Labor & Employment

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The FTC took two actions on February 26, 2025 to emphasize its continued focus on labor markets and to rededicate its efforts to a policy priority in common with those of the previous Administration.  First, the FTC approved a Final Order requiring a building service contractor to stop enforcing a no-hire agreement with its customers.  Second, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson directed the FTC to form a Joint Labor Task Force dedicated to “protecting … American consumers in their roles as workers.”Continue Reading Pair of FTC Actions Underscores Continued Focus on Labor Issues

On February 3, 2025, President Trump appointed William B. Cowen as Acting General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Cowen has previously served in a variety of roles throughout the agency, including most recently as Regional Director for the Los Angeles Regional Office and previously as the NLRB’s Solicitor and an NLRB member. Cowen fills the role left vacant by President Trump’s firings of both Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB General Counsel appointed by President Biden, and Jessica Rutter, who served as Abruzzo’s Deputy General Counsel and took over as Acting General Counsel when Abruzzo was fired.Continue Reading Acting NLRB General Counsel Pulls Back Memoranda

On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued another opinion letter (FLSA2025-1) reiterating its position that managers and supervisors are prohibited from participating in a tip pool under any circumstance.Continue Reading DOL Provides Further FLSA Guidance Regarding Manager and Supervisor Participation in Tip Pools

On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter (FMLA2025-01-A) clarifying when an employer may count an employee’s leave taken under a state paid family leave program against that employee’s leave entitlement under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).Continue Reading DOL Clarifies that Leave Taken Under State Paid Family Leave Programs May Run Concurrently with FMLA Leave

Days before President Trump’s inauguration, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) replaced their Antitrust Guidance for Human Resources Professionals (“2016 Guidance”), which had been in place since 2016.  The Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers covers similar ground as the prior guidance, but expands its reach to a few areas emphasized by the Biden Administration.  For example, where the 2016 Guidance primarily covered 1) naked agreements between employers not to poach workers or fix wages and 2) information-sharing arrangements between competing employers, the replacement guidance expands its coverage to other areas, including restrictions in the franchise and independent contractor contexts, non-competition agreements, ancillary agreements such as non-disclosure agreements, non-solicitation agreements, liquidated damages provisions, and conduct such as false earnings claims.Continue Reading DOJ and FTC Release Replacement Human Resources Guidelines to an Uncertain Future

Today, in a highly anticipated decision, a Texas federal district court judge struck down the U.S. Department of Labor’s final regulation that increased the salary threshold for the “white collar” exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The next salary threshold increase under the rule was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025.

On July 25, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas stayed the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recently-issued final rule, set to take effect September 23, 2024, which would amend the definition of an “investment advice fiduciary” for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (the 2024 Rule).  One day later, in a separate case challenging the 2024 Rule, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas also stayed the 2024 Rule on similar grounds.  Both decisions stay the effective date of the 2024 Rule indefinitely while the cases are pending.Continue Reading Two Federal District Courts Stay DOL Fiduciary Rule

Judge Ada E. Brown of the Northern District of Texas this afternoon granted summary judgment in favor of Ryan, LLC and the plaintiff-intervenors in the case of Ryan, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission challenging the FTC’s ban on post-employment non-competes (“Non-Compete Rule”). Judge Brown concluded that the FTC lacked statutory authority to promulgate the…

On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC” or the “Commission”) published its “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace” (the “Guidance”), which outlines the legal standards for harassment and employer liability under the equal employment opportunity laws enforced by the Commission.  (See here.)  The Guidance replaces the five prior harassment guidance documents from the EEOC, issued between 1987 and 1999, and serves as a single resource for workplace harassment law.  The Guidance addresses several timely topics, including, but not limited to, protections for LGBTQ+ workers, harassment in the remote workplace, and the interplay between religious freedom and unlawful harassment.  The Guidance also includes over 70 illustrative examples of permissible and impermissible conduct.   Continue Reading EEOC Updates Anti-Harassment Guidance for First Time in 25 Years

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After much anticipation, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled its Final Rule on April 23, 2024, increasing the salary that an employee must earn in order to qualify for the executive, administrative, professional and highly compensated employee “white collar” exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Although the Final Rule will almost certainly face legal challenges and could be struck down, employers should still take the opportunity to evaluate and audit their employee exemption classifications in the event the new rule takes hold in July.Continue Reading DOL’s Final Rule to Increase Salary Thresholds for Overtime Exemptions