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The past few years have seen concerted efforts — both domestically and globally — advancing the reporting and disclosure of various climate- and sustainability-related metrics by businesses and investors.

On February 26, 2025, the Supreme Court and all three counsel appearing before it in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, appeared to walk away in “radical agreement” — as noted by Justice Neil Gorsuch — that a majority-group plaintiff is not required to proffer more evidence of discrimination than a non-majority-group plaintiff in order to state a prima facie claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Companies with forthcoming annual report and proxy statement filings should consult with counsel regarding recent regulatory and legal developments related to diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives and the potential impact on disclosures related to such information.

In the first ten days of his second term, President Trump has already made significant moves impacting the labor and employment landscape. Some actions were expected (see our prior predictions), while others are unprecedented.

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 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.

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”).

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).