Executive Summary: On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Smith v. Spizzirri, holding that federal district courts have no discretion under Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“the FAA”) to dismiss a case once...more
5/20/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Judicial Proceedings ,
Jurisdiction ,
Labor Law Violations ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 3 ,
Smith v Spizzirri ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Stays
The federal Department of Labor (DOL) has long interpreted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow an employer to pay a nonexempt employee a fixed salary for all hours worked in a workweek and “half-time” of an...more
Earlier this year, in Steuer v. Tomaras, et al., Georgia’s Statewide Business Court again refused to modify certain restrictive covenants that were missing a territory. Dr. Steuer, a former partner of the defendant doctors,...more
7/12/2022
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Georgia ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Void Contracts
Executive Summary: The Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50, et seq.) (“RCA”) governs restrictive covenant agreements in Georgia entered into after May 2011. The RCA expressly addresses non-compete,...more
6/20/2020
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
No-Hire/No-Solicitation Agreements ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
In late 2019, the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta federal court) addressed the duties owed when an independent contractor leaves one trucking company to work for another. In Wind Logistics Prof’l v. Universal Truckload,...more
3/3/2020
/ Breach of Duty ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Contract Terms ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Former Employee ,
Independent Contractors ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trucking Industry
Applying the “economic realities” test, the Fifth Circuit (with jurisdiction over federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) recently held that a consultant for an oil and gas company was not subject to FLSA...more
2/26/2020
/ Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contract Terms ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) governs non-compete agreements in Georgia entered into after May 2011 and sets forth that such agreements can be used only with respect to certain employees. ...more
3/14/2019
/ Appeals ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Duties ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
This month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s award of attorneys’ fees to an employer after it had been granted a preliminary injunction against its former employees. See Kelly...more
Last month, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued AMN Healthcare, Inc. v. Aya Healthcare Servs., Inc., 28 Cal. App. 5th 923 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018), a decision calling into question the validity of non-solicitation...more
12/7/2018
/ Anti-Piracy ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Staffing Agencies
Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (the “RCA”) became effective in May 2011, but it took nearly six years before a court published a decision interpreting the statute in the context of a non-competition provision....more
The federal Equal Pay Act already imposes limitations on employers when it comes to compensating employees of the opposite sex for equal work....more
4/20/2018
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Pay Gap ,
Popular ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
Georgia’s recent Restrictive Covenant Act, enacted in 2011, does not directly address non-solicitation of employees a/k/a non-recruitment covenants, thereby leaving such provisions subject to the principles developed by...more
11/21/2017
/ Appeals ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Geographic Markets ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants