In a recent decision involving the validity of a last chance agreement, the Sixth Circuit concluded that the embedded release of all claims against the employer was not knowingly and voluntarily entered into by the employee...more
A Texas federal court has struck down the FTC’s proposed nationwide ban on non-compete agreements, just weeks before it was set to take effect. This decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of...more
The effective date of the FTC’s Final Rule prohibiting non-compete agreements quickly approaches, yet there is still no definitive resolution as to whether it is constitutional. Nor has there been any preliminary injunction...more
Within the last two weeks of June 2024, courts across the country reached opposite conclusions about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s authority to implement legislation that requires employers to provide...more
7/11/2024
/ Abortion ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Chevron Deference ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Rights ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Injunctions ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS
FTC RULE BANS NON-COMPETE CLAUSES FOR NON-SENIOR EMPLOYEES -
Non-compete clauses have long been a contentious issue in employment agreements, with concerns raised about their potential to stifle competition and limit...more
The Department of Labor has long labored to rein in the practice by some employers of labeling workers as independent contractors instead of employees to avoid the requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to pay...more
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency officially ended on May 11, 2023, when the Department of Health and Human Services allowed the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 to expire, but people are still getting...more
12/14/2023
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Masks ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On November 7, 2023, Ohio voters passed An Act to Control and Regulate Adult Use of Cannabis (the Act), making Ohio the 24th state to legalize recreational adult use of marijuana. While Ohio and its Department of Commerce is...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently finalized a rule broadening the joint employer test.
The new rule replaces a 2020 policy that excused joint employers from bargaining unless workers could demonstrate...more
In the pursuit of economic fairness, Ohio finds itself at a crossroads with the One Fair Wage petition (One Fair Wage), a movement aiming to amend Article II, Section 34a of the Ohio State Constitution to increase the minimum...more
10/20/2023
/ Compliance ,
Economic Stimulus ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Poverty ,
Price Inflation ,
Productivity ,
Public Assistance ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Small Business ,
State Constitutions ,
Wages
In a recent and highly unusual turn of events, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Seventh Circuit) has ordered U.S. Marshals to take corporate officials of Haven Salon + Spa (Haven) into custody for...more
10/11/2023
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Back Pay ,
Compliance ,
Contempt ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Fines ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Employee Rights ,
Labor Disputes ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Noncompliance ,
Reinstatement ,
Reputational Injury ,
Workplace Safety
In a pivotal legal battle, the Third Circuit is currently deliberating whether college athletes should be considered employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act for the purpose of receiving wages. This landmark case could...more
9/13/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Collective Bargaining ,
College Athletes ,
Compensation ,
Employees ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
NCAA ,
NLRB ,
Title IX ,
Title VII
The City of Columbus, Ohio, has enacted a new code conferring legal rights to gig workers, also known generally as freelance workers. Freelance workers now constitute almost forty percent of the national workforce. The...more
9/12/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Classification ,
Compensation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duration of Status ,
Employee Definition ,
Enforcement ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Shortage
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) OVERVIEW -
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all covered employers pay their employees compensation for hours worked over forty per week at one and a half times their regular...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced a new rule that will reduce the waiting time for workers to vote on whether to unionize. Following the NLRB decision in March 2023 to rescind four provisions of the 2019...more
The recently enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was effective June 27, 2023. This new law makes discrimination against pregnant workers unlawful and provides additional protections for pregnant workers....more
The U.S. Supreme Court has “clarified” the test under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that employers and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have relied upon for more than 46 years, making it easier for...more
7/19/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
De Minimus Doctrine ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
USPS
New York may join several other states that have essentially banned post-employment non-compete agreements, including California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. Governor Kathy Hochul is considering a bill that was...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently made a significant decision regarding the certification procedure for collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In the case of Clark v. A&L...more
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a new federal law protecting the rights of pregnant workers, takes effect on June 27th. The bill was signed into law at the end of 2022 to require employers to provide reasonable...more
6/27/2023
The Department of Labor has recently issued guidance on the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). The PUMP Act was signed into law on December 29, 2022, amending the Fair Labor Standards...more
On May 30, 2023, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), issued a memorandum to all regional offices stating that non-compete agreements in employment contracts and severance...more
THE MCLAREN RULING -
Just when employers thought the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed rule banning non-competes in employment agreements was confounding, employers are now faced with a new paradigm...more
3/3/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Section 7 ,
Severance Agreements ,
Unions
Employees in the service industry, such as bartenders and waitstaff, have come to rely on tips as a part of their hourly wages. In fact, most states specifically allow restaurants and bars to pay workers less than minimum...more
On Jan.5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a proposed rule that would effectively ban the use of non-compete agreements in employment contracts and preempt all state laws that provide less protection to...more