It’s no secret that non-compete agreements have recently come under greater scrutiny by the federal government. In July 2021, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” that, among other things, directed the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to consider curtailing the use of non-compete agreements. Then, in January
Bill Boak
NLRB Holds Employers Must Continue Dues Checkoff After Expiration of Collective Bargaining Agreement
In Valley Hospital Medical Center, 371 NLRB No. 160 (Sept. 30, 2022) (Valley Hospital II), a divided National Labor Relations Board held that employers must continue to deduct union dues from employees’ pay and remit such dues to their union – a process known as “dues checkoff” – even after the expiration of…
NLRB Issues Proposed Rule for Determining Joint-Employer Status
Whether two entities are “joint employers” is an important question under the National Labor Relations Act. Consider Company A, which contracts with Company B, a staffing company, to provide maintenance or other services at Company A’s facility. The maintenance workers are employed directly by Company B. While working at Company A’s facility, Company B’s employees…
OSHA Withdraws COVID-19 Vaccination or Testing ETS
As explained in our previous post, on January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court blocked the OSHA vaccination or testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) pending full consideration of the matter by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, OSHA is withdrawing the ETS, effective January 26, 2022.…
Sixth Circuit Dissolves Stay of OSHA ETS, Permitting OSHA to Resume Implementation of ETS
On December 17, 2021, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) that had previously been issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. We summarized the…
Sixth Circuit Selected to Hear Consolidated Challenge to OSHA ETS, after the Fifth Circuit Issues a Stay
On November 5, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published its much-anticipated COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) requiring, among other things, that most employees of companies with 100 or more employees submit to weekly COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering while at work indoors. We summarized the ETS in…
Biden Executive Order on Competition Targets Labor Markets, Including Non-Compete Agreements and Information Sharing
On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping Executive Order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy”. The Executive Order includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to address perceived competition problems across the U.S. economy, and signals increased enforcement of the antitrust laws in multiple industries (including agriculture, finance,…
Congress Passes Coronavirus Relief Bill Extending FFCRA Leave Tax Credits, But Not Mandatory FFCRA Leave Itself
On December 21, 2020, Congress passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill (“relief bill”) as part of a broader spending bill for fiscal year 2021. President Trump signed the relief bill on December 27, 2020. In anticipation of any coronavirus relief, employers and HR professionals have been asking whether Congress would extend mandatory paid leave…