Since Trump’s first day back in office, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) has been at the forefront of political discourse. As we previously reported, Trump issued several Executive Orders targeting DEI efforts and...more
4/1/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Executive Orders ,
First Amendment ,
OFCCP ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Trump Administration
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), two federal agencies responsible for policing discrimination in the workplace, recently issued informal guidance outlining what could...more
The Trump Administration has issued swift changes in policy, and the effects are now reaching the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). While the EEOC is still awaiting quorum to vote on major actions, it is...more
2/24/2025
/ Abortion ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Quorum ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Signaling a strong shift away from the policy positions of the former administration, Acting National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel William Cowen issued a GC Memorandum on February 14, 2025, rescinding 31 GC...more
2/18/2025
/ Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
The Ohio Pay Stub Protection Act, which requires employers to provide earnings and deductions statements to their employees, will take effect on April 9, 2025....more
Shortly after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump signed more Executive Orders on his first day in office than any other president in history. The wide-ranging Orders effectuate many of the...more
President Donald Trump has expectedly fired Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and unexpectedly fired Gwynne Wilcox, one of the board’s two Democratic members. The firings mark...more
As previously reported, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory in NLRB v. Starbucks Corp. by vacating part of an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) requiring...more
1/24/2025
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Split of Authority ,
Starbucks ,
Unfair Labor Practices
On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Fourth Circuit’s attempt to require an employer to meet a higher evidentiary standard to establish that its workers fell under one of the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
On Friday, December 27, 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory by vacating an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) on the grounds that the Board exceeded its authority...more
12/30/2024
/ Appeals ,
Back Pay ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Damages ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Reinstatement ,
Starbucks ,
Termination ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Vacated ,
Wages
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) made it more difficult for employers to make changes to their employees’ working conditions without approval from their union. ...more
Once known for its catchy commercials about rolling back prices, Walmart—America’s largest private employer—is rolling back something else: its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The retail giant’s...more
In an apparent effort to publish as many worker-friendly opinions as possible before the transition of power from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued...more
On Friday, a federal court in Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Final Rule that sought to raise the salary thresholds that must be met for executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”) and highly...more
11/19/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On November 8, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) handed down its decision in Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB 135, turning 40-year-old precedent regarding what employers can and cannot...more
On October 23, 2024, Teamsters Amazon National Negotiating Committee (“Teamsters”) filed an unfair labor practice charge (“ULP”) with the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) alleging that, within the past six months,...more
On October 30, 2024, a Texas federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) from using its in-house administrative law judges to oversee administrative proceedings against a...more
As we previously addressed, on June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court struck a blow to the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) and provided employers a major win in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, et al., a case involving a...more
Last year, the United Auto Workers (“UAW”) championed what they considered to be a massive win derived from more than 50,000 of its 146,000 members striking at various Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors plants across twenty...more
On September 26, 2024, a Boston-based federal appeals court refused to extend California’s sweeping noncompete ban to agreements that were signed outside the state and governed by another state’s law....more
On August 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a final rule promulgated by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) restricting when employers could take a tip credit for tipped employees under the Fair Labor...more
8/29/2024
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Chevron Deference ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
As every employer in the U.S. is likely aware, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) near-universal ban on non-competes nationwide, which the FTC voted to implement via regulatory rulemaking on April 23 of this year, has...more
8/21/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforceability ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pending Legislation ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
As we previously reported, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Final Rule adjusting the minimum annual salary that an employee must be paid to qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”)...more
8/9/2024
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Pending Legislation ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) under the Biden administration has taken several measures to make union election procedures more union-friendly....more
Update: Since the alert below was issued on March 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) appealed the lower court’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On July 19, 2024, the Board filed an...more
7/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Franchises ,
Joint Employers ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory History ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Staffing Agencies