruling on the FTC Noncompete Rule on or before August 30, 2024, United States District Judge Ada Brown granted a motion for summary judgment that sets aside the FTC...more
8/21/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Summary Judgment
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an extremely broad Final Rule banning most non-competes. As expected, there have been multiple court challenges to the Final Rule, but, to date, no court has issued a nationwide...more
8/13/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
Real World Impact: The recent decision by a Texas federal district court judge enjoining the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from implementing its regulation banning most noncompetes provides relief for the parties in that...more
As we recently reported, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its long-awaited final rule on April 23, 2024, banning virtually all noncompetition agreements between employers and workers. Lawsuits challenging the final...more
5/8/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Reform ,
New York ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its long-awaited final rule, banning virtually all noncompetition agreements between employers and workers. Just as the ink dried, the first lawsuit (of several...more
4/24/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
Executive Summary: On January 9, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule that revises the DOL’s interpretation of employee classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) only. The...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
Prior to the enactment of the Georgia Restrictive Covenant Act (“RCA”), Georgia courts interpreted noncompete provisions entered into in the context of selling a business differently than they did between employers and...more
New York employers who use separation agreements or settle claims of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation must ensure they comply with a new amendment to Section 5-336 of the New York General Obligations Law....more
12/6/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Retaliation ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws
The federal Department of Labor (DOL) has long interpreted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow an employer to pay a nonexempt employee a fixed salary for all hours worked in a workweek and “half-time” of an...more
These days, more and more lawmakers are looking to regulate the amount of salary information employers are required to provide job applicants. On January 1, 2023, California, Rhode Island, and Washington State all had new...more
1/18/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Rates ,
Pay Transparency ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Executive Summary: On October 11, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that would assist employers in classifying workers as employees or independent...more
10/12/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Misclassification ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour
Earlier this year, in Steuer v. Tomaras, et al., Georgia’s Statewide Business Court again refused to modify certain restrictive covenants that were missing a territory. Dr. Steuer, a former partner of the defendant doctors,...more
7/12/2022
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Georgia ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Void Contracts
On March 24, 2022, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the “Silenced No More Act,” which becomes effective June 9, 2022 (“Effective Date”). The Act prohibits agreements containing non-disclosure and...more
In Tanium v. Yago et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia recently reminded us of a few things: (1) customer contact information can constitute a trade secret; (2) the Georgia Restrictive Covenant...more
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That adage is apparent in Georgia’s non-compete law, which had a major overhaul in May 2011, when Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (RCA) became effective. The RCA...more
In May 2011, Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (OCGA 13-8-50 et seq.) (“RCA”) became effective and applied to all agreements executed on or after May 11, 2011. In 2020, the Georgia State-wide Business Court (“Business...more
The New Guidance: -
On May 28, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its guidance relating to employers’ obligations and limitations in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the...more
6/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Executive Summary: The Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50, et seq.) (“RCA”) governs restrictive covenant agreements in Georgia entered into after May 2011. The RCA expressly addresses non-compete,...more
6/20/2020
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
No-Hire/No-Solicitation Agreements ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
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
As of January 6, 2020, New York employers are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant’s prior salary. The ban, codified as N.Y. Lab. Law § 194-a, was signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 10, 2019,...more
1/10/2020
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On April 3, 2019, New Mexico expanded the state’s “Ban the Box” law to include private employers. “Ban the Box” is a nationwide effort to eliminate the checkbox on employment applications inquiring into applicants’ criminal...more
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
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
Effective May 2011, Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (RCA) represented a significant change to pre-existing Georgia law. Since then, however, very few courts have interpreted the RCA, leaving employers and practitioners...more