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Employment Law

FTC appeals court order that killed noncompete ban

10/28/2024
The Federal Trade Commission on Oct. 18 filed an appeal seeking to overturn a federal court’s ruling that the FTC did not have the authority to issue a rule banning noncompete agreements nationwide.

Understand how USERRA protects FEMA reservists

10/28/2024
If you have employees who belong to the National Guard or military reserves, you are probably familiar with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. But USERRA doesn’t just protect the employment rights of military-connected employees. It also covers Federal Emergency Management Agency reservists—paid civilian temporary employees who assist FEMA during emergencies and the recovery phase that follows natural disasters.

Ensure your organization complies with child-labor laws

10/28/2024
Recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor reveals a troubling spike in child-labor violations among U.S. employers. In fiscal year 2023, the DOL concluded 955 investigations that found child-labor violations, a 14% increase from the previous year.

Harassment cost employer $3 million—and the harasser $835,000

10/25/2024
Juries tend to harshly punish employers that ignore harassment complaints and let the abuse continue. But occasionally, a jury decides it’s not enough to punish the employer; they punish the harasser, too.

NLRB mandate: Amend stay-or-pay rules by Dec. 6

10/25/2024
Offering especially generous benefits such as paying a signing bonus, reimbursing college tuition, covering relocation expenses or providing costly training can certainly buy employees’ loyalty. But if you try to cement that loyalty with penalties for quitting before an agreed-upon period of time has passed, you may soon find yourself facing a National Labor Relations Board unfair labor practice charge.

DOL offers a framework for AI hiring decisions

10/21/2024
In conjunction with the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology, the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has a new publication and associated tools, AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework, both of which are geared toward hiring employees with disabilities.

On the Supreme Court docket: Cases to watch in the ‘24–‘25 term

10/21/2024
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear three important employment-law cases in its 2024–2025 term, which began Oct. 7 and will end in late June 2025.

PWFA: Routinely grant requests for leave to attend pregnancy-related appointments

10/16/2024
EEOC rules implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act say employers should routinely grant pregnant employees’ requests for time off to attend pregnancy-related medical appointments. It’s so clear-cut that one employer just quickly agreed to settle when the EEOC threatened to file a failure-to-accommodate lawsuit under the PWFA.

Tolerate boss’s racist behavior, retaliation? Prepare to pay millions in damages

10/16/2024
If you need a reason to stamp out workplace name-calling, discriminatory work assignments and retaliation, consider the massive punitive-damages award a jury recently granted to an employee who sued because of ongoing racist behavior by a supervisor.

Fed agencies by the numbers for FY 2024

10/15/2024
The EEOC, National Labor Relations Board and OSHA have released new statistics on their activities during federal fiscal year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.