By Annette Tyman, Matthew J. Gagnon, Brandon L. Dixon, and Taylor Iaculla Seyfarth Synopsis: The United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in one of the most anticipated employment cases of this term. In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the Court considered whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in transfer decisions absent a separate showing that the transfer caused a “significant” harm. In its opinion, the Court rejected this heightened harm requirement, which will have profound effects on Title VII litigation, and on the way employers th ..read more

By Yoon-Woo Nam, Danielle Shapiro, Christina Forte Meddin, Camille A. Olson, Karla Grossenbacher, and Lawrence Z. Lorber Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 15, 2024, the EEOC issued its final regulation and interpretive guidance (“PWFA Regulations”) for the enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), a law that took effect in June 2023. The PWFA supplements existing federal anti-discrimination law by requiring covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or applicants with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition ..read more

By Ashley S. Jenkins and Kristina M. Launey Seyfarth Synopsis: A Puerto Rico federal court holding reminds us that an animal that performs work or tasks for a person with a psychiatric disability – such as identifying the onset of a panic attack and taking action to mitigate its effect – is a service animal. It is a common misconception that service animals are limited to dogs that wear a “guide dog” vest and assist individuals who are blind.   A recent ruling out of a federal trial court in Puerto Rico serves as a reminder that service animals perform different ..read more

Dawn Lurie, Senior Counsel in Seyfarth’s Washington, DC office and member of the firm’s Immigration practice will participate on a panel during the American Staffing Association’s 2024 Staffing Law & Compliance Conference on May 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. The session, titled,  “Top Compliance Issues for Employers and Staffing Firms in 2024,” will address critical compliance concerns for employers and stakeholders in the staffing industry.  Click here to learn more about the conference ..read more

By Matthew J. Gagnon Seyfarth Synopsis: It has been nearly a decade since some states began enacting changes to their equal pay statutes that appeared to some to differentiate those statues from the federal Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) in significant ways. Although those changes garnered plenty of press and speculation from commentators, the courts themselves have been rather slow to address those differences. Almost a decade on, there are still very few cases that interpret those state-level changes as differing in any meaningful way from the federal standards. A recent decision from the Secon ..read more

INTRODUCTION 1. OJT is Commonly Used and Poorly Documented The OSHA regulations governing General Industry and Construction workplaces include hundreds of employee safety training requirements.  Sophisticated safety managers know that many OSHA standards provide specific documentation requirements, such as forklift certifications or lockout-tagout periodic inspections.  Employers often run safety-specific training programs through their safety professionals and keep all required records through their safety department. But almost every workplace utilizes on-the-job training (OJT) fro ..read more

By Paul Yovanic and Kristine R. Argentine Seyfarth Synopsis: We are writing to inform you of significant legislative developments regarding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that may impact your operations in Illinois. Last week, the Illinois Senate took a decisive step by passing Senate Bill 2979, aimed at refining the statutory damages outlined in BIPA to a single recovery for each individual under the Act. This bill seeks to address concerns raised by recent legal interpretations, particularly in light of the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Cothron v ..read more

By Jesse M. Coleman and Eron Reid Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 21, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) approved a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on its proposal to revise its current Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions. Among the proposed revisions, the agency’s proposal will prohibit non-compete agreements in bank mergers in which the selling bank is required to divest all or a portion of its business lines or branches. The FDIC is one of three federal banking agencies charged with responsibility for ..read more

Apr. 17, 2024  – As most California employers are now aware, a new workplace violence law (SB 553) requires essentially all CA employers to develop and implement written Workplace Violence Prevention Plans and training by July 1, 2024. The new requirements will be enforced by Cal/OSHA. Cost  –  There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. REGISTER HERE Join us for a two-part webinar series as attorneys from our Workplace Safety team guide you through what is new and how to prepare. Webinar 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific 11:30 a.m. to 12:0 ..read more

By Amy Abeloff, Owen Wolfe, and Lauren Gregory Leipold Seyfarth Synopsis: A whole host of creators have filed suit in the U.S. alleging that AI companies improperly used the creators’ content to train AI programs (if you need to catch up on these lawsuits, we recommend our video blog here).  In most cases, the creators don’t know for sure whether the AI companies copied their works, although they allege that copying can be inferred based on the AI programs’ outputs.  But a new law in the EU may soon provide creators with a mechanism to find out if their works hav ..read more