On May 4, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Bank of America to pay a $10 Million civil penalty for its improper garnishment practices.
Currently, seven states require employers to provide (either proactively or upon request) a position’s wage or salary information to applicants, and, in some cases, to employees.
On May 3, 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the Department of Homeland Security is temporarily amending existing regulations providing for the automatic extension of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).
Under Washington law, employers are already prohibited from requiring employees sign nondisclosure agreements that restrict their ability to disclose workplace sexual harassment and assault.
Like the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Ohio’s overtime law requires that employees be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek.
Judge Alan Albright, District Court Judge for the Western District of Texas, granted summary judgment in a patent infringement lawsuit brought against Bumble Trading LLC (Bumble), the dating app company, finding the patents asserted against it were invalid under the rarely-used “original patent” requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 251(a).
New York recently amended the state’s Civil Rights Law to require employers to provide their employees with prior notice of any telephone, email or internet monitoring.
In April 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that employers are strictly liable under the Massachusetts Wage Act for treble damages when making late final wage payments.
On April 7, 2022, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a Financial Institution Letter requesting that all FDIC-supervised institutions that intend to engage in, or that are currently engaged in, any activities involving or related to crypto assets provide notice to the FDIC.
Perhaps the most significant change in decades to Ohio real property tax valuation contests has been adopted by the Ohio General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor DeWine on April 21, 2022.
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Regulation S-K and Regulation S-X to require registrants to disclose climate-related information in registration statements, annual reports on Form 10-K and audited financial statements filed with the SEC. These proposed rules represent the SEC’s latest effort to advance the climate agenda of the Biden Administration, which describes climate change as “systematic to our economy and financial system.”
The USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Program provides free legal assistance to qualifying inventors and small businesses for the preparation and filing of patent applications.
On Thursday, March 24th, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in collaboration with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), announced a new Pro Bono Program for qualifying inventors, marking a great step forward in supporting innovation.
On Friday, March 25, the White House announced that it and the European Commission have “committed” to a new framework to facilitate data transfers from the EU to the US. The news is welcome, if frustratingly bare of detail, to the thousands of businesses that had relied on Privacy Shield to legitimize such transfers prior to the European Union’s Court of Justice (CJEU) decision in July 2020 invalidating it.
Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provided updated and additional guidance regarding caregiver discrimination under federal employment laws in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
Earlier this month, a Texas federal court held that the Department of Labor (DOL) violated the Administrative Procedure Act by delaying and withdrawing a Trump-era rule that allowed businesses to more easily classify workers as independent contractors.
On March 2, 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published Advisory Opinion 22-04 (the Opinion).
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released a detailed guidance and brief fact sheet on March 8, 2022, providing details on how money from the new infrastructure law will be distributed to communities needing federal funds for local sewer and water projects.
