The influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt by a group of states arguing that the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution first proposed back in 1972 has been ratified. The ruling thus further constrains the already

The “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA)” was enacted a year ago by Congress to prohibit employers from enforcing pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate sexual harassment claims. The first rulings interpreting th

The four federal agencies with statutory authority over federal whistleblower protection/bounty hunter laws report that activity increased in fiscal year 2022 as compared to the previous year, with two of those agencies receiving a record number of t

MEMBER FEEDBACK REQUESTED. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued an Interim Final Rule spelling out the procedures under which it handles whistleblower retaliation complaints filed under the Criminal Antitrus

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency not normally associated with workplace enforcement, recently announced that it had secured a $35 million enforcement settlement with a publicly traded company for failing to disclose certain pers

Coming nearly 20 years after a similar ruling by another federal appeals court, the D.C. Circuit has ruled that the whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act do not apply extraterritorially.

Employment-related lawsuits filed in federal court dropped for the fourth straight year in FY 2022, with declines especially notable in ADA- and FMLA-related filings.

A new law approved by the last Congress shortly before it adjourned expands the 2010 “Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act” to cover executives, managers, and professionals who were previously exempt from the law’s protection.

Contained within the massive government spending bill recently approved by Congress is a new law that expands protection for pregnant workers. Our memo analyzes the new law, which goes into effect at the end of June.

As we predicted, the final version of the “must-pass” National Defense Authorization Act approved by Congress earlier this month stripped out most of the labor union wish list provisions that the House of Representatives loaded into its version of th

Congress has approved and sent to President Biden for his signature a bill that codifies the protections regarding same-sex marriages that were articulated earlier in two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

With the results of the 2022 mid-term elections now in, CWC has dusted off its crystal ball to take a look at what the changed political dynamic might mean for employment policy issues.

A bill approved by the House of Representatives before lawmakers recessed for the elections would expand whistleblower retaliation protection for employees of the federal government. Such measures sometimes set a precedent for possible changes to the

The Biden Administration has taken additional steps to implement a new “Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework” that was negotiated with the European Union in an attempt to resolve EU concerns that U.S. data protection safeguards are inadequate.

A bipartisan bill that would bar the use of pre-dispute nondisclosure agreements involving sexual assault or harassment claims has been approved by the U.S. Senate and could become law this year.

Two different Presidential Executive Orders set a higher minimum wage rate on certain government contracts depending on when the contract was executed. Pursuant to an escalator clause contained in each E.O., the minimum wage rate under each will incr

The U.S. Congress has wrestled for years with trying to find agreement on a comprehensive federal data privacy law. A bill pending in the House of Representatives that has strong bipartisan support suggests the legislators may be getting closer to co

OFCCP has extended until October 19 the deadline for federal contractors to object to the agency’s release of their “Type 2” EEO-1 reports covering years 2016-2020. Our memo offers guidance as to how an objection might be crafted.

MEMBER FEEDBACK REQUESTED. The Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards has published a proposal that would require an employer covered by obligations to disclose certain expenditures related to union organizing activity to indicate wh

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a large monetary antitrust settlement involving the poultry industry in which DOJ alleged unlawful suppression of worker pay. The settlement is further evidence of DOJ’s current focus on going after a

MEMBER FEEDBACK REQUESTED. The Department of Labor has published proposed regulations pursuant to a Biden Executive Order issued late last year that would require a successor contractor on a contract covered by the Service Contract Act to give the pr

In a major ruling issued just before its current term ended, the Supreme Court provided guidance on the so-called major questions doctrine, a legal theory that can be invoked to challenge an agency rule that has significant economic and political con

Under a new Executive Order signed by President Biden, federal agencies have been tasked with developing Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity “Action Plans” in a step that could ultimately require employers to collect and report such data to the federa

In a case of first impression, the Fifth Circuit has ruled that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a “natural disaster” within the meaning of the federal WARN Act that exempts an employer from having to provide employees with advance notice of a covered pl

MEMBER FEEDBACK REQUESTED. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the powerful independent federal agency created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, is asking for public input on the topic of “employer-driven debt,” presumably with the i