On November 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected a challenge to a 1970 amendment to the Michigan Constitution that prohibits payment of “public monies” to private schools.
Believing that the...more
Effective November 1, 2023, the United States Sentencing Commission’s Amendment 821, also known as the “2023 Criminal History Amendment,” has officially become part of the federal sentencing guidelines. Thousands of...more
On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a Final Rule that makes it much easier for the NLRB to find a company to be a "joint employer" of persons directly employed by its contractors, vendors,...more
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has significantly lowered the bar for unions and employees who seek to challenge the validity of work rules, particularly those related to civility, solicitation, confidentiality...more
8/4/2023
/ Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Can a union be sued by management for destroying company property during a strike? On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court answered the question in the affirmative....more
6/7/2023
/ Civil Liability ,
Glacier Northwest v International Brotherhood of Teamsters ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
Private Property ,
Property Damage ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Strike ,
Teamsters ,
Unions
On April 6, 2023, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded programs. 20 U.S.C....more
On March 24, 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law two significant pieces of legislation amending Michigan labor laws: Public Act (“PA”) 9 (2023), and its private sector equivalent, PA 8 (2023). Together, both...more
3/28/2023
/ Bargaining Units ,
Governor Whitmer ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
New Legislation ,
Private Sector ,
Public Sector ,
Public Sector Unions ,
Repeal ,
Right to Work ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions
Can public school children with disabilities sue their schools for violations of the federal antidiscrimination statutes and collect compensatory damages before exhausting their administrative remedies under the Individuals...more
3/23/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
IDEA ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
SCOTUS ,
Special Education ,
Students
In a ruling that will impact both union and non-union employees, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) held that standard non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions contained in a severance agreement were invalid...more
Can a Michigan municipality require contractors to pay union-level wages when they are awarded government contracts? On December 8, 2022, a 3-0 panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals answered the question in the...more
On December 13, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) expanded the remedies that may be awarded in unfair labor practice cases. The board ruled 3-2 that affected employees may recover compensation for "all...more
12/16/2022
/ Bargaining Units ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Make-Whole Doctrine ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
On September 7, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would, if adopted, make it much easier for the NLRB to find a company to be a "joint employer" of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling which will have wide-ranging effects on the ability of governmental entities to react to religious and other speech of public employees. In Kennedy v. Bremerton Schools, the Court ruled...more
Parties involved in litigation outside the U.S. have long had a useful information-gathering tool at their disposal: a U.S. statute allowing them to obtain by court order testimony and documents from persons located in the...more
6/15/2022
/ 28 U.S.C. § 1782 ,
Arbitration ,
Commercial Arbitration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discovery ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Foreign Tribunals ,
International Arbitration ,
International Litigation ,
SCOTUS
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC), Jennifer Abruzzo, has issued a memorandum stating her intent to seek to change the NLRB's longstanding rule allowing employers to hold mandatory meetings during...more
On December 17, 2021, a divided Sixth Circuit Court panel issued an opinion dissolving the Fifth Circuit's stay of the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing issued by the Occupational Safety...more
12/20/2021
/ Appeals ,
Compliance Dates ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Order to Lift Stay ,
OSHA ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Time Extensions ,
Vaccinations
Immediately after OSHA published its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing for private sector workers, various individuals, covered employers, states and other groups challenged its validity...more
11/15/2021
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
OSHA ,
Public Health ,
Statutory Authority ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On November 10, 2021, the NLRB General Counsel issued a memorandum discussing the bargaining obligations imposed on covered employers under OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus ("ETS")....more
11/15/2021
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Good Faith ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations
On September 29, 2021, National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum describing her intent to treat scholarship athletes at Division-I Football Bowl Subdivision ("FBS")...more
9/30/2021
/ Colleges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Scholarships ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Universities
Can a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement compel international arbitration under the doctrine of equitable estoppel? Last year, in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, 140 S. Ct. 1637...more
In a decision that may concern employers, the Supreme Court held on June 23, 2021, that a California state regulation that required agricultural employers to allow union organizers onto their property for up to three hours...more
6/28/2021
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid ,
Farm Workers ,
Farms ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Just Compensation ,
NLRA ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Unions ,
United Farm Workers
On June 23, 2021, the Supreme Court held in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L that a public school may not regulate off-campus student speech where there is no substantial disruption of school activities.
In Mahanoy, a...more
On June 16, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education ("DOE") issued a "Notice of Interpretation" expanding protection of gay and transgender students under Title IX to include educational institutions receiving federal monies....more
6/18/2021
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Funding ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
Universities
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits retaliation against employees because they either oppose discriminatory actions (the "Opposition Clause") or because of their participation in an investigation, proceeding, or...more
6/9/2021
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEO ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Protected Activity ,
Public Policy ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Wrongful Termination