Legal News

• The New York State Equal Pay Act (EPA) now will apply to all protected categories (including race, national origin, religion, etc.) rather than just gender, dramatically expanding the reach of the statute. • New York also now prohibits...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

• Amendments to the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) lower the bar for employees and individual nonemployees pursuing discrimination and harassment claims. • In several respects, the amendments align the NYSHRL with the New York City Human...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

International Construction Arbitration has received a shock. Consistent with the leading textbooks, a party seeking to rely on force majeure in a construction contract did not have to show that ‘but for’ the force majeure event it would have...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

International construction arbitration welcomes FIDIC's latest standard form contract: the “Emerald Book”. Known more formally as Conditions of Contract for Underground Works the contract is designed to address issues that arise when dealing with...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

• The Ninth Circuit has withdrawn its May 2, 2019, opinion in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l, Inc., in which it held that the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision regarding independent contractors and employees applies retroactively. •...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

• On June 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued and put into effect an Interim Final Rule (Interim Rule) that requires all U.S. persons and persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction (not only...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Key Points - • Tight labor markets are leading courts and legislatures to closely scrutinize noncompetes and other restrictive covenants. • If there are changes in an employee’s job and/or the company’s business, it may be prudent to proactively...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

• Following the financial crisis, nonbank lenders looking to carve out new, profitable niches—especially within the leveraged loan universe—quickly filled the lending gap created by the exit of banks. • The relatively swift recovery of the private...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

These days, companies conducting background checks on job applicants have a lot to think about. Most companies are aware of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and FCRA’s various state analogs. FCRA, one of a number of federal statutes concerning...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

The Delaware Court of Chancery recently upheld a provision in a merger agreement that prevented the buyer from using privileged emails between the seller and its attorneys in post-closing litigation. The decision, in Shareholder Representative...By: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP