Ogletree Deakins Insights

Subscribe
Visit Blog
By: Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.

Blog Authors

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
By John A. Drake
By Ursula A. Kienbaum
By Jason A. Rothman
By Scott A. Siegner

Latest from Ogletree Deakins Insights

GovernmentalAffairs_GettyImages-947881968-1024x584-3.jpg
Final Overtime Rule Advances. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s proposal to increase the salary threshold regarding overtime pay to slightly more than $35,000 per year took another step forward in the regulatory process this week. On August 12, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received a draft of the final rule for review. As the Buzz has discussed on multiple occasions, OIRA is…
california-2.png
Currently, certain employers are required under federal law to file annual Employer Information Reports (EEO-1) with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These EEO-1s must contain data regarding demographics of the employer’s workforce. Accordingly, employers covered by federal EEO-1 reporting requirements were required to file EEO-1 Component 1 data from 2018 by May 31, 2019, and must still submit Component 2 EEO-1 (pay and hours worked) data for their workforces by September 30, 2019. Not to…
Construction_anthony-ginsbrook-678771-unsplash-1024x683.jpg
Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employees have the right to determine whether union representation is in their best interests. The freedom of employees to make this critical choice in an atmosphere free of coercion or intimidation is one of the Act’s bedrock principles. Due to a unique provision in the NLRA, however, employees in the construction industry do not always have a choice on the “union issue.” On August 12, 2019, the National…
new-jersey-3.png
On August 6, 2019, Acting Governor Sheila Oliver signed the New Jersey Wage Theft Act (WTA) into law. The law has been touted by proponents as the toughest wage theft statute in the country. Notwithstanding its name, the WTA goes far beyond attempting to prevent and punish intentional “wage theft” by significantly expanding the liability even the best-intentioned employers will face for state wage law violations. The majority of the WTA took effect immediately, amending…
illinois.png
As we previously reported, the Illinois legislature passed House Bill 834 and Governor J. B. Pritzker signed the bill into law. It will become effective September 29, 2019. The new law prohibits employers from requesting or requiring prospective employees to provide their salary histories as a condition of being considered for employment. The law also prohibits Illinois employers, with only a few narrow exceptions, from seeking a candidate’s wage or salary history from a…
minnesota.png
Joining a chorus of cities and states addressing concerns involving employers’ failure to properly calculate employees’ pay, or to pay them at all, allowing employees to work “off the clock,” or take unauthorized or illegal deductions, on August 8, 2019, the City of Minneapolis enacted an ordinance prohibiting “wage theft,” which will go into effect on January 1, 2020. The term “wage theft” is generally understood to mean instances of denying meal or rest breaks,…
new-york.png
As we previously reported, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed an omnibus bill that overhauls New York’s antidiscrimination laws and uproot precedent upon which employers have relied for decades in defending harassment claims. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law on August 12, 2019, and the various amendments to the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL), the General Obligations Law, the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), and the New…
indiana.png
On April 15, 2019, the Indiana Court of Appeals issued a ruling that significantly developed restrictive covenant law in two areas: whether courts may reform contracts (as opposed to blue-penciling them) and whether non-solicitation provisions can include prospective customers. In Heraeus Medical, LLC, et al. v. Zimmer, Inc. et al., the court of appeals—apparently for the first time—reformed an overbroad restriction rather than merely blue-penciling it. The court also clarified that non-solicitation provisions may…
On April 15, 2019, the Indiana Court of Appeals issued a ruling that significantly developed restrictive covenant law in two areas: whether courts may reform contracts (as opposed to blue-penciling them) and whether non-solicitation provisions can include prospective customers. In Heraeus Medical, LLC, et al. v. Zimmer, Inc. et al., the court of appeals—apparently for the first time—reformed an overbroad restriction rather than merely blue-penciling it. The court also clarified that non-solicitation provisions may…
Arbitration-and-alternative-dispute-resolution_GettyImages-914821794-1024x683-2.jpg
In 20/20 Communications, Inc. v. Crawford, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled that the question of whether a dispute can be arbitrated on a class-wide basis is a threshold issue that is presumptively for a court, not an arbitrator, to decide. This is the latest in a series of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States and courts of appeals in favor of arbitration agreements that waive…