New England Biz Law Update

A cellphone search is playing a central role in a Pennsylvania steelworker’s retaliation case. In September, a federal appeals court held that a reasonable jury could determine that Samuel Grossi & Sons Inc. was looking for an excuse to fire ...

The Federal Trade Commission is considering new regulations to restrict companies’ use of noncompete clauses. Last year, President Joe Biden asked the FTC to consider limiting these clauses. Recently, the FTC has been issuing subpoenas to businesses they believe are ...

A new report recommends the use of audit testing to identify discrimination in the hiring process. The authors advise that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), as well as state and local fair employment practices agencies, deploy testing as ...

The U.S. Department of Labor is expanding the criteria for placement in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). Employers can now be placed on the list for violating any hazard. Previously, an employer could be ...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently filed a harassment suit against a Vermont nursing home. The facility allegedly allowed Black nurses and staff to be “subjected to ongoing and egregious racial harassment,” the agency said in a statement. ...

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would limit the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and assault. The Speak Out Act (S.4524) is similar to laws already in place in California, New ...

A misappropriation-of-trade-secrets case that generated more meritorious motions to compel and sanctions for failure to produce documents than any in his 37-year career warranted the rare sanction of entering default judgments against the defendants on all the plaintiff’s claims, a ...

A contractor retaliated against an immigrant employee who sustained an injury at work, leading to the employee’s detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal jury has found. The jury awarded the employee $50,000 in compensatory damages and $600,000 ...

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently clarified what effect remote workers have on the application of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”) and related state regulations. The guidance addresses when remote workers count in the ...

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Tesla cannot stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignia while on the job. The board, in a 3-2 decision, overruled a 2019 NLRB decision involving Walmart and union clothing. A ...