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Category: EEOC

Government’s Latest Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda Shows New Activity by the EEOC

This memo summarizes workplace-related regulatory priorities that the Biden Administration listed in its latest semi-annual regulatory agenda. This memo, as well as a chart prepared by our affiliated nonprofit membership association, the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), provide a user-friendly digest of regulatory developments that we are following. Notably, for the first time in several years, the agenda lists several new...
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

Commerce Department Is Seeking Input From Private Sector Businesses on Their DEIA Efforts

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) wants to hear from companies about their diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts. In response to President Biden’s Executive Orders (E.O.) 13985 and 14091, which call for expanding federal government equity initiatives, the Commerce Department developed a set of draft Business Diversity Principles (BDPs) to describe the private sector’s best DEIA practices. DOC’s draft principles...
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Category: Litigation

DOJ Appears To Give Up on Criminal “No-Poach” Prosecutions

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its remaining no-poach criminal case, apparently abandoning its strategy of challenging employers’ no-hire agreements as criminal conspiracies under the antitrust laws. On November 15, 2023, a federal trial court in Texas granted DOJ’s motion to dismiss criminal charges against Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA) and SCAI Holdings for allegedly conspiring not to hire...
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Category: Artificial Intelligence

Sweeping New Biden Executive Order on AI Carves Out Role for Labor Department

President Biden has issued a wide-ranging executive order directing federal executive branch agencies to develop policies that manage the risks of artificial intelligence while recognizing its potential. Officially titled “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” E.O. 14110 was signed October 30, 2023. This memo focuses on the ramifications for the Department of Labor (DOL) and its...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

SEC Cease and Desist Order Dings Employer for Trying To Limit Dodd-Frank Bounty Hunter Award

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined privately held energy company Monolith Resources $225,000 for using a severance agreement that allegedly deprived departing employees of the ability to qualify for whistleblower awards under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Monolith has agreed to the SEC’s September 8 cease and desist order and has modified its separation agreement to exempt whistleblower...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

OMB Seeks More Public Input Into Regulatory Process, as House Approves Major Reg Reform Bills

Illustrating the wide divide between the political parties regarding federal rulemaking, the Biden Administration is seeking greater public input into the current regulatory process while House Republicans want to completely overhaul it. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has instructed federal regulatory agencies to try to broaden public participation and community engagement in the regulatory process. Meanwhile,...
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Category: Policies and Practices

Colorado Amends Its Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA), Effective 1/1/24

Amendments to Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA), signed into law in June, are a mixed bag for covered employers. The EPEWA is the 2019 law that requires covered employers to include pay ranges in job postings for all jobs that could be performed in Colorado and to notify all employees about all promotional opportunities. The amended law, which will...
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Category: Litigation

Ruling by Second Circuit Addresses Key WARN Act Trigger Term

In a relatively rare decision by a federal appellate court interpreting the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a ruling addressing whether an entity is an “operating unit” subject to WARN’s notice requirements. In Roberts v. Genting New York, LLC, the Second Circuit grappled with whether the Aqueduct Buffet, a...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Latest Biden Regulatory Agenda Lists No New Workplace Initiatives

The Biden Administration’s latest semi-annual regulatory agenda, published on June 13, 2023, lists no new initiatives related to workplace compliance, as many of the initiatives it announced previously remain bogged down pending final action. This memo summarizes the latest workplace-related regulatory agendas of the Department of Labor (DOL) and its sub-agencies, such as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

NLRB GC Abruzzo Tells Field Staff That Non-Compete Agreements Likely Violate the NLRA

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has issued a memorandum to the NLRB’s field staff expressing her view that non-compete agreements (NCAs) violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and asking them to find a case for her office to prosecute. Memorandum GC 23-08 follows a ruling earlier this year (McLaren Macomb) in which the NLRB’s Democratic majority...

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