On May 17, 2018, South Carolina’s Pregnancy Accommodations Act became effective. The state enacted the law “to combat pregnancy discrimination, promote public health, and ensure full and equal participation for women in the labor force by requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees for medical needs arising from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”
California law requires that employees receive an itemized wage statement containing statutorily prescribed information. Wage statements that lack the required information or that are inaccurate subject the employer to penalties and potential liability under the state’s Private Attorney Generals Act.
On May 4, 2018, U.S. EPA released an updated draft audit program agreement that will be available to new owners of oil and natural gas exploration and production facilities.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (the office) recently issued guidance on the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu on post-grant patent proceedings, specifically inter partes review.
On April 23, 2018, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a second draft of a model form, the Disclosure Template, that a group health plan participant (or his or her representative) may use to request documentation of compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).
Less than two months after announcing a $50 reduction in the 2018 limit on HSA contributions for employees with family high deductible health plan coverage, the IRS backtracked and reinstated the original limit.
Washington recently enacted the “Fair Chance Act” and in doing so joined the expanding list of state and local jurisdictions to “ban-the-box” and limit employer access to a prospective employee’s criminal record.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updated the list of designated Qualified Opportunity Zones on their website to include the designation of 320 Qualified Opportunity Zones in the state of Ohio, as well as additional Qualified Opportunity Zones in Alabama, Delaware, Missouri, Texas and the Northern Marianas Islands.
On April 12, 2018, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the state’s 2018-2019 budget bill, which includes sweeping changes to the state’s sexual harassment law.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (with jurisdiction over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee) recently held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects transgendered (or transitioning) status.
On April 9, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that prior salary, either alone or in combination with other factors, cannot justify a wage differential between male and female employees.
West Virginia law allows property owners and employers to prohibit carrying firearms on any property “under his or her domain,” which previously included parking lots.
New Jersey recently enacted the “Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act” to significantly expand the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) with respect to pay equity.
In Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production Co. (Apr. 2, 2018), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that trespass and conversion claims concerning hydraulic fracturing were not precluded by the rule of capture.
Intellectual property (IP) attorneys (both in-house and outside counsel) are increasingly turning to outsourcing and offshoring to complete many patent-related tasks, such as prior art searches, patent drafting, formalizing patent drawings, and general patent prosecution.
