On August 20, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas invalidated the FTC’s rule banning most non-compete agreements. Ryan LLC et al v. Federal Trade Commission, WL 3297524 (08/20/2024)....more
The Michigan Constitution allows voters to initiate ballot measures to change or propose new laws. These citizen initiatives are made outside of the Legislature, enabling ordinary voters to create policy through the ballot. ...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the waiver of a State's immunity under Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is unconstitutional. This ruling permits a State to defend a Title V...more
On May 22, 2024, a group of national business associations filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) from implementing its new Final Rule on overtime. As we noted in our prior alert, the new rule...more
5/29/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
“Third party” or “associational” retaliation is reprisal taken by an employer against someone other than the person who engaged in “protected conduct.” In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Title VII’s anti-retaliation...more
5/14/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
MI Supreme Court ,
Protected Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Termination ,
Third-Party ,
Third-Party Relationships
On April 19, 2024, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“DOE”) issued its long-awaited and lengthy Final Title IX regulations (the “2024 Final Rule”). The 2024 Final Rule requires that all...more
On February 5, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director Laura Sacks ordered a representation election to be held to determine if the Dartmouth University Men’s Basketball team will be represented by the Service...more
On January 10, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the final version of the Independent Contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) proposed in October 2022. The rule will take effect on March 11,...more
On December 5, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that emeritus status does not necessarily create a constitutionally protected property interest. Peterson v Johnson, _F.4th_, 2023 WL 8431635 (for...more
12/7/2023
/ Bylaws ,
Corporate Governance ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employment Litigation ,
Grievance Process ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Professors ,
School Policies ,
Teachers ,
Universities
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published its long-awaited notice of proposed guidance on “Enforcement Guidance of Harassment in the Workplace.”
The proposed guidance, published in the Federal...more
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North...more
7/3/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Diversity ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Universities
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision clarifying the standard for determining whether employees’ religious accommodation requests impose an undue hardship on employers....more
On April 6, 2023, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded programs. 20 U.S.C....more
Can public school children with disabilities sue their schools for violations of the federal antidiscrimination statutes and collect compensatory damages before exhausting their administrative remedies under the Individuals...more
3/23/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
IDEA ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
SCOTUS ,
Special Education ,
Students
In a unanimous decision (Mothering Justice, et al. v Attorney General) issued January 26, 2023, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a July 2022 Court of Claims ruling that the Michigan Legislature lacked the...more
On October 13, 2022, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (Notice) that seeks to clarify the analysis for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. According to the...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released an updated poster that employers with more than 15 workers are required to display. The new poster, released on Oct. 19, 2022, and marked “(Revised 10/20/2022),”...more
On June 23, 2022, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration agreement contained in a personnel manual was not enforceable because the associated disclaimer indicated that the manual did not create a...more
On July 19, 2022, the Michigan Court of Claims held that two voter-initiated laws that were passed and later amended by the state legislature in 2018 should be restored. If the decision stands, the minimum wage in Michigan...more
On April 28, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 6-3 decision in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C., holding that emotional distress damages are not recoverable in a lawsuit brought under the Rehabilitation Act of...more
In Hawkins, et al. v. Cintas Corp., No. 21-3156, __ F.4d __ (2022), plaintiffs brought a class action pursuant to Section 502(a)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), alleging that their former employer...more
4/29/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan
On February 4, 2022, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel opined that the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA") requires public bodies to afford an individual with a disability a reasonable accommodation to participate...more
KEY TAKEAWAYS -
..Plan fiduciaries have a duty of prudence to independently evaluate on an ongoing basis investments offered in a plan’s menu of options and remove any imprudent ones.
..Plan participants’ ultimate...more
1/28/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Plan Participants ,
Remand ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SCOTUS
Key Takeaways -
..The Supreme Court stayed OSHA's Vaccination or Testing ETS, but state/local requirements may apply, employers may still have policies requiring COVID-19 vaccination or testing, and employers still have a...more
1/17/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On December 17, 2021, a divided Sixth Circuit Court panel issued an opinion dissolving the Fifth Circuit's stay of the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing issued by the Occupational Safety...more
12/20/2021
/ Appeals ,
Compliance Dates ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Order to Lift Stay ,
OSHA ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Time Extensions ,
Vaccinations