Employment Law This Week: EEOC Enforcement Data, Definition of “Religion,” ACA Class Action, Justice Scalia’s Death
Change is coming, but will it be a welcome change or a harbinger of woe? Over the last 8 years or so, the ever-changing landscape of employment laws has arguably posed an existential threat to franchising. The franchise...more
My law firm colleague Allan Gates undertook a webinar presentation for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (“NACWA”) titled: - Shaking Things Up – The Trump Administration, Regulatory Change, and...more
Sixteen months after the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit entered its Order halting application of the 2015 Clean Water Rule ("Rule") nationwide, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order...more
The executive order asks agencies to repeal or revise an Obama-era rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act and recommends adoption of a narrower standard articulated by the late Justice Scalia....more
Two days ago, President Trump issued an executive order (Order) that will scale back the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) hotly contested “waters of the United States”...more
Earlier this year, Freedom Partners, a conservative advocacy group, released A Roadmap to Repeal containing a list of former President Barack Obama's regulations that the group argued should be repealed quickly after the...more
On January 31, President Trump announced that Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals would be nominated for the United States Supreme Court. We took a look at those opinions authored by Judge Gorsuch on the...more
President Trump's nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch could shape the U.S. Supreme Court for years to come because of the judge's relatively young age (49) and because he could be part of a conservative majority on the Court,...more
President Trump is not wasting any time acting on several of his campaign promises. Whether or not the administration’s actions align with those campaign promises, however, is yet to be seen....more
On January 31, President Donald Trump announced his choice to fill the Supreme Court of the United States vacancy created by the death of the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia: Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, from the U.S. Court...more
Since the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States, the political world has been waiting—through a failed nomination of a successor, a presidential campaign and election, and the...more
President Trump announced yesterday that he would be naming his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court next week. The nominee, if confirmed, will fill the seat vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. According to most news...more
A Review Of The 2015-2016 Supreme Court Term - Justice Antonin Scalia’s death created a 4-4 split among liberal and conservative-leaning Justices, rendering tidy scorecards and trends regarding this past Supreme Court...more
The Vulnerability of Healthcare Information - According to a report the Brookings Institute issued in May 2016, 23% of all data breaches occur in the healthcare industry. Nearly 90% of healthcare organizations had some...more
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, to establish his bona fides with conservatives, has released a list of eleven potential Supreme Court nominees. He added, with typical understatement: “If...more
While the U.S. Supreme Court has issued decisions on two of its major class action cases this term, Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez and Tyson Foods v. Bouaphekeo (see January 20, 2016 blog and May 5, 2016 blog), one other...more
On April 18, 2016, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a major immigration suit, United States v. Texas. This case is a highly-politicized lawsuit in which dozens of states have sued the federal government over what is...more
There is no doubt that the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will have major repercussions on Supreme Court jurisprudence. A 30-year veteran of the Court, Justice Scalia was known for his originalist positions and...more
A year before he took his seat on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia’s future colleagues issued a decision encouraging dominant firms to behave more like that genteel, top hat wearing fellow from the Monopoly game than like...more
A federal appellate court recently held that an employer did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it discharged an employee who had been sleeping at work and falling short of the employer’s performance...more
After the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, we predicted: “Justice Scalia’s passing will immediately impact several employment-related cases pending before the Court.” Specifically, cases in which Scalia was expected to...more
Is Labor Law Putting the Franchise Business Model at Risk? - Over the course of the last year, we have kept you abreast of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case law and Department of Labor (DOL) interpretive/...more
For many years, unions representing public employees in a variety of states have continued to require employees to pay union dues even if they have an objection to certain political, lobbying, or other activities the unions...more
On March 29, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a per curiam opinion in a case on the validity of public-sector “agency shop” arrangements, which permit unions to charge a fee (in order to pay for select...more
In a deadlocked 4-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court could not reach a majority consensus in determining whether it is unconstitutional for states to force public sector employees to pay agency shop fees to their unions. For...more