The Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Bill (SB) 7 on April 24, 2023, and it now heads to Governor Holcomb’s desk for signature. If signed into law, SB 7 would (i) ban noncompete agreements between a primary care physician and employer, (ii) render a noncompete agreement unenforceable upon certain events and (iii) specify a process by which a physician or employer may pursue mediation to…
The Fourth Circuit issued a decision yesterday, reinforcing a plaintiff’s burden in employment discrimination cases. In Balderson v. Lincare Inc., No. 21-1753 (4th Cir. Mar. 15, 2023), a three-judge panel reversed the trial court’s conclusion that Chandra Balderson’s termination from employment was the result of discriminatory animus based on her sex. The trial court reached this conclusion after…
As part of the omnibus spending bill for FY 2023, Congress passed new protections for pregnant employees and nursing mothers in the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the bills into law.
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
The PWFA was enacted to address the gap between the…
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the workforce is divided into two groups: (1) hourly, non-exempt employees, who are entitled to overtime compensation for any time worked in excess of forty hours per week; and (2) salaried, exempt employees who are not entitled to overtime compensation. In order to classify someone as a salaried exempt employee, that person must be paid on a “salary…
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court received oral argument addressing the question of whether the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) preempts a state-court lawsuit against a union for intentionally destroying an employer’s property during a labor dispute. In one of the most highly-anticipated labor cases before the Court in decades, the justices will decide Glacier Northwest, Inc. v.…
The Federal Trade Commission Moves on Non-Competes
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its proposed rulemaking on unfair methods of competition aimed at limiting the use of non-compete clauses between employers and employees. The FTC’s action follows President Biden’s July 9, 2021 Executive Order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” directing the FTC use…
Last month, the Supreme Court lifted the stay regarding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) vaccine mandate for providers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.[1] However, several states, including West Virginia, have recently adopted statutes that interfere with employers’ ability to implement mandatory…
Non-competition agreements have recently come under attack at both the federal and state level. Last year, for example, Indiana passed a law providing greater restrictions on non-compete agreements related to healthcare professionals. At the federal level, in July President Biden issued an executive order that,among many other competition-focused objectives, encourages the Federal Trade…
Learn about the latest changes in labor and employment law in the attached JK Defense Newsletter. Our topics focus on new Tri-State issues ranging from workplace accommodations for pregnant employees (Indiana), the use of employee conviction records in hiring decisions (Illinois), and the type of leave available for adoptive parents (Kentucky).
A federal district court in New York recently ruled in favor of the State of New York and struck down key provisions from the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule implementing and interpreting the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). A summary of State of New York v. U.S. Dept. of Labor’s1 key holdings are as follows:
The district court struck down the DOL’s work availability requirement.…
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) unveiled its final rule today which greatly narrows the scope of the “joint-employer” test under which franchisers and businesses that use third-party employees could be held jointly liable under federal labor law. The NLRB began the rulemaking process late in 2018 and received more than 30,000 public comments on the proposed changes. The new rule will…