On June 28, 2024 the Supreme Court overruled the 40-year-old landmark ruling known as Chevron, a doctrine of administrative law that has until now required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous...more
7/10/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Magnuson-Moss Act ,
NLRB ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) ,
Unions
On June 13 the U.S. Supreme Court heightened the standard a court must apply to an NLRB request for a preliminary injunction against an employer accused of violating federal labor law....more
In a controversial move, on April 24, 2024 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that beginning September 4, 2024, it will enforce its Final Rule banning most non-compete agreements that seek to limit a worker’s...more
5/13/2024
/ Best Practices ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Compliance ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Delegation Doctrine ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Statutory Authority ,
Unfair Competition
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, USCIS will open its H-1B cap registration process for fiscal year 2025, informally known as the H-1B Lottery. Since 2020, USCIS has implemented an electronic registration system that requires the...more
On January 9, 2024 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule that will apply beginning March 11, 2024 in determining whether a worker can be classified as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee...more
1/25/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
Expressing palpable frustration with an employer that committed many unfair labor practice charges after a union filed an election petition, and acknowledging the lack of serious disincentives to engage in unlawful behavior...more
On August 8, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor issued new regulations addressing prevailing wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon Act (“DBA”). The final rule alters how the USDOL will calculate the prevailing wage...more
On August 2, 2023, the NLRB further limited employers’ flexibility in designing work rules by holding that all work rules will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and no work rules will get an automatic pass....more
On July 21, 2023 the N.J. Department of Labor and Workforce Development (Department) issued long-awaited guidance regarding the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights Act. Certain provisions of the Act took effect on August 5,...more
8/9/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Employee Rights ,
Fees ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Penalties ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Temporary Employees ,
Wage Statements
On June 13, 2023, in a 3-1 decision, the NLRB overruled its own 2019 decision in SuperShuttle DFW and returned to the test of statutory employee status in its 2014 FedEx II decision which it terms carefully calibrated. In...more
8/4/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Darden Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
NLRA ,
NLRB
Challenges to non-competes by the federal government continue unabated under the Biden Administration. In the latest effort by the federal government to curtail the use of non-competes, which are traditionally governed by...more
6/2/2023
/ Confidential Information ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proprietary Information ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 7 ,
Severance Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices
On August 26, 2021, the Third Circuit confirmed that a corporation remained on the hook for the pension withdrawal liability of its bankrupt subsidiary despite diluting its ownership interest in the subsidiary below 80%, to...more
On July 8, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed three bills into law that continue to raise the stakes for employers that misclassify employees as independent contractors. With these changes, businesses that operate in New...more
For many years construction contractors that bid on public works projects have had to contend with complying with prevailing wage and benefit, apprenticeship program, certified payroll, and Labor Commissioner registration...more
7/8/2021
/ Apprenticeships ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Governor Murphy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Project Labor Agreements ,
Public Projects ,
Public Works ,
State Contractors ,
Underserved Locations ,
Unions
The Biden Administration wasted no time in implementing some of the new President’s campaign promises relating to health insurance and the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). First, on February 10 the Department of Justice filed a...more
4/9/2021
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Association Health Plans ,
Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Individual Mandate ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Religious Exemption ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Self-Insured Health Plans ,
Trump Administration
On September 8, 2020 U.S. District Court Judge Gregory H. Woods in Manhattan granted partial summary judgment to 17 states and the District of Columbia striking down a major part of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule on...more
On September 11, 2020, in a unanimous decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court found that New Jersey law does not require that an arbitration agreement identify the arbitrator, name the arbitral forum, describe the arbitrator...more
On August 17, 2020 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of N.Y. preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) from enforcing provisions of its June 2020 final Section 1557...more
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision last December, declared the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual health insurance mandate unconstitutional as a result of Congress’ elimination of...more
7/27/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
California v Texas ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Exemptions ,
Health Insurance ,
Individual Mandate ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas v US ,
Trump Administration
In a July 14, 2020 decision the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the New Jersey Arbitration Act (NJAA) may apply to arbitration agreements even if the parties are subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) exemption...more
On May 21, 2020 the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a new rule creating a voluntary safe harbor for retirement plan administrators who prefer to provide ERISA-mandated retirement plan information and disclosures to...more
In a positive development for non-union contractors, a federal judge has reaffirmed the traditional defenses available to employers that face claims they are running unlawful double-breasted operations. On March 20, 2020 the...more
On December 18, 2019 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision which the court revised on January 9, declared the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual health insurance mandate unconstitutional as...more
1/22/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Congressional Authority ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Exemptions ,
Governor Murphy ,
Health Insurance ,
Individual Mandate ,
IRS ,
Motion to Expedite ,
New Legislation ,
SCOTUS ,
Severability Doctrine ,
Unconstitutional Condition ,
Vacated
On June 4 and June 5, 2019, two different Appellate Division panels issued opinions discussing the enforceability of arbitration agreements signed by pharmaceutical delivery drivers who claimed the defendants violated New...more
On May 23, 2019 the House of Representatives passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE”). SECURE passed the House with strong bipartisan support on a 417-3 vote....more