2023 was an active year in the world of unfair competition and trade secrets law, with employers’ use of restrictive covenant agreements coming under assault at the FTC and NLRB, as well as in multiple state legislatures.
On December 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations requiring the so-called “nondisplacement” of workers performing work on contracts for the federal government under the Service Contract Act (SCA).
The federal government, states, counties, and cities were active again this year passing workplace legislation intended for the most part to protect employees, creating new compliance obligations for employers.
On November 14, 2023, the FDIC published proposed revised regulations concerning Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, to conform with the Fair Hiring in Banking Act, which was enacted on and immediately effective as of December 23, 2022.
The current administration and multiple members of Congress seek to grant protections to H-2B non-agricultural temporary workers who are employed in the United States to fill temporary labor shortages in the U.S. market.
The National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel recently published a memo, along with other resources, to clarify parts of the Board’s recent decision dealing with union organizing demands for bargaining orders.
On October 23, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which the agency indicates will modernize and improve the H-1B specialty occupation worker program.
On October 31, 2023, the NLRB and OSHA announced that the agencies have executed a Memorandum of Understanding “to strengthen the agencies’ partnership to promote safe and healthy workplaces through protecting worker voice.”
The new Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, which was released on August 1, 2023, must be used for all new hires, effective November 1, 2023.
On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board released a final rule setting forth the standard for joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act.
