Franchisors received some encouraging news this week from President Trump's Acting Solicitor General, Nicholas Geale. Mr. Geale says that he prefers not to bring enforcement actions based on a theory that franchisors and franchisees are "joint employers." He also said that he hopes the U.S. Department of Labor will focus on helping employers to comply with the law and less on ...

Daily Trumpdates. Our new president has had a busy week, and I've been providing "Daily Trumpdates" of actions taken that are of interest to employers. Here are links to all the Trumpdates from this week:

MONDAY: Regulatory freeze, "listening session" with unions, Puzder status

TUESDAY: Good meeting with union reps

WEDNESDAY (twofer): The 4 known SCOTUS contenders

Victoria ...

The latest installment of Mallory Schneider Ricci's saga, Diary of a Pregnant Lawyer: Second Blogmester, is up at FOCUS, our women's leadership blog. Is the second trimester really the easiest part of a pregnancy? Well, yeah, probably, but that doesn't mean it's easy. We are happy to announce that Mallory had her baby on December 22, and little Margot Eleanor is beautiful! And a ...

The November-December edition of Constangy's Executive Labor Summary is out! David Phippen has a good one (does he ever have any other kind?), including the current status of the U.S. Department of Labor's overtime rule (sick) and the Persuader Rule (still a pulse, but death is imminent), Secretary Thomas Perez's run for chair of the Democratic National Convention, and some dude in ...

The November edition of ConstangyTV's Close-Up on Workplace Law tackles workplace holiday parties, the legal risks, and how to minimize those risks. Host Leigh Tyson interviews Gary Wheeler of our Jacksonville Office about what employers should and shouldn't do. If you haven't already done so, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

The new, improved I-9 form. Elizabeth Joiner

This has been a weird year for me. (And, no, I'm not even thinking about the election!) But I have much to be thankful for, and I hope you do, too.

BREAKING THING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: Yesterday evening, the U.S. Department of Labor's new rule governing white-collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act was struck down by a federal judge in Texas. I'll have more on the decision ...

Effect of Election 2016 on labor and employment law. We asked our practice group heads and some thought leaders to tell us how they think employers will be affected by a Trump Administration on specific labor and employment law issues. This client bulletin is packed with prognostication about what we may see in the areas of affirmative action and OFCCP compliance, litigation and ...

There is great rejoicing among federal contractors since a federal judge in Texas has preliminarily blocked the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" rules from going into effect. Absent the court's action, the rules would have taken effect for the largest contractors this past Tuesday, and for some smaller ones in 2017. The case is far from over, but this is a major interim victory ...

The always-interesting, always-entertaining Mallory Schneider Ricci has a new post at FOCUS, our women's leadership blog, about whether companies need to market separately to women.

If you haven't read Mallory before, you definitely want to start. Check out "Is Your Shirt Too Blue?" from July.

You won't be sorry!

Hot dawg! Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete has been named by Vault.com as the best law firm in the country for women lawyers and the best law firm in the country for minority lawyers. Heather Owen has the whole wonderful story at FOCUS, our women's leadership blog. This latest honor comes on the heels of our having been named by the National Law Journal as fourth best law firm for ...