Whether you are picking up a well-respected periodical or a celebrity news magazine, you cannot avoid reading about semaglutide injection drugs – drugs used to control blood sugar levels for individuals with type 2 diabetes and weight loss. “Ubiquitous” is the only word to describe the news coverage of these “miracle medications.” As news has spread about these medications, their use has expanded far outside of Hollywood to individuals across the country, ultimately leading to a reported shortage. So, what impact, if any, does weight, weight loss, or the spread of such medications have on the ..read more

As most manufacturers know, employers employing 100 or more employees and federal contractors employing 50 or more employees meeting certain criteria are required to file component 1 data reports annually on the EEO-1 report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The law requires covered employers to report on the racial/ethnic and gender composition of their workplace across EEO job categories. Recently, the EEOC announced that the 2023 EEO-1 component 1 data collection will be open on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, and the deadline to file the report is June 4, 2024. As a r ..read more

This week, we are pleased to have a guest post from Intellectual Property + Technology Group lawyer John L. Cordani, Jr. and Business Litigation Team lawyer, Janet J. Kljyan. We have seen a noticeable uptick in lawsuits commenced by “copyright trolls” in recent years, including against businesses in the manufacturing space. The Supreme Court is currently considering a case that could have a significant impact on the viability of typical copyright troll claims and, more broadly, the continued prevalence of copyright trolling. Copyright trolls file lawsuits for the purpose of extracting a ..read more

This week’s post was co-authored by Robinson+Cole Labor and Employment Group lawyer Jessica C. Pinto Illinois has rung in the new year by mandating some of the most progressive employee leave requirements in the nation. Effective January 1, 2024, Illinois’s Paid Leave for All Workers Act will require nearly all Illinois employers to provide employees with paid leave that can be used for any reason – the first state in the Midwest to mandate such a law. While once unheard of, Illinois now joins two states – Maine and Nevada- in mandating that covered employers provide employees ..read more

This week’s post includes an excerpt from our co-authored article “PFAS will be increasing concern for manufacturers in year ahead,” published in the Hartford Business Journal’s Economic Forecast issue on January 8, 2024. PFAS — perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — have been on the scene for years now, but we expect to see exponential growth in all things PFAS in 2024. Governmental and private party PFAS investigations have significantly increased and, as they say, when you look for PFAS, you find them. PFAS have been detected in a significant number of public drinking water system ..read more

This week’s post was co-authored by Robinson+Cole Labor and Employment Group lawyer Madison C. Picard. As we look ahead to 2024, there are a number of new issues and trends that appear on the local, state, and federal horizon with regard to labor and employment laws that may impact manufacturers. The following are a few of those issues and trends: Expanded Anti-Discrimination Protections: This past year, numerous states and localities amended their discrimination laws to include new protected statuses, including hairstyle or texture, off-duty cannabis use, citizenship, im ..read more

This week’s post is authored by Emilee Mooney Scott and is also available on Robinson+Cole’s Environmental Law + blog. Thank you to Emilee for contributing. Emilee is a partner in the firm’s Environmental, Energy + Telecommunications Group, focusing her practice on a variety of environmental compliance and transactional matters, including emerging contaminants. As we have previously reported, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of substances coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny.  As manufacturers ring in the new year they should be aware ..read more

This week’s post was co-authored by Edward Heath and Kevin Daly.  Attorneys Heath and Daly are members of Robinson+Cole’s Manufacturing Industry Team and regularly counsel clients on trade compliance, anti-corruption compliance, and other corporate compliance issues. On September 26, 2023, U.S. export enforcement authorities, jointly with enforcement authorities in four allied countries (the Five Eyes), issued additional guidance in order to prevent the diversion of goods in violation of sanctions against Russia. The guidance is the most specific road map yet reg ..read more

This week’s post was co-authored by Robinson+Cole Labor and Employment Group lawyer Madison C. Picard The end of the year is a great time for manufacturers to express gratitude for employees and their hard work during the year through holiday parties and events. While these gatherings can increase morale, camaraderie, and good-will in the workplace, they can have the opposite effect if they are not inclusive of all employees and planned intentionally for that purpose. Fortunately, by intentionally planning, manufacturers can increase the likelihood that these gatherings wi ..read more

The EPA is seeking comments on a newly released, revised guidance document regarding the consideration of environmental justice (EJ) concerns in the rulemaking process. The guidance document updates a 2016 version and incorporates new scientific developments, other EPA guidance, and new priorities and policies. The guidance document sets forth both analytical expectations for an EJ analysis, as well as technical methods and approaches that can be used to evaluate EJ concerns for a particular action. Under the guidance document, an EJ analysis should seek to answer the following: Baseline: ar ..read more