Expanded Federal Protections for Pregnant and Nursing Employees in 2023: What Employers Need to Know About the PWFA and the PUMP Act

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2023, into law. In addition to providing $1.7 trillion in funding for the U.S. federal government for the 2023 fiscal year, the Act also adopted two acts implementing certain workplace rights and protecti
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Federal Trade Commission Proposes Nationwide Ban on Non-Compete Agreements

Agreements that prevent former employees from working for a competing business or operating their own competing business may soon be unlawful in the entire United States. At present, roughly one in five American workers are bound by a non-compete agreement, but on January 5, 2023, the
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Ninth Circuit Takes an Expansive View of Whistleblower Protection Under Cal. Lab. Code § 1102.5

Aaron Kilgore worked as an environmental consultant on a project his employer was completing for the U.S. Army Reserve Command. He complained to his supervisor, and to a representative from the Army, that he believed the environmental assessment he had been asked to prepare was illega
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DOL Releases Proposed Rule on Worker Classification

On October 11, 2022, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a proposed rule concerning worker classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). For more than 80 years, both the DOL and courts applied a totality-of-the-circumstances “economic reality test” to determine whet
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Free labor could cost you: an overview of internship wage compliance

As summer approaches, many employers are looking to hire student interns. The benefits of summer internships are mutual: Companies create an accessible group of potential future hires, while interns obtain real- world workplace experience and training, as well as valuable networking o
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Supreme Court Blocks OSHA Vaccine-or-Test Mandate for Large Private Employers

Today (1/13/22), the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate by enjoining OSHA’s ETS, which required employers to mandate vaccines or test unvaccinated employees weekly.  The Court found that Congress had not given federal agencies like OSHA the power to
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SCOTUS Hears Arguments on OSHA’s Vaccine-or-Test ETS

On Friday, January 7, 2022 the Supreme Court held oral arguments to address  OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard related to COVID-19.  The two-hour long arguments were intense and revealed a sharply divided court with the conservative justices questioning OSHA’s authority, and the mor
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COVID-19 as a Disability Under the ADA

On December 14, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released guidance that workers with disabilities stemming from COVID-19 are protected from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and may be eligible for reasonable accommodations.  T
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