The Litigation Byte is the new name and format for McGlinchey’s Commercial Law Bulletin. Our new format reflects McGlinchey’s national coverage and our expanded footprint while still serving up the digestible, insightful...more
On July 9, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit told the National Labor Relations Board’s to reconsider the standard for whether abusive or inappropriate speech is protected under Section 7 of the...more
In a consent order with a reverse mortgage servicer on June 18, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made the argument that failing to effectively service loans is abusive. The groundwork for this line of...more
The CFPB issued a report detailing the issues faced by consumers regarding credit card rewards programs and reminding credit card industry stakeholders that federal consumer protection laws—including the Consumer Financial...more
Continuing its vigorous effort to eliminate so-called “junk fees,” and detailing other problematic mortgage servicer activities, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released its Spring 2024 Supervisory...more
As blogged about recently, on March 7, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule extending telemarketing fraud protections to businesses and updating the Telemarketing Sales Rule’s recordkeeping requirements. ...more
If you’ve been focused on only the high-level statements from the CFPB, you might already expect Rohit Chopra to fashion himself and the agency as “pro-consumer.” Consistent with that approach, the agency just signaled its...more
Can digital comparison-shopping operators or lead generators violate the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by preferencing products or services based on financial benefit? According to today’s guidance issued by the...more
Bill Belichick is considered by many to be the greatest coach in the history of the National Football League, including many people in Massachusetts. Over a 24-year career as their head coach, Mr. Belichick led the New...more
Here are curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: • FTC Doesn’t Sugarcoat Warning Letters to Social Media...more
Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell settled with Rent-A-Center, Inc. to resolve allegations that the rent-to-own company violated state consumer protection laws and debt collection regulations by engaging in coercive and...more
The National Labor Relations Board has narrowed the rights of employers to discipline employees who, while engaged in protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act, engaged in abusive conduct. Lion...more
On July 6, the California attorney announced that he had joined a coalition of state attorneys general in submitting a comment letter endorsing the CFPB’s recently issued policy statement on abusive conduct in consumer...more
Businesses operating in New York state should be concerned about the potential impact of proposed legislation now under consideration in the New York legislature. The so called Consumer and Small Business Protection Act...more
The National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in Lion Elastomers LLC II on May 1, 2023, reversing General Motors LLC, 369 NLRB No. 127 (2020) and changing the standards related to discipline or discharge of workers who...more
On April 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a policy statement on abusive practices. As readers know, the bureau has authority to supervise and enforce acts and practices that are unfair, deceptive or...more
Employers (hopefully) are aware that their employees are afforded certain rights under the National Labor Relations Act (the “NLRA” or “Act”), including the right to self-organization, to bargain collectively, and to engage...more
In a decision that had been anticipated, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) abandoned its short-lived burden-shifting test for determining the legality of employer discipline of employees found to have...more
The National Labor Relations Board returned to its prior standard for analyzing the legality of disciplining employee misconduct related to protected concerted activity. Lion Elastomers LLC II, 372 NLRB No. 83 (May 1, 2023)....more
In Lion Elastomers LLC, 372 NLRB No. 83 (5/1/2023)(Lion Elastomers), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) revisited the issue of what happens when an employee engages in abusive or inappropriate conduct while...more
Executive Summary: On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) handed down a decision illustrative of its view that workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or the Act) hold a...more
Employees who utter racial epithets, launch outbursts, and otherwise engage in harassing, disruptive, or offensive behavior are once again protected by the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”). The National Labor Relations...more
On April 3, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or “Bureau”) issued new guidance about what constitutes an abusive act or practice under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (the “Policy Statement”). This...more
In this month's article, we share some of our top "bites" for the prior month covered during the April 2023 webinar....more
On April 3, the CFPB issued a policy statement intended to provide “a framework to help federal and state enforcers identify when companies engage in abusive conduct.” Conduct violates the abusiveness standard when it either:...more