The New York State Department of Labor (“NYS DOL”) has launched a new webpage dedicated to alerting workers regarding COVID-19 related employment protections and allowing them to submit a complaint online by simply clicking...more
Adding to a growing wave of local, state, and federal legislation addressing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 18, 2020 (and revised on March 19, 2020), New York Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.6, a...more
As bars, restaurants, theatres, sporting and entertainment events, gyms, casinos, movie theatres, and other establishments shutter globally in response to the COVID-19 pandemic many employers have been forced to consider...more
1. Treating Voluntary Uniformed Service Differently than Involuntary Service -
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) prohibits employers of all types and sizes from discriminating against...more
On December 19, 2019, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it will award more than $1 million to an individual whose tip helped expose a securities fraud scheme and eventually led to the CFTC...more
The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (“OWB”) released its Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report (the “Report”) to Congress on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program on November 15, 2019....more
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) administer whistleblower claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. ...more
As states continue to pass legislation focused on the workplace, employers should be mindful that federal agencies are also continuing to regulate the workplace even in the absence of new federal legislation, especially with...more
On July 16, 2019, three prominent whistleblower law regulators spoke at PLI’s Corporate Whistleblowing in 2019, which was co-chaired by Orrick partners Mike Delikat and Renee Phillips. ...more
For nearly five years, major U.S. corporations have been subject to intense scrutiny over their decisions on whether to release internal pay gap percentages in response to shareholder proposals by Arjuna Capital, LLC and...more
7/29/2019
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Executive Compensation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
No-Action Letters ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Wage and Hour
Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd., the first employment competition case to reach the UK’s highest court in over a century was decided on July 3, 2019, changing the landscape for noncompetition agreements in the UK....more
On April 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an opinion letterfinding that “on-demand” service providers working for a virtual marketplace company are independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards...more
On May 6th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced that it made a whistleblower award of approximately $1.5 million to an individual whistleblower....more
The world of professional sports has long grappled with criticism of the stark pay differences between male and female athletes – think Billie Jean King’s “equal pay for equal play” push. ...more
4/2/2019
/ Athletes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Sports ,
Wage and Hour
In February, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its FY 2018 Annual Report and announced a record-breaking year for the agency’s whistleblower program. Overall, whistleblowers provided information that contributed to...more
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced earlier this month that it had awarded more than $2 million to an individual who provided “critical information through independent analysis of market data”...more
On February 27, 2019, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)—Canada’s largest securities regulator—announced that it had awarded $7.5 million to three whistleblowers who provided tips that led to enforcement actions....more
As two recent cases show, how one pleads its case under the Defend Trade Secrets Act can be the difference between whether “aloha” means hello or goodbye to federal jurisdiction....more
Big Law is no stranger to providing advice on pay equity or defending pay equity lawsuits. But until recently, headlines generally featured lawsuits challenging the compensation practices of their clients, not the law firms...more
9/27/2018
/ Big Law ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Equity Compensation ,
Equity Partners ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Law Firm Partners ,
Law Practice Management ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
The California Pay Equity Task Force recently published guidance and approved resources for employer compliance with the state’s equal-pay laws. ...more
9/24/2018
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
New Guidance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Sex Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) filed its first disciplinary action involving cryptocurrencies, conforming with its stated 2018 goal of monitoring and supervising the largely unregulated...more
A federal court in Connecticut recently granted summary judgment to a prospective employee on an employment discrimination claim brought under Connecticut’s Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA)....more
On September 6, the SEC issued awards totaling more than $54 million to two whistleblowers who provided critical information and continued assistance to the agency in an enforcement action. This large award follows another...more
In the world of election politics, arms-length dealing with political adversaries is a delicate dance. Recently, TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm learned how risky even negotiating with those on the same side of the aisle...more
On June 28, the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) voted to propose amendments to its whistleblower program. As SEC Chair Jay Clayton explained, the proposed changes would “strengthen the whistleblower...more