Labor & Employment

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In September 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) took steps to crack down on anticompetitive employee non‑competes even as the FTC abandoned the Biden Administration’s efforts to broadly ban them by rule.  As a first step, on September 4, 2025, the FTC launched an inquiry seeking the public’s input on the prevalence and use of non-competes by employers, stating that “[w]ith the assistance of the employees and workers most burdened by them, the Trump-Vance FTC intends to uproot the worst offenders and restore fairness to the American labor market.”  The next day, the FTC filed a consent decree in an unfair competition action against Gateway Services, Inc. and a subsidiary, premised on its employee non-compete agreements.  The consent decree requires Gateway to stop enforcing non-competes binding its nearly 1800 workers.  On September 10, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson issued warning letters to several undisclosed healthcare companies and staffing agencies for “includ[ing] noncompete agreements … in employment contracts that may unreasonably limit employment options for vital roles like nurses, physicians, and other medical professionals.”  And, on September 17, the FTC announced a workshop focused on “Protecting Workers from Anticompetitive Noncompete Agreements.” The workshop was to be held on October 8 but has been delayed because of the federal government shutdown.Continue Reading FTC Again Targets Unfair Employee Non-Competes

On September 15, 2025, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations implementing key provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act relating to Roth catch-up contributions. The final regulations focus primarily on requirements relating to the so-called mandatory Roth catch-up contributions for participants who made more than $145,000 in FICA wages from the plan sponsor in the prior calendar year.Continue Reading Treasury and IRS Finalize Regulations for Roth Catch-Up Contributions Under SECURE 2.0

On Monday, April 14, 2025, a federal jury convicted Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez of conspiring to fix the wages for home healthcare nurses in Las Vegas and for fraudulently failing to disclose the criminal antitrust investigation during the sale of his home healthcare staffing company.  According to the complaint and trial evidence, Lopez, who oversaw recruitment, hiring, retention and assignments of nurses for three home health agencies, conspired with unnamed conspirators in a series of meetings and communications to artificially cap the wages of Las Vegas-area nurses between March 2016 and May 2019.  He will be sentenced on July 14 for one count of participating in a wage-fixing conspiracy and five counts of wire fraud. Continue Reading DOJ Notches First Trial Win in Wage-Fixing Case

On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued two technical assistance guidance documents (found here and here) focused on educating “the public about how well-established civil rights rules apply to employment policies, programs, and practices—including those labeled or framed as ‘DEI.’”[i]Continue Reading EEOC Technical Guidance Warns Against DEI-Related Discrimination at Work

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.