Last week, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer unexpectedly announced the decision to dismiss the serious criminal charges against Alec Baldwin. The actor was initially charged in January 2023 with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring Joel Souza on the set of ‘Rust’ in...
On July 1, 2024, despite ongoing litigation challenging its validity, the Department of Labor's (DOL) rule increasing certain exempt employees’ salary threshold went into effect, with further salary threshold increases slated for January 1, 2025. This rule relates to exempt employees, namely those who are exempt from overtime pay requirements. ...
Recently, in Rajaram v. Meta Platforms, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that 42 U.S.C. § 1981 bars discrimination against U.S. citizens in hiring decisions when such decisions are made on the basis of their U.S. citizenship. The holding directly conflicts with a prior federal...
Last Friday, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the United States Supreme Court overruled a 40-year-old judicial deference doctrine known as “Chevron deference,” named after the 1984 Supreme Court ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which instructed courts that they should defer to federal administrative agencies’ readings on...
By Jill Kahn Marshall and Anna Beckelman With the passage of its most recent budget bill in April 2024, New York became the first state in the nation to require employers to provide paid leave specifically for prenatal care, separate from other paid sick leave requirements. Additionally, New York will...
Earlier this month, The Apprentice, a film following a young Donald Trump, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film includes Trump’s character engaging in criminal actions such as sexual assault, a crime for which he has not been convicted, but does not include any of his actions during or...
As protest and political speech continue to enter the workplace, employees are questioning what, if any, legal rights they possess to express and respond to politics at work. The recent CNBC article featuring Page explores this question, where she importantly notes that “It’s not considered illegal for an employer to...
Earlier this month, in Smith v. Spizzirri, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires district courts to stay a lawsuit pending arbitration when asked by a party to do so, and that district courts lack the inherent authority to instead dismiss such...
RPJ Partners Marshall and Merlen recently published an article titled “Do Managers Have a Right to Fire Workers for Divisive Social Media Posts?” in the business magazine, Fast Company. Their article explores the extent to which employees’ speech on social media is (or is not) protected, including differences between public...
By Ethan Krasnoo and Anna Beckelman In May 2023, in the RPJ website post ”Will NYC’s New Employment Discrimination Bill Restrict Casting ‘In The Heights’?” we discussed New York City’s new law prohibiting employment discrimination based upon height or weight and how this legislation might affect casting decisions in New...