Analysis and commentary by Reed Smith attorneys on developments in employment and labor law
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court upended affirmative action in higher education admissions in its landmark Students for Fair Admission v. UNC and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision. The decision will no doubt force colleges and universities to reevaluate how they determine the makeup of their student bodies.
The effects of…
Beginning August 1, 2023, the U.S Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have now established a new procedure to allow employers who participate in E-Verify and are in good standing, to conduct remote inspection of an employee’s documents when completing Form I-9. USCIS has also released an updated version of…
Over the past several years, a growing number of businesses that utilize delivery drivers have begun installing dashcam and similar surveillance technologies in their vehicles. This is for a host of a reasons, including to protect employee and customer safety, ensure driver efficiency, and monitor vehicle location. In response, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB…
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court published its opinion in the cases challenging University of Carolina (UNC) and Harvard’s race-conscious admissions practices. The decision came down as predicted: UNC and Harvard’s use of race as a factor in college and university admissions is unconstitutional.
In the coming months there will be many questions and this alert…
Earlier today the United States Supreme Court released a unanimous opinion in Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General, No. 22-174, clarifying the “undue burden” standard under applicable to religious accommodations under Title VII after nearly 50 years. Specifically, the Court held that Title VII requires an employer who denies a religious accommodation to show that…
As we previously detailed here, here, and here, over the past few years – but particularly in 2023 – non-compete agreements have come under intense scrutiny from US lawmakers and government regulators. That trend continued Tuesday, with New York State now on the brink of joining California, Oklahoma, and North Dakota as…
In December 2021, the New York City Council passed a novel, first-of-its-kind law addressing the use of artificial intelligence – specifically, automated employment decision tools – by businesses to make employment decisions. The law, which has the potential to seismically change how employers approach employment decisions, essentially bars businesses from using automated employment decision tools…
Remote inspection of Form I-9 documents is about to become a thing of the past (at least for now). According to a recent Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announcement, employers will no longer be allowed to remotely inspect employees’ Form I-9 documents as of July 31, 2023, and employers who remotely inspected employees’ Form…
In an opinion letter published this week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) clarified how employers should calculate an employee’s Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave entitlement when the leave is taken during a week that includes a holiday.
The FMLA regulations are clear that when an employee takes a…
The General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a landmark memorandum yesterday broadly opining that most non-compete agreements violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and directing the NLRB’s various regions to make challenging overbroad non-compete agreements an enforcement priority. After the NLRB’s sweeping decision this February in McLaren …