A federal court in Texas yesterday issued a permanent nationwide injunction barring the Federal Trade Commission’s Non-Compete Agreement Ban from going into effect. As a practical matter, and barring an unlikely reversal from the 5th Circuit, this means the proposed nationwide ban on non-compete agreements is virtually dead for now, though employers will still need
On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a 3-2 decision, Stericycle, Inc., that adopted a new legal standard for evaluating employers’ workplace policies and rules. Under the new standard, an employer’s workplace policy may violate employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) if its policies have a “reasonable
About a month ago, in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, the U.S. Supreme Court all but sounded the death knell for considering race or ethnicity as such in admissions to public educational institutions or those receiving federal funds.
Since then, many scholars, pundits, and attorneys have debated the extent to which the Court’s
In a move with profound implications for workplaces, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on Thursday, January 5, 2023, issued a sweeping proposal that would ban all non-compete agreements between employers and employees. While the timing was a bit of a surprise, the move had been telegraphed since mid-2020 when President Biden issued an executive order
For employers considering layoffs—as several in the tech sector have announced recently—there are multiple factors to consider to reduce exposure to lawsuits.
For example, employers may wish to examine whether the proposed layoff will have a disparate impact on a protected group.
But employers can also reduce their exposure to lawsuits by providing severance agreements
For months, employers have been eagerly awaiting updated regulations that address the revisions to the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act. At last, on March 22, 2022, the Connecticut Department of Labor (“CT DOL”) released its final proposed amended CTFMLA regulations, answering questions that had remained unanswered by the revised law. Indeed, the proposed regulations
The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 (“CAA”), signed into law by President Biden earlier this month, allows high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to provide first-dollar coverage for telehealth and other remote care services for the period from April 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. This is an extension of relief first brought about by the Coronavirus
According to CBIA’s 2021 Connecticut Manufacturing Report, “nearly nine in 10 (88%) of manufacturers report difficulties finding and retaining workers, a 17-point jump from last year, and 41% describe the labor shortage as the state’s main obstacle to growth.”
Manufacturers are confronting this obstacle head on, offering training programs and investing in a variety
As we detailed earlier this month, there has been a flurry of lawsuits challenging various federal vaccine mandates. Litigation around the country aims to challenge the validity of OSHA’s mandatory “vax or test” rule, the CMS mandate for healthcare workers, and the mandate for federal contractors.
The Biden administration’s high-profile vaccination mandate—which requires employees
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) Omnibus Interim Final Rule (“Final Rule”) takes effect November 5, 2021, and with it comes the requirement that Medicare and Medicaid-certified suppliers, providers, and their staff become vaccinated for COVID-19. As this new rule becomes a new reality, it is essential that all key stakeholders involved understand: