Expert Analysis

• NLRB Ruling Highlights Risk From Employee Handbook Test

  

  A National Labor Relations Board judge's recent decision to strike down a workplace rule that only theoretically inhibited protected employee activity highlights the great risks employers face under the board's 2023 ruling in Stericycle and explains why this strict standard may be rolled back under the newly Republican-majority board, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

• Trending Legal Implications Of Employee Influencer Programs

  

  Employee-generated content is rapidly becoming a popular marketing strategy, as illustrated by Starbucks' new TikTok program, but it raises several legal risks for employers, including wage and hour exposure, federal disclosure obligations, and intellectual property concerns, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

• Flashpoints In Focus: Shifting Workplace Violence Responses

  

  Amid recent threats of violence against artificial intelligence company executives and Jewish-owned businesses, employers can use policies, processes and safety controls to help prevent workplace violence and abate its recognized hazards, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

• Yellow Corp. WARN Act Appeal Refines Layoff Guidance

  

  A Delaware federal court's recent upholding of a bankruptcy court's disallowance of unions' federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act claims against Yellow underscores that fact-specific notices and thoughtful timing are essential for distressed companies implementing layoffs, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

• Labor Contract Bill Would Introduce Sweeping Risks For Cos.

  

  The House-approved Faster Labor Contracts Act would force rapid first-contract bargaining, subject businesses to binding arbitration over key workplace terms, and create major uncertainty for nonunion companies, making it crucial for employers to assess their exposure and mitigate the risks now, say attorneys at FBT Gibbons.

• How Litigants Are Testing Conversion Therapy Ruling's Scope

  

  Litigants are already using the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Chiles v. Salazar ruling, which applied strict scrutiny to Colorado’s conversion therapy ban, to challenge laws limiting algorithmic rental pricing, artificial intelligence-based discrimination and anti-union employer speech, and courts must soon decide Chiles’ First Amendment limits, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

• Immigration Ruling Maps Alternative To Universal Injunctions

  

  A Rhode Island federal court's decision in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS vacating policies that froze key immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, and paused asylum applications altogether, suggests how practitioners might press for the Administrative Procedure Act's bad faith exception to record review and seek vacatur as a viable alternative to universal injunctions, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

• How 6th Circ. Tightened NLRB Injunction Standard

  

  The Sixth Circuit's recent ruling in Kerwin v. Trinity Health Grand Haven Hospital, dissolving a Section 10(j) injunction obtained by the National Labor Relations Board against an employer that refused to bargain, will make it harder for the NLRB to obtain injunctions while prosecuting unfair labor practice proceedings, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

• Flashpoints In Focus: Handling Religious Objections To AI Use

  

  Pope Leo XIV's recent warning about artificial intelligence may increase requests for religious exemptions from workplace AI use, so employers must be prepared to understand the request's scope, determine whether the employee has a religious conflict and distinguish reasonable accommodations from undue hardship, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

• Using Past Tech Transitions As A Lens For Calif. Worker AI Bill

  

  Examining previous workplace automation battles reveals the goals of a California bill that would impose obligations on employers for layoffs and hiring cessations caused by artificial intelligence, and illustrates where it may prove difficult to administer and how to prepare for its enactment, say attorneys at Skadden.

• NIL Contracts Test Limits On College Football Transfers

  

  College football's new legal era of direct payments to players and fewer transfer restrictions has put contractual provisions in play, and stipulations such as termination clauses and repayment obligations require added scrutiny as the name, image and likeness system evolves, says Kevin Paule at Hill Ward Henderson.

• Flashpoints In Focus: Tips As EEOC Prioritizes Hiring Bias

  

  Two recent cases brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reflect its increased interest in recruiting and hiring bias claims, but employers can safeguard their business by finding quota alternatives, properly managing hiring statistics, and reviewing their vendor management and artificial intelligence governance, say attorneys at Seyfarth.