Employers with employees located in the states falling within the jurisdiction of Fifth Circuit federal courts (e.g. Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) should take note of an important federal appellate ruling impacting Title VII discrimination claims. On August 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, issued a ruling in Hamilton v. Dallas County (Hamilton) that reversed decades of case precedent within the Circuit and changed the requirements for the ”adverse employment action” element of a Title VII discrimination claim to be in line with other federal ...

On August 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced a proposed rule intended to “restore and extend overtime protections to 3.6 million salaried employees.” If finalized, the proposed rule would raise the salary levels that must be paid to certain employees for them to be exempt from overtime pay requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The full Lathrop GPM Client Alert on the subject can be found here.

Specifics of Proposed Rule

The proposed rule, if finalized, would raise the guaranteed weekly salary that must be paid to “white ...

As employers increasingly operate in multiple jurisdictions and are allowing more and more employees to work remotely, employers should be mindful that a number of states are passing pay transparency laws.  Employers hiring workers in such states and/or posting positions that permit remote work locations need to be sure that they are aware of and comply with potential pay transparency laws.

The California Transparency Laws

California, which already required employers to disclose salary information to applicants upon reasonable request, has added new pay scale disclosure ...

In the wake of President Biden’s issuance of executive orders requiring that certain employers in the country require COVID-19 vaccinations, some states, like Texas, are taking action to try to block these mandates. This raises the question of whether a state or local government can override federal vaccine requirements.

Federal Vaccine Mandates

On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued executive orders mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for federal employees, employees of certain health care entities, and certain employees of federal contractors and subcontractors ...