WorkSmarts: Workplace Solutions

Latest from WorkSmarts: Workplace Solutions

July 6, 2023

Publications
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision last week finding that the race-based admissions processes at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional because they violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
The Supreme Court has historically permitted the limited use of race-based college admissions programs, beginning

June 30, 2023

Publications
In a unanimous decision issued yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court established a new framework for determining whether an employer can lawfully deny an employee’s request for a religious accommodation on the grounds that the requested accommodation constitutes an “undue hardship.”
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits covered

In what is likely to be seen as a landmark decision, on Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a decision in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (Feb. 21, 2023) that will immediately change the legal landscape for severance agreements in the United States.  The NLRB overturned two Trump-era cases and held that…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced new proposed regulations today that, if adopted, will ban the use of noncompete agreements for most workers nationwide. The proposed Non-Compete Clause Rule will prohibit all employers – regardless of size – from imposing covenants not to compete on employees and independent contractors, with no carve-out available that would…

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law two laws protecting pregnant and nursing mothers. The two laws were included as part of the bipartisan funding package passed by Congress in late December. The two laws are the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (the PWFA), and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers…

October 25, 2022

Publications
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule to once again update the test to determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposed rule is intended to replace the 2021 independent contractor regulation. The new

September 8, 2022

Publications
A series of recent criminal prosecutions stemming from workplace fatalities in connection with OSHA’s worker safety laws underscore the Justice Department’s willingness to charge OSH Act crimes, even in the absence of other Title 18 offenses or other criminal charges.
OSHA violations, historically, have generally not been charged criminally by federal

August 10, 2022

Publications
On August 10, 2022, major changes in Colorado law go into effect for restrictive employment covenants, i.e., covenants not to compete (non-competition covenants) and covenants not to solicit customers of an employee’s former employer (non-solicitation covenants). For many years, Colorado has limited non-competition covenants by statute, Colorado Revised Statutes §8-2-113, which