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...
Content By Robert S. Gilmore
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...
EEOC’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Faces Legal Challenges: Key Takeaways for Employers
Within the last two weeks, courts across the country reached opposite conclusions about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s authority to implement legislation that requires employers to provide accommodations for employees who seek “purely elective...
FTC’s Final Rule on Non-Compete Clauses: Implications & Considerations
This article was updated on August 22, 2024, to reflect a recent ruling by a Texas federal court, which has struck down the FTC's proposed nationwide ban on non-compete agreements just weeks before its anticipated effective date. FTC Rule Bans Non-Compete Clauses for...
Back to the Future: The Department of Labor Issues Its New Rule on Independent Contractors
The Department of Labor has long labored to rein in the practice by some employers of labeling workers as independent contractors instead of employees to avoid the requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to pay minimum wage and overtime. It has now...
Current Considerations About COVID-19 in the Workplace
The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency officially ended on May 11, 2023, when the Department of Health and Human Services allowed the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 to expire, but people are still getting COVID-19, and some of them are getting seriously...
Recreational Marijuana Use Becomes Legal in Ohio: Here is What Employers Need to Know
On November 7, 2023, Ohio voters passed An Act to Control and Regulate Adult Use of Cannabis (the Act), making Ohio the 24th state to legalize recreational adult use of marijuana. While Ohio and its Department of Commerce is far from retail sale or distribution of...