In an April 2024 final rule that abruptly took effect July 1, 2024, entitled Defining and Delimiting the Exceptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside sales, and Computer Employees, the Department of Labor amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require a higher standard salary level for those employees exempt from the Act’s minimum wage
EEOC Publishes Final Rule Implementing Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued a final rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA” or the “Rule”). The Rule was published and becomes effective on June 18, 2024.
The PWFA requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with known limitations, including physical or mental
FTC Publishes Final Rule Attempting to Outlaw Most Noncompetition Agreements with Employees
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to approve a final rule banning all employee noncompetition agreements nationwide. The rule, currently set to go into effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register (except for the notice provision which is effective earlier), is the result of the FTC’s position that
DOL Publishes Final Rule Raising Salary Basis Threshold for Many Overtime Exemptions
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule raising the minimum weekly salary many exempt employees must be paid to qualify as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new rule raises the salary basis threshold for executive, administrative, professional and computer professional exempt employees from $684
Texas Passes CROWN Act Prohibiting Racial Discrimination in Hairstyles
Beginning on September 1, 2023, the Texas Labor Code will prohibit race discrimination on the basis of an employee’s hair texture or a protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race. Protected hairstyle includes braids, locks, and twists. Twenty states have pass similar laws commonly referred to as CROWN Acts. CROWN is an acronym for
NLRB Finds Nondisparagement and Confidentiality Provisions Found in Many Severance Agreements Unlawful
A recent decision of the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) concluded that standard nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions found in many employee severance agreements violate federal labor law because they have a reasonable tendency to interfere with and restrain employees’ prospective rights to engage in protected concerted activity, bargain collectively and form unions for their
FTC Proposes Banning Noncompetition Agreements with Employees
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announcing that it was proposing an administrative rule that would end the use of all noncompetition agreements in employment relationships outside the context of the sale of a business. The proposed rule, among other things, labels the following as unfair methods
Expanded Accommodations for Women with Need to Express Breast Milk at Work
Also included in the omnibus spending bill are expanded accommodations for women that need to express breast milk in the workplace. The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act or the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act expands the federal workplace protections for women with a need to express breast milk passed in 2010.
The Robots are Coming
Yesterday, I was on a flight for a business trip and was writing a post about a few Artificial Intelligence applications I’ve been playing around with. But before I could publish my post, I was reminded that you have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat Daniel Schwartz on a blog topic
The Speak Out Act: Eliminating Pre-Dispute Non-Disclosure And Non-Disparagement Agreements For Workplace Sexual Harassment And Assault Matters
President Biden recently signed the Speak Out Act, the latest in a set of bills focusing on workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault. According to the legislative findings of the Act, 81% of women and 43% of men have experienced some form of sexual harassment or sexual assault throughout their lifetime, one in three