On April 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a complaint seeking court enforcement of a preliminary reinstatement order after determining that...more
On June 21, 2023, the New York State Assembly passed a sweeping bill (Bill No. S03100/A1278B — An Act to Amend the Labor Law, in Relation to Prohibiting Non-Compete Agreements and Certain Restrictive Covenants) that, if it...more
On May 24, 2023, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law the Omnibus Jobs Bill SF 3035 (the “Bill”). The Bill has significant implications for employers with employees in Minnesota and includes numerous changes to...more
As we reported here, on May 5, 2023, the SEC issued an award of $279 million to a whistleblower. This is the largest award the SEC has issued to an individual whistleblower in the history of the SEC Office of the...more
On May 17, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed House Bill 3129 (the “Bill”), which amends the Illinois Equal Pay Act (820 ILCS 112, et. seq.) to require Illinois employers to include pay scale and benefits information in...more
On May 8, 2023, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill 1515 (the “Amendment”), which would amend the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS § 55) to mandate a specified process employers would need to...more
On May 5, 2023, the SEC announced an award of nearly $279 million to a whistleblower who provided the SEC with information and assistance that led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions. This enormous award...more
On February 28, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois granted a defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the plaintiff failed to adequately plead...more
On April 27,2022, the Chicago City Council passed SO2022-665, which broadened the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance (the “Ordinance”) and imposed new requirements on Chicago employers with respect to preventing sexual harassment...more
HB3129 (the “Bill”), which was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives on February 16, 2013, and passed by the Labor & Commerce Committee on February 28, 2023, would require Illinois employers to include pay scale...more
On February 15, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on SOX whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that the plaintiff failed to...more
Before closing the book on 2022, we look back at the most significant verdicts issued in trade secret trials this past year. In 2022, several juries awarded extraordinary verdicts to plaintiffs. These verdicts suggest a...more
3/3/2023
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Breach of Contract ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Misappropriation ,
Patent Infringement ,
Popular ,
Proprietary Information ,
Securities Litigation ,
Semiconductors ,
Trade Secrets ,
UTSA
OSHA’s new nationwide year-long pilot program that took effect on February 17, 2023, will aim to streamline the whistleblower complaint intake process.
OSHA, which administers over two dozen whistleblower statutes, has...more
On February 17, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that claims under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) may accrue with each biometric scan and not just on an individual’s first scan. Cothron v. White Castle...more
Seattle has become the first U.S. city to approve legislation amending city ordinances to prohibit discrimination on the basis of “caste,” including in the context of employment. The proposals now go before the mayor for...more
On January 4, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a former bank executive’s whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that two procedural errors doomed his case: he sued before exhausting his administrative remedies;...more
On February 1, 2023, a coalition of U.S. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives reintroduced a bill titled the Workforce Mobility Act (the “Act”), seeking to prohibit the use and enforcement of post-employment...more
On February 2, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed in part the decision of an Illinois Appellate Court and held that all claims brought pursuant to Section 15 of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”),...more
Over the past few years, states across the country have sought to limit or reduce the use of employee non-compete agreements. While some have imposed outright bans on such agreements, many more have passed laws that narrow...more
On January 4, 2023, in Ainslie, et al. v. Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., the Delaware Court of Chancery invalidated the forfeiture-for-competition provision in the financial services company’s limited partnership agreement, based...more
On January 10, 2023, Illinois legislature passed the Paid Leave For All Workers Act (the “Act”), which requires Illinois employers to provide at least 40 hours of paid leave per year to be used for any reason. Governor...more
On December 6, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on whistleblower retaliation claims brought under SOX and the Consumer Financial...more
2022 saw highly impactful whistleblower and retaliation events primarily resulting from an active U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an aggressive approach taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and...more
1/4/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
NEPA ,
OSHA ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Uber ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On August 26, 2022, the Third Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer, holding that whistleblower retaliation protections in the False Claims Act did not protect an employee from being discharged...more
On November 15, 2022, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (OWB) released its annual report to Congress covering the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. The report highlights a record-breaking year for the...more