Search
As expected, President Trump has issued a slew of Executive Orders (“EOs”) during his first days in office that will have far-reaching implications for many aspects of the federal government and completely upend a plethora of policies implemented by the Biden administration. The labor and employment...
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued updated guidelines regarding antitrust issues implicated by certain kinds of agreements impacting employees and labor markets. The new guidelines discuss how certain agreements, which limit the ability and...
On December 27, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lacks the authority to order an employer to pay damages beyond what it unlawfully withheld from wrongfully terminated employees. In doing so, the court vacated a portion of the...
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including the standard of review for ERISA benefit denials, whether structural conflict entitles a claimant to conflict-of-interest discovery, whether a “relative value units” analysis warrants equitable tolling, whether the administrative record...
Earlier this month, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a consolidated complaint charging the producers of the popular Netflix show “Love is Blind” with unfair labor practices for their treatment of contestants in this popular reality TV show. The idea that...
On December 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (“CREAMMA”) does not provide workers with a private right of action for employment discrimination based on marijuana consumption...
This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions including the impact of a COVID furlough on eligibility for LTD benefits, what constitutes a breach of an employer’s fiduciary duty, what defines total proof of disability or is viewed as a severe procedural violation, and the appropriate weight...
On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that an employer may no longer require employees to attend meetings in which the employer expresses its views on unionization. The 3-1 decision overturned more than 75 years of labor law precedent that allowed companies...
The number of states enacting pay transparency laws increased by one on November 18, 2024, when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a pay transparency act (P.L.2024, c.91) that requires covered employers to disclose wage or salary information and a description of benefits in job postings...
Today, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas vacated the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) April 2024 Final Rule (the “Rule”) that would have raised the minimum salary level at which executive, administrative, professional and highly compensated employees can be classified as exempt from...
The Maryland Department of Labor (“MDOL”) recently issued guidance to address the Maryland Wage Range Transparency law (the “Wage Transparency Act”) and the Pay Stub and Pay Statement law (“Pay Stub Act”) that went into effect October 1, 2024. Wage Transparency Act According to the MDOL, employers...
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases involving ERISA preemption, the methodology for calculating qualified joint and survivor annuity benefits, a dispute over an attempt to supplement the record before the Court, a factual dispute precluding summary judgment on a bad faith claim, and the payroll...
Last month, in DraftKings Inc. v. Hermalyn, the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision concerning the application of California’s non-compete ban to agreements formed outside the state. Broadly, the decision indicates that California’s ban on non-competes does not apply where the non...
On September 4, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (Labor Law §27-e), which requires certain employers to adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and implement annual training, and further mandates that large retail employers install panic buttons in the...
California recently enacted two laws that expand the scope of discrimination claims and prohibit retaliation against employees for failing to participate in employer-sponsored meetings regarding religious or political matters. Both laws will take effect on January 1, 2025. On September 27, 2024...
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to Long-COVID, a class action RICO suit, the physical illness exclusion to accidental death and dismemberment claims, consideration due to an Administrative Law Judge’s disability determination, and self-reported claims of fatigue. The Saul Ewing ERISA...
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases addressing the effect of continuing to receive benefits during the period of alleged disability, reliance on an employer’s records in making a disability determination, the admissibility of expert and lay testimony from a physician in a trial over LTD...
On August 9, 2024, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 2161, the newest amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee or applicant based on their “family responsibilities.” Illinois is the sixth state to offer this type of...
On August 9, 2024, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 3773, which amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) to restrict an employer’s use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in employment practices. The law is comprehensive in that it restricts employers from using AI that has the effect of...
On August 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) much maligned 80/20 rule, which has largely been in flux in the decades since it was first introduced in a Field Operations Handbook in 1988. Under the 80/20 rule, up to 20 percent of a tipped...