U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 758,994 H-1B cap-subject visa registrations for FY 2024, the highest number ever received. In response, USCIS selected 110,791 registrations to meet the annual H-1B visa quota of 85,000, equivalent to a newly low selection rate of 14.6%. Selected employers had until June 30, 2023, to submit their full H-1B visa petitions for adjudication. Although the Read More

A federal district court in Connecticut dismissed U.S. v. Patel, a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s antitrust case involving a jet-engine manufacturer with no-poach agreements concerning recruiting and hiring aerospace engineers with several firms that competed for its projects. Employers and HR professionals are hailing the decision as reassurance that the federal government will not apply so broadly the antitrust Read More

A California state appeals court recently held that a worker fired after taking emergency time off to care for his disabled father could proceed on his claim for disability-based associational discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The court below had dismissed his claim before trial. The case is Leyva v. Motorcar Parts of America, Calif. Ct. App., No. B307525 (April 20, Read More

Recent research published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reveals that most U.S. employers believe modernizing the U.S. immigration system is key to alleviating labor shortages, spurring economic growth, and maintaining global competitiveness. As such, SHRM supports updating the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the federal legislation governing immigration and citizenship in the Read More

Businesses have more data about their employees than ever before, and the amount of data is growing. Data availability has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly due to the evolution of remote and hybrid work arrangements and the creation of digital work channels that employers can use to monitor and track employees. Furthermore, employee health and well-being have become a greater priority for Read More

During a recent hearing, the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee debated the pros and cons of changing the so-called "independent contractor" rule. This rule dictates how to properly classify workers as employees or independent contractors, a distinction that has grown in importance with the steep increase in the independent workforce in recent years. The distinction between independent contractors Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the pending case of Groff v. DeJoy, which focuses on the rules employers should follow when granting employee requests for religious accommodations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Groff, the Court considered whether it should uphold the Hardison standard, which states that an employer need not provide religious accommodations if doing so Read More

A pending federal lawsuit seeks to challenge the authority of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to issue white-collar exemption regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). More specifically, the lawsuit aims to invalidate the DOL's minimum salary threshold requirement for overtime pay. The Overtime Rule Employers must pay nonexempt workers 1.5 times the hourly rate for any hours they work above 40 Read More

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued an advice memo confirming its earlier position that workplace discussions about racism are protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As a result, employers cannot fire, discipline, or take any adverse employment action against employees who publicly raise concerns about racism in the workplace. Section 7 of the NLRA broadly Read More

Employers often misunderstand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regarding when an employee is eligible to take leave. Contrary to what many employers may think, not all employees are automatically entitled to leave time under the FMLA. Only about 50% of U.S. employees have FMLA coverage. Therefore, it is critical to understand what employees are covered under FMLA and when they are eligible to take Read More