On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 to approve the Final Rule that (1) prohibits employers from entering into non-compete agreements with workers and (2) requires employers to rescind nearly all existing non-compete agreements. The Final Rule is effective 120 days after its forthcoming publication in the Federal Register, which we expect will happen in the next 30 days.
The Final Rule comes more than a year after the FTC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) to ban practically all non-compete agreements. The FTC ... Continue Reading
On July 3, 2023, the Chica Project, African Community Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE), and Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) (collectively the “Complainants”) filed a civil rights Complaint with the Department of Education alleging that Harvard College’s (“Harvard”) continued use of “Donor and Legacy Preferences” violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”). The Complainants argue that the Donor and Legacy admission preferences are not necessary to achieve an important educational goal and have a “significant” ... Continue Reading
On June 12, a federal jury in Camden, New Jersey returned a verdict in favor of Shannon Phillips, a white Starbucks Regional Director who claimed that she was terminated from her management level position on the basis of her race. Phillips claimed that after media coverage of the arrests of two black customers who were sitting in a Philadelphia Starbucks store, she was directed to suspend a white District Manager with no connection to the Philadelphia store, based on alleged discriminatory conduct. Phillips claimed that she informed Starbucks supervisors that the race-based ... Continue Reading
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA” or “Act”) into law. The PWFA requires “covered employers” to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an “undue hardship.”
The Act applies only to accommodations, and does not replace federal, state, or local laws that provide greater protections to workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth ... Continue Reading
