On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, a federal judge in Texas set aside the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Rule banning the use of noncompete agreements in employment, which was set to take effect on September 4, 2024. The judge held that the FTC exceeded its statutory authority in making the Rule, and that the Rule violated
Workplace Trends
Political Discourse in the Workplace: Considerations for Employers
With a presidential election just around the corner, employers can expect to see an uptick in political discussions in the workplace, if they haven’t already. The days when coworkers typically refrained from discussing politics and religion have passed. However, what is permitted and required of employers with respect to politics in the workplace these days…
Federal Court Allows Ex-Teacher’s First Amendment Claim to Proceed to Trial
A jury will consider a former teacher’s (Mr. Moorehead) First Amendment claim against his former employer, a Pennsylvania School District (the “District”). The claim arose from Mr. Moorehead’s attendance at the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, and his subsequent separation from employment with the District.
Mr. Moorehead traveled down to Washington…
Supreme Court Imposes Tighter Standard for NLRB to Obtain Injunctive Relief
The Supreme Court of the United States recently unanimously ruled against the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney. The decision reversed the NLRB’s attempt to change the standard for evaluating the right to injunctive relief, and requires courts to analyze four factors before issuing a preliminary injunction to restrict…
McNees to Host 33rd Annual Labor & Employment Seminar
The McNees Labor & Employment team will host its 33rd Annual Labor and Employment Seminar next month. The seminar will cover a variety of topics focused on pressing and novel issues in labor and employment law.
The Seminar will be presented virtually on May 16, 2004. The in-person event will be held on May 17,…
FTC Bans Noncompete Agreements: What employers need to know about the FTC’s Noncompete Rule
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a Final Rule (the “Rule”) prohibiting the use of non-compete restrictive covenants (with a limited exception) throughout the United States as an unfair method of competition under the FTC Act. The Rule is set to become effective 120 days after it is published in the…
Board Rules that Wearing BLM Markings Can Be Protected Activity Under the NLRA
On February 21, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a decision finding that Home Depot violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) by using Home Depot’s dress code to require an employee to remove the acronym “BLM,” an initialism for “Black Lives Matter,” from the Employee’s work uniform. The decision…
DOL Rolls Out Final Rule on Independent Contractors under the FLSA
On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a long-awaited Final Rule that addresses when a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”). Under its new Rule, independent contractors are characterized as those workers who, as a matter of economic reality, are not…
Just When You Thought You Were All Zippered Up . . .The NLRB Issues a New Decision on Zipper Clauses
If you are gearing up for union negotiations in 2024, do not miss the opportunity to review current and past practices that may not have been incorporated into expiring collective bargaining agreements. Trust me, it will be worth the effort to dig up and review all of the side letters, settlements and memoranda of agreement…
Chat GPT and OpenAI – What is it and will it impact Human Resources?
We have posted about employer use of Artificial Intelligence, AI, and the emerging legal issues associated with such tools, and no doubt, AI is going to continue to be a hot topic. The growth of AI tools and their usage across industries has been explosive.
Recently, we attended a Webinar on Chat GPT and learned…