On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers are not required to meet a heightened standard of proof to demonstrate that an employee is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Court’s...
Content By Maribeth Meluch
OSHA Penalties Increasing in 2025: What Employers Need to Know
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor published its listing of annual increases for 2025. Included in this list are higher penalties for OSHA workplace safety violations for employers. While these increases are in line with inflation adjustments mandated by law,...
NLRB Overrules Longstanding Precedent on Captive-Audience Meetings
In a recent decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed a 76-year-old precedent and held that employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they compel employees to attend meetings where the employer expresses its views on...
Texas Court Strikes Down DOL’s New Overtime Rule Nationwide
For the past year, we have been following the legal challenges to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule, which expanded the minimum salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions by sixty-five percent (65%). That singular focus by the DOL on increasing...
New NLRB Memo Targets Non-Compete & Stay-or-Pay Policies: Key Updates for Employers
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued Memorandum GC 25-01 on October 7, 2024, announcing her goal to remedy the alleged harmful effects she views inherent to overly broad non-compete and stay-or-pay provisions by imposing increasingly generous remedies. This...
Sixth Circuit Says Not So Fast on the Last Chance Agreement
In a recent decision involving the validity of a last chance agreement, the Sixth Circuit concluded that the embedded release of all claims against the employer was not knowingly and voluntarily entered into by the employee and therefore unenforceable under common law...
CLIENT ALERT: Texas Court Blocks FTC Non-Compete Ban—By a Nose
A Texas federal court has struck down the FTC's proposed nationwide ban on non-compete agreements, just weeks before it was set to take effect. This decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas halts the FTC's Final Rule, which would...
To Notice or Not to Notice: Employers Prepare for FTC Non-Compete Rule as September Effective Date Nears
The effective date of the FTC’s Final Rule prohibiting non-compete agreements quickly approaches, yet there is still no definitive resolution as to whether it is constitutional. Nor has there been any preliminary injunction barring its enforcement on a nationwide...
Navigating Section 1014 and the TCJA: A Deep Dive into the IRS Ruling on Basis Adjustments
Understanding the nuances of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) is crucial for effective estate planning and tax strategy. For example, estate planners must be familiar with the tax basis adjustment provisions in 26 U.S.C. § 1014. This article provides a detailed...
The Supreme Court Overturns Chevron, Bringing Clarity to Whether the District Courts or Federal Agencies Interpret Ambiguous Federal Statutory Provisions
The Supreme Court recently reversed a long-standing doctrine established by the 1984 decision, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The Court returned the duty of interpreting ambiguous statutory provisions involving federal agency rulings to the district...