Employment Law in Motion
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Federal Agency Issues Memorandum Temporarily Freezing Federal Grant and Loan Payments; Judge Issues Temporary Stay
On January 27, 2025, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Matthew Vaeth issued Memorandum #M-25-13, temporarily freezing federal grant and loan payments pending further review. While Social Security and Medicare programs are not affected by this Memorandum, other federal grant and loan programs are potentially impacted.
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President Trump Order Seeks to End Discriminatory DEI Programs and Mandates, Affecting Federal Contractors, Private Sector, and Higher Education
On his second day in office, President Trump issued an Order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in federal government as well as mandates and programs affecting the public and private sector. Specifically, the President acted to “order all executive departments and agencies to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.” The President further ordered that all federal agencies “enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws” and “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”
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Before We Talk, “You Are Being Recorded”: The Ninth Circuit Affirms Oregon’s Restriction on Unauthorized Recordings
Last week, the Ninth Circuit upheld Oregon’s conversational privacy statute as constitutional, finding that Oregonians have an interest in knowing when in-person conversations are recorded and that these recordings require notice. In workplaces throughout our state, where nearly every employee carries a personal phone with a recording app, this restriction limits surreptitious recordings and affirms the right to know when a conversation may be permanently memorialized. These types of recordings have found their way into a variety of different employment settings that span from individual performance management to labor relations discussions.
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President Trump’s First-Day Orders Impacting Employers
President Trump issued a large number of Executive Orders and proclamations on his first day in office, January 20, 2025. Here is a summary of those that may affect employers.
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NLRB Overrules Longstanding Position on Captive Audience Meetings and Employer Statements During Unionizing Efforts
The National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued two decisions in recent days that substantially deviate from its prior decisions in Babcock & Wilcox Co., 77 NLRB 577 (1948) and Tri-Cast, Inc., 274 NLRB 377 (1985) relating to an employer’s ability to effectively campaign during union organizing in manners long held lawful.
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SEC v. Jarkesy: Seventh Amendment Jury Trials, Seeking Civil Penalties, and Agency Administrative Actions
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, 144 S. Ct. 2117 (2024) held that when the SEC seeks civil penalties to punish and deter wrongful conduct, the Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant...
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