Kerry Notestine, Chad Kaldor, Shawn Matthew Clark and Garrick Josephs discuss a court’s decision that the Maryland WARN Act does not give individuals the right to file suit in their personal capacity to enforce a legal claim under the Act.

Wolters Kluwer

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Dan Boatright discusses the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision to strike down the 80/20 labor rule and what that decision means for employers. 

Nation’s Restaurant News

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In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Loper decision, Jamie Spataro says existing regulations and standards that went through extensive rulemaking are ripe for being challenged.

Business Insurance

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Sarah Bryan Fask says she is watching proceedings in a wholesale bakery's appeal in a dispute over a $6.3 million withdrawal liability bill because the decision will be "incredibly significant."

Law360

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Alexander MacDonald discusses the filing of an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to clarify a prior 1984 decision which, if successful, could weaken a new form of “exclusive representation” for unions.

Labor Union News (Podcast)

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This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments in federal courts of appeal in the last month.

Fifth Circuit Vacates DOL Tip Credit Rule

David Jordan discusses the framework of the 80/20 tip-credit rule and its current impact on employers after the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision leaves a version of the rule up for questioning.

Bloomberg Law

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On August 22, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., reviving a class action under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).¹ The case was brought by pilots who served in the Air Force Reserves who were seeking from their civilian employer sick leave and vacation accruals during periods of military leave.

Melissa McDonagh said employers should continue to be thoughtful with their approach to noncompete agreements, ensuring compliance with existing state laws and monitoring the status of the FTC noncompete rule as it winds its way through the appellate process.

McKnights Senior Living

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Melissa McDonagh said employers should continue to be thoughtful with their approach to noncompete agreements, ensuring compliance with existing state laws and monitoring the status of the FTC noncompete rule as it winds its way through the appellate process.

WorldatWork

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On August 23, 2024, in Restaurant Law Center v. U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s so-called “80/20/30 Rule” that governed how tipped employees must be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Fifth Circuit found the Rule was inconsistent with the text of the FLSA, and was arbitrary and capricious. 

Shawn Matthew Clark discusses the basics of noncompetes and what employers need to consider regarding noncompetes, as well as why the FTC wants to ban them and how recent SCOTUS decisions may affect the FTC’s rule.

New York County Lawyers Association

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In July, the Third Circuit upheld a District of New Jersey decision to throw out a withdrawal liability assessment, finding the multiemployer pension fund was barred from pursuing its claim because the fund unreasonably delayed notification of a withdrawal liability assessment for 12 years.

Withdrawal Liability Assessments Under ERISA

Alex MacDonald discusses recent court decisions that criticized the way the NLRB operates and that could transform American labor law.

Washington Legal Foundation

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The Connecticut Supreme Court recently adopted the U.S. Supreme Court's relatively narrow definition of “supervisor” for use in determining when employers are liable under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (CFEPA) for creating or failing to remedy a hostile work environment. The decision provides employers with clarity as the term is not defined by the CFEPA.

Alex MacDonald says the NLRB's judges aren’t necessarily the sort of officers whom the president has the power to remove under Jarkesy and Supreme Court precedents.

Law360 Employment Authority

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This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments in federal courts of appeal in the last month.

Kathryn Siegel, Rachel Satinsky and Dru Selden assess the current landscape of restrictive covenants and the trend of federal agencies and states toward limiting noncompete provisions.

Law360

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Ben Sandahl discusses a Minnesota case that raises several issues for companies working with independent contractors.

Westlaw Today

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Andrea M. Kirshenbaum discusses the 2023-24 SCOTUS opinions that promise to reshape administrative law in the United States for decades to come.

The Legal Intelligencer

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Alexander MacDonald says that in the wake of Chevron, existing regulations will not be thrown out, but there will be closer scrutiny over regulations, and there may be fewer of them to come.

HR Dive

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Alexander T. MacDonald and Michael J. Lotito review four decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court's recently completed term and discuss how the rulings may affect employment law.

Westlaw Today

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Alex MacDonald says the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Chevron will likely impact regulatory bodies and the employers they oversee.

Corporate Compliance Insights

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Alexander MacDonald talks about how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Chevron will likely impact rulemaking across the federal government.

Law360

On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting a venture capital fund from awarding grants based on race and gender. In reversal of the district court, the majority found the grant contest “substantially likely to violate” 42 USC Section 1981, a federal statute enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibiting private parties from racial discrimination in contracts.

This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal in the last month.

At the Supreme Court

Alex MacDonald says that federal agencies will have to look for new ways to advance their policy positions in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Chevron. 

Corporate Compliance Insights

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Alexander MacDonald says without Chevron, agency rulemakings will likely stick closer to the statute or take “fewer big swings” when it comes to interpreting the law.

Bloomberg Law

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Alexander MacDonald says agencies may have to “regulate more modestly and litigate more often” after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron.

SHRM Online

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Michael Lotito says the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to nix Chevron deference sends a message to federal agencies that the days of administrative overreach are over.

Law360 Employment Authority

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Alexander MacDonald says Jarkesy's biggest effect on the NLRB might come not from what the court ruled, but from what it decided not to rule on.

Law360 Employment Authority

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Alexander MacDonald says most of the rules, regulations, decisions and doctrines employment lawyers deal with each day are first developed by agencies.

Bloomberg

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Michael Lotito says the Supreme Court’s decision to curb the SEC’s in-house courts may result in challenges for state labor agencies that use a similarly modeled in-house enforcement and appeals process.

Bloomberg Law

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On June 7, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published its FY 2024 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) for Supply and Service Contractors. The CSAL is a courtesy notification, and the review will start once the establishment receives OFCCP’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved scheduling letter.

On March 29, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). These changes will impact how companies collect the race and ethnicity data for their federal reporting. 

Littler Women's Leadership Initiative co-chair Margaret Parnell Hogan, interviews fellow Littler attorney Dionysia L. Johnson-Massie, about how respecting women in the workplace helps recruit and retain crucial talent, among other IE&D efforts.
  

In 2022 the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) began requiring that federal contractors and subcontractors subject to the affirmative action requirements of Executive Order 11246 annually certify that they are meeting their requirement to develop and maintain annual affirmative plans (AAPs).  In rolling out this program, OFCCP warned that covered contractors that failed to certify by a deadline would be at a higher risk for audit.  OFCCP made good on this warning when it published its 2023 Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL), which is a courtesy notice of cont

On December 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations requiring the so-called “nondisplacement” of workers performing work on contracts for the federal government under the Service Contract Act (SCA). These regulations implement Executive Order 14055, “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” President Biden signed on November 18, 2021.

On August 24, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget approved a request from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to revise the “Itemized Listing” that OFCCP uses to collect information from federal contractors that are selected for supply or service audits. Among the changes that have been approved is a new requirement that audited contractors:

David Christlieb talks about the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action, as well as its decision in siding with an employee who refused to work.

WGN Radio

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Alyesha Dotson says the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action may result in a less-diverse talent pool for employers in the coming decades. 

Forbes

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Alyesha Dotson weighs in on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that private businesses with religious convictions don’t have to follow antidiscrimination laws that protect LGBTQ+.

SHRM Online

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Alyesha Dotson and David Goldstein said the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina offers an opportunity for employers to review their DEI programs and possibly establish more robust ones to help offset any effects of the ruling.

Law360

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Last week the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission revealed that the 2022 EEO-1 reporting deadline is again being postponed.  Reporting, which was expected to begin in July, is now “tentatively” scheduled to open in the fall of 2023.  The change was referenced in brief notices on an EEOC webpage and the EEO-1 website.

According to the EEO-1 website:

On June 5, 2023, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published its FY 2023 Construction Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL). The CSAL includes 250 employers that OFCCP has identified as federal or federally assisted construction contractors.

On April 25, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget approved the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) updated form prospective and current employees must use to voluntarily self-identify as an individual with a disability.  The form is applicable to federal contractors and subcontractors subject to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires contractors to invite applicants to self-identify as disabled at the pre-offer stage, and to invi

In December 2021, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) implemented a new requirement that all covered federal contractors and subcontractors annually certify that they have current affirmative action plans in place for each of their establishments or functional units as applicable.  The Process for Certification, which was to be made through a new Contractor Portal, was rolled out over a five-month period beginning on February