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In May 2023, Jennifer A. Abruzzo (the “General Counsel”), General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), took the position that certain non-compete provisions violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) (as discussed here) by restricting employee mobility. Now, in an October 7, 2024, memorandum (GC 25-01), the General Counsel has expanded on the topic of employee mobility by targeting “stay-or-pay” provisions.

On June 18, 2024, the Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued (T.D. 9998) (the “Final Regulations”) regarding compliance with the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements (the “PWA Requirements”) impacting many of the clean energy tax credits introduced or expanded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”).

On April 23, 2024, the United States Department of Labor released the final version of its rule that revises Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) regulations in order to increase the salary thresholds that must be satisfied in order for certain employees to qualify as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime payment requirements.

On February 8, 2024, in its Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a whistleblower pursuing a claim for retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) does not need to show that the employer acted with “retaliatory intent.”

The Vinson & Elkins team discussed employment law developments affecting technology companies.

On November 17, 2023, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued proposed regulations [REG-132569-17] regarding the definition of “energy property” and related rules applicable to the energy credit (the “Proposed Regulations”) available under section 48 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

Attorneys from our Employment, Labor and OSHA and Tax groups discussed the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Welcome to Vinson & Elkins’ Securities and ESG Updates. Our aim is to provide insights into notable developments in securities reporting and the environmental, social and governance space over the quarter.

On October 2, 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published proposed enforcement guidance on workplace harassment, which, if finalized, would be the first update to workplace harassment guidance by the EEOC in nearly 25 years.

It takes two to tango, but the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) reaffirmed that it might only take one to engage in protected concerted activity.

On August 29, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing proposed rules governing the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements (together, the “Labor Requirements”) impacting a broad swath of clean energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) (i.e., sections 30C, 45, 45L, 45U, 45Q, 45V, 45Y, 45Z, 48, 48C, 48E, and 179D¹ of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended).

 

An important federal appeals court has clarified a key principle of antitrust law in a way that potentially makes it more difficult for an employer to win a motion to dismiss, and thereby avoid expensive discovery, with respect to company agreements that contain commonly used hiring restrictions.