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On July 3, 2024, Judge Ada Brown for the Northern District of Texas issued a limited preliminary injunction in favor of the Plaintiffs, preventing the FTC’s new noncompete rule from taking effect against the Plaintiff’s involved in the case. The injunction will not have nationwide effect and all other employers should continue preparing to comply with the FTC’s new rule starting September 4, 2024.

Today in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court overturned a decades old precedent regarding the deference given to interpretations of federal law by federal administrative agencies. Known as the Chevron doctrine, this 1984 case favored agency interpretations and provided these agencies wide latitude in interpreting and implementing federal laws. The effect of Chevron over the decades has resulted in wide ranging rules and regulations in the areas of employment, wage and hour, immigration, and the environment.

On April 23, 2024, the US Department of Labor announced the final rule that expands the overtime compensation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The United States Department of Labor recently announced the final rule federalregister.gov regarding independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  This rule, scheduled to go into effect on March 11, 2024, rescinds the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule, and will make it more difficult for an employer to classify individuals as independent contractors.  As part of its news release, the DOL states “The rule provides guidance on proper classification and seeks to combat employee misclassification, a serious problem that impacts workers’ rights to minimum wage and overtime pay, facilitates wage theft, allows some employers to undercut their law-abiding competition and hurts the economy at large.”

Visas can generally be divided into non-immigrant visas and immigrant visas. Non-immigrant visas include temporary stay and work visas, while immigrant visas are a direct path to permanent residency and citizenship. Some non-immigrant visas, like the H-1B, are a dual-intent visa – which means that beneficiaries can also pursue a long-term immigrant visa while remaining in valid H-1B status. While there are some advantages healthcare professionals may have in the long-term visa analysis, this article primarily focuses on non-immigrant visas.

On December 29, 2022, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was signed into law by President Biden. The law will take effect tomorrow, on June 27, 2023. The law is designed to give pregnant workers with additional workplace protections by requiring covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. A “covered employer” is an employer with 15 or more employees.

It's no surprise that the FTC's noncompete proposal has caused a stir. Wayne Young shares some of his insight on the subject in the article, "Noncompete Proposal Generates Concerns," published in Arkansas Business.