More Employment Coverage

Expert Analysis

• Showing An Employer's Ability To Pay In Immigrant Petitions

  

  Employers can minimize ability-to-pay challenges to their immigrant petitions by considering their timing and tailoring supporting evidence to address questions the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are most likely to ask about their financial circumstances, say Anita Smalley and Douglas Halpert at Hammond Neal.

• 3 Ways To Plan For A Possible Federal Ban On Noncompetes

  

  Following last month's reintroduction of a federal bill seeking to ban or limit the use of employee noncompetes, companies should explore alternative avenues to protect trade secrets, confidential business information, customer goodwill and other legitimate business interests, say Russell Beck and Erika Hahn at Beck Reed.

• Protecting Trade Secrets In The Remote Workplace

  

  A Pennsylvania federal court's recent decision in M3 USA Corp. v. Hart provides guidance for employers on protecting trade secrets when remote employees leave, and highlights associated jurisdictional issues to consider when bringing litigation against a remote employee, say Jeffrey Csercsevits and Kelsey Beerer at Fisher Phillips.

• Strategies For Fighting Back Against A Rambo Litigator

  

  If your opposing counsel is a so-called Rambo litigator, there are ways to turn their scorched-earth litigation tactics and ad hominem attacks into assets that favor your client, says Margeaux Thomas at Thomas Law.

• Court Erred In Barring Late DOJ Intervention In FCA Case

  

  A Tennessee federal court's novel approach in U.S. v. SouthEast Eye Specialists, barring U.S. Department of Justice intervention in a False Claims Act suit, is unsupported the statute, frustrates its purpose, may impede DOJ enforcement and should be rejected, say Catherine Dorsey at Baron & Budd and Jacklyn DeMar at Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund.

• 1 Year Into Pandemic, It's Time To Rethink Law Firm Billing

  

  The particular tasks for which a law firm client can expect to be billed have become unpredictable in the era of COVID-19, making flat fees and other alternative fee arrangements more attractive for both in-house and outside counsel, says Jessica Hodkinson at Panasonic.

• What Companies Should Know About SIGPR Oversight

  

  Brian Miller, the special inspector general for pandemic recovery, discusses what companies and attorneys can do to avoid CARES Act fraud, how his team approaches protecting taxpayer money, and some of the challenges and successes SIGPR faced building an agency from the ground up amid a pandemic.

• Inconsistent COVID Travel Bans Are Hurting The US

  

  The current criteria for exceptions to U.S. pandemic-related travel bans — established by the flurry of inconsistent guidance that's been issued, revised, rescinded and resurrected this past year — are irreconcilable, harming U.S. companies, workers and our economy, says Angelo Paparelli at Seyfarth Shaw.

• How COVID-19 Shifted The Employment Discrimination Terrain

  

  When it comes to employment discrimination, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the landscape, with companies large and small now facing claims for routine business actions, and employers would do well to plan accordingly, says Sonya Goodwin at Sauer & Wagner.

• Rogue High Court Citation May Spark Legal Writing Changes

  

  Justice Clarence Thomas’ unexpected use of a new citation format in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Brownback v. King opinion is the most notable citation change in the court's writing in 25 years, and could inspire receptiveness for other innovations in legal writing and beyond, says Carrie Garrison at Porter Wright.

• Mitigating Risk Amid Layoff-Driven Confidential Witness Boom

  

  Corporate counsel should proactively allay risk stemming from securities fraud plaintiffs' use of confidential witnesses, which could become more common against the backdrop of pandemic-induced layoffs, say attorneys at Dechert.

• Pleading Tortious Interference Claims In Calif. After Ixchel

  

  Last August, the California Supreme Court ruled in Ixchel v. Biogen that claims for tortious interference with at-will agreements require evidence of independent wrongful acts, and in the decision's wake we are already seeing indications that motions to dismiss such claims may become more successful, say Amanda Main and Tijana Brien at Cooley.

• The Case For Diversity In Internal Investigation Teams

  

  Teams that represent differing backgrounds can uniquely strengthen internal investigation processes with more thorough deliberation, better interviewee trust-building and more effective problem-solving, so law firms and clients alike must avoid the natural impulse to select homogenous groups, say Karin Portlock and Jabari Julien at Gibson Dunn.