Judge Vacates Abortion Accommodations in EEOC Rule
On May 21, 2025, a federal judge in Louisiana ordered the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to remove mandates in its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) rules that provided reasonable accommodations to employees who underwent abortion procedures. The PWFA requires covered employers to provide a "'reasonable accommodation' ...
New York Court Interpreters’ Pay Bias Suit Fails
On May 22, 2025, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declined to reinstate a case alleging that the New York court system discriminates against court interpreters by paying them less because they are foreign-born. The state court system was first sued in May 2022, alleging that despite having specialized skills, court interpreters ...
Polluting Corporate Disclosures: Acting SEC Chairman Issues Statement on Climate-Related Disclosure Rules
On February 11, 2025, Former Acting Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Mark T. Uyeda ("Uyeda"), issued a statement directing his staff to dial back enforcement of the Climate-Related Disclosures for Issuers Rule (the "Climate Disclosures Rule" or the "Rule"). This statement came while Paul Atkins ("Atkins")—who has ...
The PIP and Its Place in Discrimination Litigation
The notification of a Performance Improvement Plan, also known by its punctuating acronym "PIP," can be a distressing knell signaling an employee's indeterminable last day of employment. Adding to that, a PIP can stay on an employee's record for some time, can block or delay a transfer or promotion while the PIP is in effect, and undoubtedly ...
From DExit to Senate Bill 21: Codifying the Demise of Shareholder Primacy in Delaware
Delaware's dominance as the favored jurisdiction of corporations in the United States has been tested in recent years, as several high-profile companies—particularly those with controlling shareholders—have initiated or threatened to pursue reincorporation in states believed to offer a more management-friendly statutory regime, such as ...
Senate Advances GENIUS Act To Regulate Stablecoins
On May 19, 2025, the proposed Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act of 2025 (the "GENIUS Act"), cleared a major procedural hurdle when the Senate voted 66-32 to advance it two weeks after it was blocked. The bill, introduced by Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, sets up a regime to regulate stablecoins. Stablecoins ...
Freelancers with Assistants Covered Under New York’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act
On April 24, 2025, the New York Supreme Court First Appellate Department held that freelance workers can bring claims pursuant to Administrative Code of City of NY § 20-930 et seq., also known as the Freelance Isn't Free Act ("FIFA"), even where they work with other people to fulfill a freelance project. Plaintiffs-Appellants Joseph Chen, ...
Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation
According to National Economic Research Associates' 2024 Securities Class Action Litigation report, there were 229 federal securities class action suits filed in 2024, equaling the total number of filings in 2023. Standard cases, containing Rule 10b-5, Section 11, and/or Section 12 claims, increased for a second straight year, 20% relative ...
Disciplining Disability-Related Behaviors Can Be Discrimination—A Recent Federal Case Shows How
If you have a mental health or neurological disability and your school or employer is aware of it, taking adverse actions against you for behavior caused by that disability can constitute illegal discrimination. A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Spring v. Allegany-Limestone Central School District shows ...
DoorDash Delivery Workers Claim the Company Continues to Steal Wages Despite Recent Settlement
On April 23, 2025, dozens of DoorDash delivery workers gathered outside the company's office on Fifth Avenue in New York City to protest its practices of allegedly failing to pay workers their wages or "deactivating" them from the company's platform before paying them all wages owed. The rally outside DoorDash's office comes after DoorDash ...
Your Receipt Is Watching You
Opting for a digital receipt may feel like a paperless convenience. Tap, pay, get a receipt in your inbox or on your phone. No clutter, no handling of chemical-coated paper, no problem. Digital receipts are efficient and increasingly popular. One provider of digital receipt services describes digital receipts as a simple technological transition: ...
DOL Declines to Enforce Biden-Era Order that Increased Federal Contract Workers’ Minimum Wages
On March 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor said that it would no longer enforce Executive Order 14026 signed by former President Joseph Biden in April 2021 that raised the minimum wage for workers on federal contracts from $10.95 to $17.75 as of January 1, 2025. The decision comes after Donald Trump rescinded 18 executive orders on March ...
Supreme Court Declines to Review FLSA Overtime Exemption Case
On March 10, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") denied a petition for writ of certiorari from F.W. Webb ("Webb"), a wholesale plumbing and HVAC supply company, who had asked SCOTUS to review a First Circuit ruling that the company misclassified inside sales representatives as administrative employees. Under the Fair Labor ...
Second Circuit Court of Appeals Confirms Anti-Retaliation Provisions in Employment Cases Have Teeth
If you're considering legal action against an employer for wage violations or other workplace misconduct, you may worry about being retaliated against. The good news? The courts have made it clear that employers cannot retaliate against you—even after your case has concluded. A recent decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in ...
AI in the Employment Law Universe
As Artificial Intelligence ("AI") has become a go-to for seemingly developed answers to general and specific queries, individuals having little interaction with the legal process may turn to the various AI software offerings to get much needed information at no cost. Recently, new ads appeared in the New York City transit system explaining ...
Tough Luck: Your Movies And TV Shows Will Still Be Interrupted By Ads On Amazon Prime
On February 7, 2025, a federal judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit challenging Amazon Prime Video's ad-supported tier. The lawsuit alleged that Amazon's introduction of advertisements violated the company's promise of an ad-free streaming experience for Prime subscribers. The plaintiffs contended that Amazon's marketing materials and user ...
DoorDash Investigation by NY Attorney General Results in $16.8M Payout to Dashers for Misleading Pay Practices
On February 24, 2025, the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York ("OAG") and New York Attorney General ("AG") Letitia James announced that DoorDash has agreed to pay $16.75 million in backpay following an investigation by the OAG into the company's pay practices of its delivery drivers, known as "dashers." From May 2017 to ...
Accommodation Requests that Violate State Law Pose Undue Hardships to Employers
On February 26, 2025, the Second Circuit issued a decision determining that employers are not required to honor reasonable accommodations that violate state law. The case, Russo v. Patchogue-Medford Sch. Dist., involves a school psychologist who worked remotely until 2021 when the Patchogue-Medford School District required its staff to return ...
Hunterbrook Media
Last year, hedge fund Hunterbrook Capital launched a news site called Hunterbrook Media, a newsroom similar to short sellers such as Muddy Waters and Citron Research. The hedge fund makes trades based solely on news from Hunterbrook Media, getting advanced copies of the articles and placing trades before publication. This novel experiment, ...
Cash App Ordered to Pay $175 Million For Putting Users at Risk
On January 16, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Block, the operator of Cash App, to pay consumers up to $120 million and pay a penalty of $55 million for failing to employ adequate security protocols and putting millions of users at risk. Cash App is one of the largest peer-to-peer payment platforms in the United States, ...