On the heels of President Trumps Executive Orders signaling the administration’s intent to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal and private sector, the EEOC has issued two technical...more
The Ohio General Assembly recently enacted HB 106, which has been signed by Governor DeWine, providing employees with the right to a written or electronic paystub. Effective April 9, 2025, employers in Ohio will be required...more
As 2025 begins under President Donald Trump’s administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is experiencing significant changes. President Trump has issued executive orders addressing policies related to...more
3/3/2025
/ Abortion ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Title IX ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
During the run-up to President Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission issued their collective “Guidelines” to explain how they will assess whether business practices violate the...more
2/26/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
Senator Louis Blessing, III, Republican, and William DeMora, Democrat have introduced Senate Bill 11 which seeks to ban employers from requiring their employees to adhere to non-competes and certain stay or pay provisions. ...more
2/13/2025
/ Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor published its listing of annual increases for 2025. Included in this list are higher penalties for OSHA workplace safety violations for employers. While these increases are in line with...more
1/27/2025
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 ,
OSHA ,
Penalties ,
Risk Management ,
Workplace Safety
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...more
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...more
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...more
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...more
Understanding the nuances of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) is crucial for effective estate planning and tax strategy. For example, estate planners must be familiar with the tax basis adjustment provisions in 26 U.S.C. §...more
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...more
The Supreme Court recently a long-standing doctrine established by the 1984 decision, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The Court returned the duty of interpreting ambiguous statutory provisions involving federal...more
7/12/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
Within the last two weeks of June 2024, 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...more
7/11/2024
/ Abortion ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Chevron Deference ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Rights ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Injunctions ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS
In an eight-to-one decision this month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, involving a longstanding legal battle against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB was...more
6/28/2024
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Injunctive Relief ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
SCOTUS ,
Starbucks Corp. v McKinney ,
Termination ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, which lowered the threshold for employees to demonstrate discrimination under Title VII, the Sixth Circuit has expanded the scope of what employers...more
5/31/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Lateral Transfers ,
Muldrow v City of St Louis ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
Title VII makes it unlawful to discriminate against employees on the basis of their gender, race, national origin, color or religion. Nowhere does it provide an express definition of discrimination or establish a standard a...more
The DOL has issued its final rule on overtime exempt workers, surpassing all expectations and setting a minimum salary threshold sixty-five percent (65%) higher than current thresholds in a two-step process. Last year, we...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that a Minnesota Home Depot Store broke the law by telling an employee to remove a “BLM” marking from their work apron. The NLRB has recently decided in Home Depot USA, Inc....more
3/21/2024
/ Black Lives Matter ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Dress Codes ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Political Apparel Ban ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Uniforms ,
Unions
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...more
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...more
In her Memorandum issued on May 30, 2023, General Counsel Abruzzo announced her belief that non-competes should be discouraged, if not outright prohibited, as they chill employees’ rights to concerted activity in violation of...more
Building a culture of workplace safety requires a holistic and sustained effort, involving all employees, proper training, and a commitment to transparency and improvement.
In this current landscape, ensuring a secure and...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently finalized a rule broadening the joint employer test.
The new rule replaces a 2020 policy that excused joint employers from bargaining unless workers could demonstrate...more
In the pursuit of economic fairness, Ohio finds itself at a crossroads with the One Fair Wage petition (One Fair Wage), a movement aiming to amend Article II, Section 34a of the Ohio State Constitution to increase the minimum...more
10/20/2023
/ Compliance ,
Economic Stimulus ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Minimum Wage ,
Poverty ,
Price Inflation ,
Productivity ,
Public Assistance ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Small Business ,
State Constitutions ,
Wages