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Employers Struggle With Election Politics Spillover Into Workplace

With the election quickly approaching, we are already receiving questions from employers involving concerns over arguments and disruptions in the workplace resulting from political disagreements. We hoped that the contentious...more

Key Takeaways for Heavily Regulated Industries From the Supreme Court's Chevron Ruling

Forty years ago, the Supreme Court adopted a doctrine that has allowed federal agencies to make the final call on interpreting ambiguous laws. Today, the court overruled that doctrine and held that courts, not agencies, are...more

EEOC Issues Long-Awaited Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace

On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new enforcement guidance on harassment in the workplace. The guidance is the result of approximately seven years of effort and replaces...more

Federal Trade Commission Approves Ban on Noncompetes. Here's What Happens Next.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday, April 23, issued its final rule that prevents most employers from enforcing noncompetes against workers. The 3-2 vote by commissioners comes nearly a year and a half after the...more

NLRB Continues Assault on Noncompete Agreements

As we have previously covered in EmployNews, in June 2023, the general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released a memo arguing that most noncompete agreements violate Section 7 of the National Labor...more

NLRB Holds That College Basketball Players Are 'Employees'

This week, the regional director for Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board issued an opinion that could usher in a wave of unionization efforts among college athletes. Fifteen members of the Dartmouth men’s...more

Here We Go Again: Labor Department Adopts Final Rule on Independent Contractors

On January 9, the U.S. Department of Labor released its final rule on classifying workers as employees or independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. ...more

SCOTUS Opens the Door to Increased Union Liability for Strike Damages

On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered an 8-1 opinion that limits the protections available to unions for damages caused during a strike. In Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union...more

Fourth Circuit Rejects Retaliation Claim Based on ‘Personal Gossip'

In Johnson v. Global Language Center, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of an employer in a Title VII retaliation claim, where the “protected activity”...more

Implications of the Justice Department's Latest Defeat in No-Poach Trial

Previously relegated to purely civil enforcement, in the last year the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has increased its focus on pursuing criminal charges for anti-poach agreements between companies that attempt to...more

Federal Court Rejects Claims by Employees Allegedly Fired for Wearing BLM Masks

In February 2021, we wrote about Kinzer, et al. v. Whole Foods Market, Inc., a case pending in Massachusetts federal court in which multiple employees alleged that they had been terminated by Whole Foods for wearing Black...more

U.S. Supreme Court to Reconsider Test for Workplace Religious Accommodations

On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted review of a case that may have significant repercussions for employers faced with religious accommodation requests. The case was brought by Gerald Groff, who sued the U.S. Postal...more

FTC Proposes Nationwide Ban on Noncompetition Agreements

On January 5, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on a rule that would declare most U.S. noncompetition agreements unlawful, subject to very limited exceptions. Using...more

Pregnant and Nursing Employees Receive New Protections From Congress

Deep within the omnibus spending bill passed in the waning days of 2022 were two new laws providing important new rights to employees who are pregnant or nursing. First, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires...more

Fourth Circuit Panel Finds Gender Dysphoria Covered Under ADA

​​​​​​​On August 16 in Williams v. Kincaid, a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) became the first federal appellate court to hold...more

South Carolina Drastically Limits Private Employer Vaccine Mandates

On April 25, 2022, South Carolina enacted a statute aimed at curtailing employers’ ability to require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. To start, the Act absolutely bans state and local governments from requiring...more

Supreme Court Limits Federal Jurisdiction over Arbitration Awards

Last week in Badgerow v. Walters, the United States Supreme Court held in an 8-1 decision that under the Federal Arbitration Act, a federal court cannot consider an underlying dispute to determine whether it has federal...more

Federal Vaccinate-or-Test Requirement Now Scheduled to Impact Many Workplaces in Three Weeks

The federal government’s vaccinate-or-test-and-mask policy impacting many private workplaces is no longer on hold. On November 4, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued its emergency temporary standard (ETS)...more

Federal Government Issues COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Many Health Care Providers

On November 4, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an emergency regulation requiring many health care workers to be fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022. The vaccination requirement applies to all staff working...more

EEOC Issues New Guidance on Religious Objections to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

As many employers await the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s impending vaccination rule, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission quietly released new guidance regarding religious objections to mandatory...more

OSHA Raises the Standard Impacting COVID-19 Whistleblower Claims

Under Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers are prohibited from taking adverse action against an employee because the employee has engaged in protected activity under the statute, such as filing a...more

How to Evaluate Religious Exemption Requests Related to COVID-19 Vaccines

As we have covered previously in EmployNews, organizations that mandate that their employees obtain vaccination against COVID-19 must consider whether employees may be entitled to an exemption due to a qualifying disability...more

Return of the Mask

On July 27 in response to rising COVID-19 case counts caused by the Delta variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for individuals who have been fully vaccinated to recommend that they wear...more

Federal Court Upholds Indiana University Vaccine Requirement

On May 21, 2021, Indiana University adopted a policy requiring all students, faculty, and staff to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus for the Fall 2021 semester. The policy includes a number of exemptions for...more

EEOC Issues Guidance on Gender Identity Discrimination

By virtue of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status. On June 15,...more

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