On August 20, 2024, Judge Brown of the Northern District of Texas blocked the FTC’s Final Rule banning noncompetes. The decision comes just over a month after Judge Brown’s preliminary injunction order, which stayed the rule...more
8/22/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Lack of Authority ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Statutory Authority ,
Texas
In our recent alert, we noted that while a Texas federal court’s decision in Ryan LLC v. FTC to preliminarily enjoin the FTC’s noncompete rule applied only to the parties in the case, there was still potential for a broader...more
On July 3, 2024, Judge Ada Brown in the Northern District of Texas issued her highly anticipated decision in Ryan LLC v. FTC addressing plaintiff Ryan LLC’s motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to stay enforcement of...more
7/9/2024
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Texas
California recently passed two laws amending its longstanding prohibition of employee noncompete agreements, both of which became effective this month. Section 16600 of the California Business and Professions Code voids...more
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) issued a Request for Proposals for a consultant to conduct an energy storage market update and...more
On January 15, 2022, New York City passed Local Law 32 of 2022, which requires employers in New York City to post the “minimum and maximum salary” for “advertisements” in a “job, promotion or transfer opportunity.” This...more
4/6/2022
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Pay Transparency ,
Salaried Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
President Biden promised during his campaign that if elected he would take federal action against non-competition agreements. On July 9, 2021, Biden issued a broad executive order aimed at making good on that promise. He...more
Responding to a recent New York federal court decision invalidating certain of its regulations interpreting the paid leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)...more
9/22/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Furloughs ,
Intermittent Leave ,
Layoffs ,
New Guidance ,
Paid Leave ,
Remote Working ,
Sick Leave ,
Work Availability Requirement
The rise in opioid use and addiction in the United States has raised complicated issues for employers. On August 5, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) addressed some of these issues by issuing...more
On July 24, 2020, Governor Charlie Baker issued an Executive Order imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers entering Massachusetts. The Order, which goes into effect on August 1, 2020, applies not only to...more
On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court weighed in on whether religious employers are required to offer their employees health plans that include contraceptive coverage. In its opinion in Little Sisters of the Poor v....more
7/14/2020
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employer Rights ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v Pennsylvania ,
Religious Exemption ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump v Pennsylvania ,
U.S. Treasury
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a new publication entitled Guidance on Returning to Work. The Guidance contains recommendations regarding best practices for employers...more
In a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court held on June 15, 2020 that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is unlawful under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The ruling...more
6/17/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has changed its policy for employer recording of COVID-19 cases among its workforce. OSHA’s new policy rescinds prior guidance announced in April 2020 (discussed...more
In December 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) updated its procedures for union elections, with the new rules going into effect on April 16, 2020. These updated procedures include changes such as longer time...more
On the evening of Wednesday, March 18, 2020 the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides various forms of emergency relief to directly address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic....more
On March 18, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a guidance to employers answering several commonly asked questions relating to COVID-19 and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The...more
February 25, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released the final version of its new joint employer rule, which limits the circumstances in which franchisors and businesses that use employees hired by third...more
Last week, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a rule clarifying the types of compensation that should be included when determining an employee’s “regular rate” of pay for the purpose of calculating...more
The new Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) came into effect on October 1, 2019, requiring employers to begin collecting payroll deductions and matching contributions to be submitted to the state...more
On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled the final version of its new overtime salary basis rule. The new rule increases the minimum salary threshold for salary-based overtime exemptions from $455...more
Department Clarifies that Law Will Not Apply to Properly Classified Independent Contractors -
On September 5, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Paid Family and Medical Leave issued new guidance on when workers who...more
Last week, in Velox Express, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) answered what had been a long-standing open question under federal labor law, ruling that the misclassification of employees as independent...more
On May 1, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave announced that it is extending two deadlines for compliance with the new Paid Family and Medical Leave Act....more
Three weeks ago, we reported on the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave’s new guide for employers on how to comply with the new Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA). That alert can be found here. The...more