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As technology accelerates and electronic information theft becomes more difficult to detect and prevent, vigilant companies constantly look for ways to protect the trade secrets they consider their “crown jewels.” The passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) will help company management and counsel sleep better knowing that federal courts will be empowered to provide consistent, uniform trade secret protection across the country.

The House voted yesterday to pass the DTSA, which the Senate had unanimously passed.  President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

The DTSA amends the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) by allowing plaintiffs to file civil lawsuits for trade secret misappropriation in federal court.  Thus, the DTSA provides an option to bring claims for misappropriation of trade secrets in federal court when federal jurisdiction would not otherwise exist. It also provides uniformity in the law regarding trade secrets at a federal level, and should result in the development of national case law in an area that is often viewed as patchwork at best. This consistency, along with the benefit of access to federal courts, is one of the main reasons company management strongly supported the DTSA.
Continue Reading Landmark Federal Trade Secrets Legislation on Its Way to President Obama for Signature

We round out our series on recent federal agency action by discussing the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The Proposed Rules would update existing nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of the WIOA, which is the DOL’s primary mechanism for providing job training funding. Thus, the proposed rules would only impact organizations funded by the DOL to provide job training under the WIOA. This is not a small number. There are approximately 34,450 recipients of WIOA funding annually, and those organizations serve approximately 56 million individuals.

Currently, the WIOA “prohibits the exclusion of an individual from participation in, denial of the benefits of, discrimination in, or denial of employment in the administration of or in connection with, any programs and activities funded or otherwise financially assisted in whole or in part under Title I of the WIOA because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation or belief, and for beneficiaries only, citizenship status, or participation in a program or activity that receives financial assistance under Title I of WIOA.” The Proposed Rules would update the WIOA, as the DOL believes that “the current rule does not reflect recent developments in equal opportunity and nondiscrimination jurisprudence.” 
Continue Reading DOL Seeks to Expand the Definition of Illegal Discrimination

This installment of our ongoing series on federal regulatory actions impacting employers examines the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues.

The proposed update would replace the 1998 version of the EEOC Compliance Manual on Retaliation and address the courts’ significant rulings in the decades following the current Manual’s publication. This Manual is particularly significant as the percentage of EEOC charges alleging retaliation has virtually doubled since 1998. Today, retaliation is the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination. 
Continue Reading EEOC Guidance on Retaliation: Make It Easier For Employees To Prove Their Case

The past few weeks have brought us a flurry of activity from federal agencies poised to re-shape the employment landscape, from upending traditional notions of the employment relationship to re-defining what it means to engage in unlawful retaliation. Now, as the dust settles, we will take a look at each of these administrative actions in this four-part series.

In this first installment, we discuss an Administrator’s Interpretation (Interpretation) issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) concerning joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). The Interpretation is perhaps most impactful for companies that rely on third-party contractors, such as staffing agencies, to regularly provide services outside of the companies’ core businesses. According to the DOL, such companies are likely no longer shielded from employment-related liability merely by their use of third-party contractors, but instead are joint employers liable for workplace violations as if they were the primary employer.
Continue Reading DOL Issues New Guidelines on Joint Employment