Pressure for tough federal action to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) continues to grow, with two Congressional hearings, multiple legislative proposals, the issuance of a new scientific report, and EPA’s release of expected dates for particular PFAS regulations all making news in the last two weeks. This heightened focus and the unusually aggressive proposals for regulating these chemicals leave little question that there is an increasing business risk for current and former manufacturers of PFAS chemicals and products containing them. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires that private employers with over 100 employees and certain federal contractors with 50 or more employees provide data regarding the number of employees by job category, race, ethnicity, and sex in EEO-1 Reports. Following a recent United States District Court opinion and subsequent statements by the EEOC, these employers must now provide additional data related to hours worked and pay data for 2017 and 2018 by September 30, 2019.

On April 26, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion that should greatly curtail the ability of plaintiffs to sustain gross negligence claims in transportation cases by reinforcing the extremely high burden plaintiffs must meet to establish gross negligence.

Last year, the California Supreme Court held in Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court that the “ABC test” determines whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee, replacing the more lenient Borello test. 

Microsoft recently announced a critical vulnerability in its Windows operating systems so serious that it is issuing a patch for even unsupported, older versions of Windows. The vulnerability allows for remote code execution in Remote Desktop Services with no authentication at all. In fact, there is no user interaction of any kind required for a malicious actor to exploit the vulnerability.

Following the White House’s “call to action” in 2016, many states sprang into action and attempted to reign in the use of non-compete agreements in their states to even the playing field between employers and employees. Enveloped in this wind of change, on May 8, 2019, Washington State signed into law its own non-compete statute that establishes a black-and-white compensation test for workers who can be required to sign a non-compete agreement and those who cannot.

In a surprise move a day before a scheduled “town hall” on debt collection, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its long-awaited proposed debt collection rule. Key elements of the proposal include call caps (limits on the number of times debt collectors can contact debtors), clarity on allowable use of electronic communications, and disclosure requirements on information to be communicated to consumers.

A once obscure group of chemicals known as perfluorinated chemical substances (PFAS) have gripped national headlines in recent months, due to increasing concerns over potential health risks. PFAS have been used for many years in a wide variety of products, such as non-stick cookware, cleaning and coating solutions, paper, food packaging materials, fire-fighting foam, automotive applications, upholstery, and carpeting. These chemicals have been detected in groundwater and surface water across the country, and Congress, federal and state regulators, and litigants are all taking steps in response.