Quick Hits On May 7, 2026, Tennessee Governor Lee signed into law legislation that bans noncompete agreements for workers who earn less than $70,000 per year. The law will apply to agreements entered into, renewed, or amended on or after July 1, 2026. Noncompetes executed after July 1, 2026 for employees who do not meet the minimum annualized compensation will be void and unenforceable. Under House Bill (HB) 1034, total…
Quick Hits The Fifth Circuit rejected a plaintiff’s argument that the employer’s statement, “[Y]ou’re about to go on leave so … I can’t lose two people when you’re going to be taking leave soon,” constituted direct evidence of discrimination as it was too attenuated. The Fifth Circuit analyzed the plaintiff’s pregnancy discrimination claim under both the “but-for” and “mixed-motive” causation standards and found her evidence insufficient under either standard. The…
Quick Hits On May 8, 2026, the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a disability discrimination claim because the plaintiff could not return to work in person, which was one of the essential functions of the job. The employer satisfied its obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation by offering telework two to three days a week, which the employee rejected. The employee’s inability to perform the essential…
Quick Hits MSHA’s FY 2027 budget justification seeks nearly a 10 percent funding cut while preserving core inspection duties and shifting resources toward training, regulation, data analytics, and technology. The proposal would reduce funded staffing through attrition, eliminate the Brookwood-Sago mine safety grants program, and pursue AI tools for inspectors. Mine operators can expect MSHA to maintain regular inspections despite fewer enforcement positions. Overall, MSHA is requesting nearly a 10…
Quick Hits Under German labor law, employees claiming unequal treatment in relation to a “comparator” must specifically demonstrate in court that they perform the same or equivalent work as the comparator. Anyone seeking to sue for “equal hourly wages” must specifically demonstrate the number of working hours on which their own monthly salary is based; without a verifiable gross hourly wage for the plaintiff, a comparison with the comparator’s gross…
Quick Hits A new proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and U.S. Department of the Treasury would allow employers to provide coverage for fertility treatments as a limited excepted benefit. Employees would be able to enroll in excepted benefit fertility coverage without having to enroll in the employer’s group health plan. This excepted benefit coverage would apply only to…
Quick Hits In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts that have stayed claims in pending actions under Section 3 of the FAA maintain jurisdiction to confirm or vacate the resulting arbitral awards under sections 9 and 10 of the FAA. In this case, the original employment discrimination claims were sufficient to establish the federal district court’s jurisdiction. The Court ruled that the original claims also established…
Quick Hits The Supreme Court recently found that freight brokers can be sued for negligent hiring after accidents involving motor carriers selected for interstate transport of goods. The FAAAA does not override state laws concerning negligent hiring of unsafe motor carriers. The FAAAA preempts state laws related to prices, routes, and services for commercial trucking companies and brokers. However, a safety exception allows states to maintain safety regulatory authority with…
Quick Hits Effective July 10, 2026, a new USCIS interim final rule gives adjudicators explicit regulatory authority to deny—rather than merely reject—immigration benefit requests with invalid signatures. Unlike a rejection, a denial means USCIS retains the filing fee, and the petitioner must file an entirely new petition to try again. Employers, HR professionals, and immigration practitioners may want to review signature workflows now, as USCIS will not permit petitioners to…
Quick Hits The California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, affirmed the holding that an employer could not enforce an arbitration agreement since it was neither a signatory to the contract nor an “affiliate” of the staffing agency. The court further held that even if the employer was a third-party beneficiary of the arbitration agreement, the agreement did not cover claims arising after the employment with the staffing agency ended.…
Quick Hits On April 23, 2026, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill (SB 1134) that prohibits counties and municipalities from funding or promoting DEI-related programs, training, and offices. The law requires recipients of county and municipal contracts and grants to confirm they do not promote DEI. The law will take effect on January 1, 2027. The new law defines DEI as any effort to: “[m]anipulate or otherwise influence the…
Quick Hits The ADA’s broad definition of “disability” expressly encompasses mental health conditions, which may include major depressive disorder, panic disorder, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit disorder, and autism spectrum disorder, among others. Employers have an obligation to provide reasonable accommodation(s) that enable employees with mental health disabilities to perform their essential job functions or enjoy the equal privileges and benefits of employment. Employees are not entitled…
Quick Hits Germany’s Federal Labor Court held that an employer’s failure to attempt contact with a vacationing employee for the purpose of a required hearing before issuing an extraordinary termination on suspicion rendered the termination invalid for exceeding the two-week notice period. An employer must make a reasonable attempt to reach an employee on vacation within one week of learning the relevant facts, and only such an attempt will suspend…
Quick Hits OSHA is making mental wellness a significant part of its modern safety framework. Employers may want to ensure that their safety and health management systems include worker input to ensure psychologically safe environments. Psychological risk prevention may include employee assistance programs, leaves of absence accommodations, and other accommodations to prevent and mitigate risk exposure. Psychological safety refers to the mental and emotional well-being of workers in the workplace,…
Quick Hits Maine Governor Janet Mills recently signed a bill that updates the state’s existing substance use testing law to prohibit arbitrary drug testing in the workplace. The new provisions permit drug testing based on reasonable suspicion of impairment, criteria-based testing, and random testing based on neutral selection methods. The law will take effect on July 29, 2026. The legislation updates Maine’s existing substance use testing law as follows: Employers…
Though neither Virginia nor Maine requires the disclosure of benefits information, both states’ laws require employers to disclose compensation information in job postings. Further, they continue the trend of the laws varying in nuanced and significant ways. For example, Maine imposes a ten-employee coverage threshold for purposes of its job posting requirements, and also incorporates recordkeeping and employee-request obligations; Virginia combines its posting requirements with a salary history ban, anti-retaliation…
Quick Hits EU member states Estonia, Malta, Lithuania, and Slovakia have released recent updates on their respective implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Delays are now expected for Estonia; meanwhile, Malta, Slovakia, and Lithuania are still on track to meet the 7 June 2026 deadline. The European Commission has previously stated that the date for implementation remains 7 June 2026. Estonia The Economic Affairs Minister for Estonia, Erkki Keldo,…
Quick Hits A lawful strike in Germany can supersede previously approved vacation, resulting in an employee not receiving vacation pay for the strike period. Vacation from the previous year may expire if it is not taken during the carryover period; the employer’s special obligations to cooperate may be set aside if the vacation has already been requested and approved. The Case—Vacation Approved, Strike Underway: Who Pays? The employer, a recycling…
Quick Hits Oklahoma’s HB 3127 imposes a mandatory zero-tolerance drug and alcohol standard for safety-sensitive positions and replaces the previous broad employer-judgment standard with a specific list of qualifying duties. Employers now have expanded authority to act on positive marijuana tests under any compliant written drug and alcohol testing policy—not just for safety-sensitive roles. Employers still cannot take adverse action solely because someone holds a medical marijuana license. Zero Tolerance…
Quick Hits Parts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are experiencing unhealthy air quality due to wildfire smoke. Employers may need to take safety precautions against wildfire smoke to comply with the federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and certain state-level laws. Some workers have disabilities that require reasonable accommodations when air quality is poor. With heavy wildfire smoke, harmful particles, gases, and ash can seep into workplaces and…
Quick Hits The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires for-profit employers to pay all employees for all hours worked. Some interns and students are not considered employees if they meet the criteria of the “primary beneficiary” test. Some states have laws governing unpaid internships that are stricter than the FLSA. Unpaid internships remain fairly common in certain industries, including restaurants, publishing, television and filmmaking, music, and fashion. This designation…
Quick Hits In Sonderling v. Ikes Artisan Pizza LLC, the DOL argued that the FLSA’s anti-retaliation provision grants courts broad authority to award punitive damages against employers. The case implicates an unresolved circuit split and could significantly increase financial exposure under the FLSA retaliation. Background The Ikes Artisan Pizza case centers on a complaint filed by the DOL in 2022 alleging that the employer retaliated against an employee for communicating…
Quick Hits California Senate Bill 951 would require employers to provide at least ninety days’ advance written notice before eliminating positions due to AI or automation affecting twenty-five or more workers or twenty-five percent of the workforce, and to separately notify state agencies when they permanently stop hiring for roles replaced by AI. The bill would protect affected workers at companies with more than one hundred employees by prohibiting discharge…
Quick Hits Several federal laws may require businesses to provide reasonable accommodations for employees seeking infertility treatments. A growing number of states have passed laws requiring health plans to cover infertility diagnosis and treatments. Fertility medications and procedures are not always covered by health insurance. Leave Benefits The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may apply to fertility treatments if they are needed to address a serious health condition requiring…
Quick Hits Life science employers face a rapidly evolving 2026 legal landscape spanning noncompete enforcement shifts, expanding pay transparency mandates, AI bias audit requirements, immigration overhauls, DEI program legal exposure, NLRB policy reversals, OSHA heat standards, new leave and accommodation obligations, and workforce development imperatives. State and federal developments are moving in different and sometimes opposing directions, with the Trump administration pulling back on certain enforcement priorities while states accelerate…
Quick Hits The DOL’s AI Literacy Framework defines essential skills for effectively using and evaluating generative AI technologies in the workplace. The framework encourages employers to provide hands-on training to ensure all employees possess baseline AI literacy skills to engage with AI tools responsibly and effectively. The framework outlines foundational content areas and key principles for effective training, including experiential learning and the integration of complementary human skills alongside AI…
Quick Hits California’s AB 2064 would add “criminal history” as a new protected characteristic under both the Unruh Civil Rights Act and FEHA. Employers would retain the ability to consider criminal history through an individualized assessment under the Fair Chance Act, but would be required to demonstrate that the conviction directly and adversely relates to specific job duties before denying employment. The bill builds on California’s existing Fair Chance Act…
Quick Hits The California Court of Appeal held that an arbitrator’s finding of no Labor Code violations has issue-preclusive effect on an employee’s PAGA standing. The decision barred an employee from pursuing representative PAGA claims in court after losing on individual claims in arbitration. The ruling confirms a powerful strategy for employers: compel individual claims to arbitration, secure a favorable ruling, and then move to dismiss the representative PAGA action.…
Quick Hits The IRS has issued new guidance reflecting that the tax exclusion for educational assistance programs under Section 127 will be adjusted for inflation starting in 2027, while maintaining a flat cap of $5,250 for 2026. The guidance clarifies the permanent extension for tax-free employer contributions toward qualified education loans and clarifies that educator expenses can be claimed as itemized deductions starting in 2026. The IRS updated its frequently…
Quick Hits Beginning no later than January 3, 2028, eligible Maryland employees will be entitled to up to twenty-four weeks of paid family and medical leave for certain specified reasons. The MDOL’s FAMLI Division has significantly overhauled its website to provide new and expanded guidance to employers and employees in advance of the start of the paid family and medical leave insurance (FAMLI) program. The FAMLI Division’s employer-focused resources include…
Quick Hits The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that ambiguities in three arbitration documents did not defeat the parties’ mutual intent to arbitrate. The ambiguities involved Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applicability, arbitrator selection, and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) waivers. The court found only a low level of procedural unconscionability, typical of adhesive employment agreements, and no substantive unconscionability. The agreement’s severability clause allowed the court to…
Quick Hits A Massachusetts federal court extended its preliminary injunction blocking the ACTS survey mandate for twelve intervenor-plaintiffs, representing approximately 178 additional institutions of higher education. The court found that the intervenor-plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the ACTS survey was adopted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court concluded it had the statutory authority…
Quick Hits The DOJ ordered the reclassification of certain marijuana and marijuana-containing products from Schedule I to Schedule III controlled substances, potentially reshaping medical research and employer policies around its use. Reclassification could lead to more medical research on marijuana and other non-employment-related impacts. Reclassification could also have implications for employers, including the handling of employees who are medical marijuana cardholders, analysis of workplace accommodation requests, and maintaining drug testing…
Quick Hits The D.C. Circuit held that an off-site repair facility located near a mine and used primarily to service coal haul trucks qualified as a “mine” under the Mine Act but avoided addressing broader MSHA jurisdictional questions. After the Supreme Court returned the case following Loper Bright, the D.C. Circuit adopted a fact-intensive test asking whether a facility is “necessarily connected with the use and operation of extracting, milling,…
Quick Hits Starting no later than January 3, 2028, the FAMLI program will provide most Maryland employees with up to twelve weeks of paid leave for certain family and medical reasons, with a possible additional twelve weeks of leave for parental bonding, per application year. The program is funded through employer and employee payroll contributions, which will commence on January 1, 2027, and be administered by the MDOL’s FAMLI Division.…
Quick Hits A coalition of higher education/academic and minority trade associations has filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s executive order on DEI initiatives that imposes contractual consequences on federal contractors and subcontractors. The lawsuit alleges that Executive Order (EO) 14398 unlawfully equates DEI with racial discrimination and violates the First Amendment by chilling speech and association on matters of race and diversity. The plaintiffs contend EO 14398 is overly broad…
Quick Hits New clause FAR 52.222-90 declares contractor compliance “material” to the government’s payment decisions, creating direct False Claims Act liability for contractors who maintain prohibited programs. Agencies must bilaterally modify existing contracts to include the new clause by July 24, 2026, and if a contractor refuses, agencies are told to consider whether the contract should be terminated for convenience. Prime contractors must flow the clause down to all tiers…
Quick Hits The minimum wage in the U.S. Virgin Islands will increase to $12.00 per hour starting April 24, 2026, The increase is part of recent amendments enacted in January 2026 that call for annual increases to the minimum wage rate each year until 2028 and call for potential future adjustments by the Virgin Islands Wage Board after 2029. Employers may want to review and update their wage schedules and…
Quick Hits The WHO and several other organizations have jointly developed “Framework Guidelines for Addressing Workplace Violence in the Health Sector,” signaling a unified global commitment to ending workplace violence in healthcare. Despite the absence of a federal OSHA standard, the agency is actively investigating and citing employers that fail to protect healthcare workers from workplace violence. Several states have also taken the initiative to provide workplace violence prevention requirements…
Quick Hits Starting no later than January 3, 2028, the FAMLI program will provide most Maryland employees with up to twelve weeks of paid leave for certain family and medical reasons, with a possible additional twelve weeks of leave for parental bonding, per application year. The program is funded through employer and employee payroll contributions, which will commence on January 1, 2027, and be administered by the MDOL’s FAMLI Division.…