On March 27, 2025, in Stimlabs LLC v. Griffiths, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ordered a former executive, Sarah Griffiths, to face claims related to her alleged theft of Stimlab’s trade secrets...more
On March 20, 2025, in Zornoza v. Terraform Global Inc. et al, No. 818-cv-02523 (D. Md. Apr. 4, 2025), a former executive of two SunEdison subsidiaries secured a $34.5 million settlement over his SOX whistleblower retaliation...more
On April 4, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama’s ruling dismissing Alabama Aircraft Industries’ (“AAI”) trade secret misappropriation claim against Boeing, thereby...more
On March 24, 2025, Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin signed into law S.B. 1218, which amended Virginia’s non-compete law to expand the definition of “low-wage employees” with whom employers may not enter into non-competition...more
4/8/2025
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Wyoming just banned most non-compete agreements (Wyo. Stat. § 1-23-108): starting July 1, 2025, most agreements that restrict workers from working in competitive jobs will be void, absent some exceptions for:
High-Level...more
4/3/2025
/ Contract Terms ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
New Legislation ,
New Rules ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Physicians ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Trade Secrets
On March 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a trade secret misappropriation claim under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), finding that the employer failed to plead it had...more
On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice issued two technical assistance documents discussing how the agencies view and define Diversity, Equity and...more
3/26/2025
/ Compensation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interviews ,
Job Applicants ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
As we previously reported, on March 3, 2025, the Maryland District Court denied Defendants’ motion to stay the preliminary injunction in National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump, preventing the...more
On February 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court entertained oral argument in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, a case that centered on whether a plaintiff who is a member of a majority group must meet a higher...more
On February 20, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed a trade secret misappropriation claim for failing to identify explicit language establishing an expectation of privacy to the...more
On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of several provisions of President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders on Ending Radical and...more
On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of several provisions of President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders on Ending Radical and...more
2/25/2025
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fifth Amendment ,
First Amendment ,
Government Agencies ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Separation of Powers
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit allowed an employer to enforce a “forfeiture-for-competition” against a former plant manager. The Court explained that, under Delaware law, forfeiture-for...more
On Monday, January 27, 2025, President Trump removed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC” or the “Commission”) commissioners Charlotte A. Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, the two confirmed in separate statements. ...more
On December 3, 2024, a U.S District Court for the District of Massachusetts jury awarded Plaintiff Insulet Corporation $452 million in compensatory and punitive damages after finding Defendants willfully misappropriated...more
1/23/2025
/ Business Litigation ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Damages ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Misappropriation ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Punitive Damages ,
Technology Sector ,
Trade Secrets
Following our annual tradition — which started over a decade ago — we are analyzing the year's 10 most significant whistleblower and retaliation events.
As you'll see, in 2024, actions taken by a range of courts and...more
12/20/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Appointments Clause ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Article III ,
Asbestos ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Bribery ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corruption ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Financial Institutions ,
Healthcare ,
Incentives ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Kickbacks ,
MI Supreme Court ,
OSHA ,
Qui Tam ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Settlement ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
On October 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit declined to enforce a preliminary reinstatement order issued by OSHA in favor of two purported whistleblowers under SOX, holding that the former employees lost...more
On October 18, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) gave notice that it would appeal a Texas federal court’s decision halting its non-compete rule (the “Rule”) from taking effect as to all employers nationwide. The...more
The SEC recently announced the settlement of multiple enforcement actions for violations of its whistleblower protection rule, which prohibits “any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the...more
9/12/2024
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Investment Adviser ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Separation Agreement ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On August 20, 2024, in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 3:24-cv-00986-E (N.D. Tex.), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs and ordered the...more
On August 9, 2024, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into law HB3773, a bill amending the Illinois Human Rights Act to address employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI). The amendment clarifies that it is a civil...more
On August 14, 2024, in Properties of the Villages, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 5:24-cv-316-TJC-PRL, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida enjoined the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)...more
Earlier today (July 23, 2024), Judge Hodge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied a tree care company’s motion to stay the effective date and preliminarily enjoin the Federal Trade...more
In a motion for reconsideration filed on July 10, 2024, the plaintiffs in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 3:24-cv-00986-E (N.D. Tex. Apr. 23, 2024) urged the court to expand the scope of its limited preliminary...more
On May 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed a trade secret misappropriation claim for failure to identify a trade secret. The case is titled Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC v. Everest...more