Worldwide: Employment and HR

Between July 2011 and June 2014, California-based Perfectus Aluminum Inc., Perfectus Aluminum Acquisitions LLC, and four affiliated warehousing companies imported more than 2.2 million aluminum extrusions from China.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ 2025 Dodd-Frank Report examines how the post-2008 financial regulatory landscape has performed under renewed stresses, such as bank failures and crypto-asset collapses.

The U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) extended the potential reach of SOX whistleblower coverage to private companies whose subsidiaries are partially owned by a publicly traded company. It also confirmed that reports to external auditors and concerns raised through an employee’s ordinary job duties may constitute protected activity.

California employers relying on arbitration agreements face new restrictions as Assembly Bill 2155 closes a critical loophole between federal and state arbitration laws. The legislation aligns the California Arbitration Act with Federal Arbitration Act exclusions, fundamentally changing enforcement strategies for workplace disputes. Employers must reassess their arbitration agreements before January 1, 2027, when existing backstop protections disappear.

A federal court in California denied class certification in an independent contractor misclassification case after finding that the named plaintiff's own employment practices created a fundamental conflict of interest with the driver and helper subclasses he sought to represent. The decision highlights how contractual liability provisions and inconsistent legal theories can undermine even facially strong misclassification claims under Rule 23.

The National Labor Relations Board's new Republican majority, constitutional challenges to agency structure, and state-level labor law preemption battles are reshaping the landscape of federal labor relations. Recent court decisions and legislative developments signal significant shifts in how workplace organizing, employer speech rights, and bargaining unit determinations will be governed in the coming years.

A New Jersey employer faces a lawsuit after an AI transcription tool allegedly captured supervisors discussing their preference for a "strapping young man" to replace a terminated female employee. The case raises critical questions about the admissibility of AI-generated evidence in court and highlights the risks employers face when using virtual meeting platforms with automated transcription features.

When an employer documents that an employee's National Guard obligations are the reason for demotion or termination, it creates overwhelming evidence of discrimination under federal law. This case reveals how the Department of Justice approaches USERRA enforcement against private employers and what triggers federal litigation. The consent decree imposed extensive compliance obligations that extended far beyond monetary damages, demonstrating the lasting consequences of explicitly linking adverse employment

Welcome to our July update, where we highlight some of the latest developments in employment law. In this edition, we consider two recent cases. We also summarise recent and forthcoming changes in employment legislation...

The Treasury Department and IRS have issued proposed regulations updating minimum funding rules for single-employer defined benefit pension plans under Internal Revenue Code section 430. These regulations implement statutory changes from WRERA, the SECURE Act, and SECURE 2.0 while addressing technical issues that have emerged since the existing regulations were established.

A Georgia federal district court has granted preliminary approval to a $47.7 million class action settlement resolving a decade-long dispute between NCR Corp. and approximately 189 former executives. The case centers on allegations that the software company breached its contractual obligation to provide lifetime annuity payments to retired executives...

Plan sponsors face a critical December 31, 2026 deadline to adopt amendments reflecting SECURE 1.0, SECURE 2.0, and CARES Act provisions in their qualified retirement plan documents. Many plans have been operating under these laws for years without updated plan language, creating a gap between plan operations, participant communications, and formal documentation. This comprehensive guide identifies which amendments must be adopted, provides a detailed checklist of provisions requiring documentation, and out