On April 2, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is postponing the effectiveness of certain provisions of its December 17, 2024, final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE) until...more
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the then-acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), emailed staff on February 3 directing employees to cease all rulemaking activities, delay the implementation of...more
As part of an ongoing spate of litigation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) filed a motion to dismiss, on procedural grounds, in a case that challenges its authority to require construction and operating licenses...more
Just prior to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or Commission) publication of its Click-to-Cancel Rule (the Rule) – which we wrote about in depth here – in the Federal Register, several trade associations filed petitions...more
Only weeks after the principal effective date for the final 2024 federal mental health parity rules for employer-sponsored health benefit plans, those rules—and specifically some key features that are frustrating...more
Last Friday in a 2-1 order, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an initial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Negative Option Rule. The challengers had asked the court to stay the Rule from taking...more
With several pending litigations challenging federal emissions and fuel economy standards, the automotive industry is likely to see continued disruption at a time when it seeks stability....more
On January 10, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission announced 2025 annual statutory adjustments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act thresholds. These thresholds determine which mergers and acquisitions must be reported to United...more
On Friday, January 10th, 2025, the US Chamber of Commerce, American Investment Council, Business Roundtable, and Longview Chamber of Commerce (collectively the “Plaintiffs”) filed a joint lawsuit challenging the FTC’s and...more
The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C., could impact your business....more
A Pennsylvania company has dropped its challenge to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) noncompete ban after a Pennsylvania federal judge denied the company’s bid to block the rule. The dismissal of the Pennsylvania lawsuit...more
There are several legal challenges to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ban on noncompete clauses in employment agreements. There have been multiple lawsuits in varying federal district courts that seek to delay or...more
Not long ago we wrote about the significant changes to Title IX's regulations in the Department of Education's final rule set to go into effect this year (the Final Rule). Primary and secondary schools and institutions of...more
Over three years ago, Congress enacted the federal Corporate Transparency Act ("CTA"), which for the first time obligates business owners, among others, to file beneficial ownership information ("BOI") reports with the U.S....more
The Federal Trade Commission recently posted a notice on its website acknowledging that the federal court injunction issued in Texas will prevent implementation for now of its final regulations restricting use of...more
This past April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule (Rule) that amounted to a near total nationwide ban on employers’ use of non-compete agreements. Since its announcement, employers have actively attempted to...more
On August 20, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas ruled that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) cannot enforce its rule banning the use of non-compete agreements for most workers. Significantly, the court...more
For those of you who have been following along with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) looming noncompete ban and the various challenges it has presented, there comes good news for employers from a Texas federal court....more
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rulemaking crusade suffered a serious blow this week, when Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas set aside the agency’s Final Rule that made most employment-related non-compete...more
As an update to our April 25, 2024 Client Alert, “FTC Issues New Rule—But Not the Final Chapter—on Non-Competes: What Employers Need to Know,” a federal court in Dallas, Texas has blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s Rule...more
As we explained in a previous client alert, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published a proposed final rule that would ban nearly all worker non-competes. The rule was scheduled to go into effect on September 4, 2024....more
Texas District Judge Ada Brown issued a decision on August 20 in response to competing motions for summary judgment filed by Ryan LLC, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the FTC in a case that challenged the FTC’s authority to...more
Earlier this summer, Winstead’s Labor & Employment team reported that Judge Ada Brown in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction as applied only to the plaintiffs in Ryan LLC...more
On August 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held unlawful and set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule prohibiting non-competition agreements with workers. The court entered...more
On August 14, 2024, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled against the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) efforts to implement a nationwide noncompete ban. The Florida court’s decision...more