For the 2015 H-1B visa cap, April 1 is the first day U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will accept H-1B cap-subject petitions for foreign national professionals in specialty occupations. Cap-subject H-1B visas become available each year on October 1 — and filings with USCIS can be made no sooner […]
Labor & Employment Law Update
Protecting Your Attorney-Client Privilege
The attorney-client privilege gives employers critical protection in the event of a lawsuit, but courts will not hesitate to declare that employers have forfeited those protections if they are not careful. Worse, once an employer has lost the protection of the attorney-client privilege, the documents and conversations over which the […]
OFCCP Announces Final Rule Protecting LGBT Workers
On July 21, 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order (“EO”) 13672 extending workplace protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) Americans in the federal contracting workforce. The order instructed the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to update the rules implementing EO 11246—which already protects workers employed by or seeking jobs […]
Supreme Court Affirms District Court Ruling that Noncompete Covenant was Unenforceable
In Gaver v. Schneider’s O.K Tire, Co., Gaver had an agreement with Schneider’s which contained a restrictive covenant on post-employment competition. The consideration for the agreement, signed at the outset of employment, purported to be participation in the company profit sharing plan. The profit sharing plan did not contain any […]
New FAQs Released by DOL Take Sharper Aim at Premium Reimbursement Arrangements for Individual Health Insurance, Marketplace Dumping
The DOL released a new set of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) on November 6, 2014, which seek to clarify its prior guidance with respect to the treatment of certain premium reimbursement arrangements under the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) and which could have a significant impact on how certain employers […]

