On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule to raise the minimum salary amount employers must pay to exempt employees to avoid paying overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Effective July 1, 2024, employers must pay certain salaried employees in the United States, who are classified as exempt, including those who take advantage of the common executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemptions, the equivalent of $844/week or $43,888/year to avoid overtime requirements. The previous threshold amount was $35,568/year. According to the DOL, the new salary level is being set at the 35th …
Federal Trade Commission Issues Final Rule Banning Most Noncompete Agreements
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted by a 3-2 margin to issue a final rule prohibiting employers from entering into and enforcing most non-competition agreements (“noncompetes”) against current and former workers. The FTC’s vote came more than a year after issuing its notice of a similar proposed rule on January 5, 2023 and collecting public comments through April 19, 2023. The FTC’s final rule proclaims that most noncompetes constitute a form of unfair competition pursuant to the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45). In 2023, after seeking client input, Coolidge Wall submitted a public comment to …
Coolidge Wall Receives 2024 Best Law Firms First-tier Ranking
Dayton, Ohio – Coolidge Wall Co., L.P.A. has received first-tier metropolitan ranking in 10 practice areas by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers in the 2024 “Best Law Firms” list. Achieving a top tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise among ranked law firms. The 10 areas for which the firm received Tier 1 ranking are Commercial Litigation, Corporate Law, Employment Law-Management, Labor Law-Management, Litigation-Labor & Employment, Litigation-Real Estate, Real Estate Law, Tax Law, Trusts & Estates Law, and Workers’ Compensation Law-Employers. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm …
Join us for Coolidge Wall’s Annual Labor and Employment Complimentary Seminar
Please join us for Coolidge Wall’s annual Labor and Employment Seminar, where you will get the latest updates on labor law and other relevant information for your company. Time: 8:00 am to Noon Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 Location: Tipp Center, 855 North Third Street, Tipp City, Ohio 45371 A continental breakfast will be served. RSVP to Nicole Farren at . Agenda and Topics: 8:00 – Registration/networking/breakfast 8:30 – Employment Law Update: What’s New for 2023 Department of Labor Non-compete agreements and restrictive covenants Ohio marijuana laws Other hot topics 9:15 – New Federal Protections for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers Providing Urgent …
Coolidge Wall Seeks Business Input in Response to FTC’s Proposed Noncompetition Rule
As previously noted in our Coolidge Wall blog (https://www.coollaw.com/blog/2023/01/ftc-proposes-rule-to-ban-noncompete-clauses/), on January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking called the “Non-Compete Clause Rule” (the “Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule would prohibit employers in most industries from executing or maintaining noncompetition agreements with their employees and other workers. This exercise of executive branch power would interfere with the ability of companies and individuals to enter contracts, in the name of preventing “restraints on trade.” The Proposed Rule would literally void noncompetition agreements already in existence, and it would, we predict, have enormous unintended negative consequences …
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Proposes Rule to Ban Noncompete Clauses
On January 5, 2023, the FTC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would prohibit employers from executing noncompete agreements with paid or unpaid employees, independent contractors, interns, volunteers, and apprentices. In addition to prohibiting employers from enforcing new noncompete agreements, the proposed rule would also operate retroactively to render existing noncompete clauses unenforceable and require employers to inform employees subject to a noncompete that the noncompete is void within 45 days of the rule’s implementation. The FTC proposed rule defines noncompete clauses to mean “a contractual term between an employer and a worker that prevents the worker from seeking …
Ohio’s New Concealed Carry Gun Law: How Does It Impact Private Employers?
Effective June 13, 2022, Ohio Senate Bill 215, permits “qualifying adults” to legally carry, possess, and conceal a handgun without a license, background check, or training requirements. According to the new statute, codified at Ohio Revised Code § 2923.125A: Regardless of whether the person has been issued a concealed handgun license, … a person who is a qualifying adult may carry a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm anywhere in this state in which a person who has been issued a concealed handgun license may carry a concealed handgun. A “qualifying adult” must, among other criteria, be at …
The Latest on OSHA: Sixth Circuit Lifts Stay of OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard
As we have described previously in recent months, several precarious federal mandates have been issued by the administration of President Biden as the country works its way toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. On November 5, 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), requiring that all employers with 100 or more employees either mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all employees or allow employees to elect weekly COVID-19 testing. In the most recent court challenge, this mandate, originally stayed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, has been reinstated by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Inevitably, the next stop will …
The State of Stays: Federal Vaccine Mandates Suspended for Now
As we have described previously in recent months, several precarious federal mandates have been issued by the administration of President Biden as the country works its way toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. These federal mandates have imposed significant burdens on private industry by sapping much-needed corporate resources, creating a sense of overreach and invasiveness, and alienating vaccine-resistant employees at the exact moment many employers are trying desperately to rev back up and to revitalize the economy. The mandates have been implemented primarily by three executive-branch sources affecting three huge sectors of the economy: Executive Order 14042 affecting federal contractors, …
OSHA Issues Emergency Temporary Standard for Large Employers
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its long-awaited Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to ensure that their employees are either fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or are tested on a weekly basis. This ETS compliments previous efforts by the federal government to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including Executive Orders requiring federal contractors and federal employees to be vaccinated, and regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requiring vaccination for employees of health care facilities. Legal Challenges Legal challenges opposing the ETS have already been filed in various U.S. …