The Supreme Court has stayed the nationwide injunction blocking the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), but FinCEN says that Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting remains voluntary. On January 23, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Government’s application for stay of the injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in the Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. McHenry, et al. case.[1] The Supreme Court stayed the nationwide injunction pending the ruling on the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Oral arguments regarding the constitutionality… Read more
Split closings are challenging and time consuming. A sale of an aircraft will usually consist of the sale of one airframe and its titled engines (each an object). When the titled engines are not affixed to the titled airframe, each object moves independently from one another. This means that the objects are often not simultaneously located in the same jurisdiction. When faced with this fact pattern, parties often consider closing the sale of the aircraft on the basis of a split closing. What is a Split Closing? A split closing occurs when legal title to an airframe and legal title… Read more
New York City recently enacted The Fair Chance in Housing Act (the “Act”) which prohibits asking or gathering any records about a housing applicant’s criminal history prior to approving the application. It applies to all owners, lessors, boards and their managers and investigators, including cooperative boards reviewing purchase applications, cooperative or condominium boards leasing or selling apartments and, perhaps, condominium boards exercising rights of first refusal or other reviews of proposed sales in which background checks of prospective purchasers are utilized. A criminal history check can be performed only after written approval of the applicant and must conform to substantive… Read more
With the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President, immigration enforcement is a top priority as illustrated by President Trump’s inaugural address and executive orders. Although we do not know yet what impact this will have on employers, it is widely expected that one component of the new administration’s immigration crackdown will be an increase in worksite enforcement and Form I-9 employment eligibility verification audits. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”) prohibits employers from hiring individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States and requires that the employer confirm the identity and employment eligibility… Read more
On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously resolved a split among federal Circuit Courts and found employers need only demonstrate by a “preponderance of the evidence” standard that an employee is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Supreme Court rejected a more onerous “clear and convincing evidence” standard, finding there exists no statutory or policy requirement for the FLSA to require such a higher standard of proof and concluding “the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard applies when an employer seeks to show that an employee is exempt from the minimum-wage… Read more
As the calendar flips to 2025, we embark on new beginnings, adhering to resolutions and updates to laws for New York employers. Following are some important reminders: New York Minimum Wage On January 1, 2025, the hourly minimum wage for employees in New York State increased by fifty cents. For New York City, Long Island and Westchester, the new minimum wage is $16.50 hourly; and for the rest of New York State, it’s $15.50 hourly. The minimum cash wage and maximum tip credit also increased for (a) service employees and (b) food service workers, each who regularly receive tips. For… Read more
The Government has now elevated the question of the enforceability of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) to the Supreme Court. In earlier alerts, we described the litigation in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al. The status of this District Court and Fifth Circuit litigation is that on December 26, 2024, the Fifth Circuit restored the District Court’s injunction which blocks the enforcement of the CTA and its Beneficial Ownership Information… Read more
Come avrete forse appreso, il 3 dicembre 2024 la Corte distrettuale degli Stati Uniti per il Distretto Orientale del Texas ha emesso un’ingiunzione preliminare a livello nazionale che sospendeva l’applicazione del Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) e le relative regole di reporting sui proprietari/beneficiari effettivi (BOI). In seguito al ricorso presentato dal Governo il 5 dicembre 2024, il CTA è stato oggetto di molteplici provvedimenti giudiziari emessi durante gli ultimi giorni del 2024. In particolare, il 23 dicembre 2024 la 5th Circuit Court of Appeal aveva inizialmente ripristinato l’efficacia della normativa in commento ma poi, il 26 dicembre, aveva rovesciato la propria pronunzia. Infine, alla vigilia di Capodanno, il Governo ha proposto ricorso alla Corte Suprema… Read more
In June 2023, the NLRB ruled that Starbucks illegally threatened and terminated two former employees for engaging in protected activities. Among other relief, the Board’s order required that Starbucks must “compensate [its former employees] for any direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms against them, including reasonable search-for-work and interim employment expenses, if any, regardless of whether these expenses exceed interim earnings.” In issuing the relief, the Board relied on its 2022 decision in Thryv, Inc., which held that, “in all cases in which [its] standard remedy would include an order for make-whole relief,” it will also “expressly order that the respondent… Read more
Brief Background: In previous Legal Alerts we described the case Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., in which the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction that stayed the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and the CTA’s reporting rules. We also described subsequent proceedings in which, on December 23, 2024, a motions panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the District Court’s injunction pending appeal. Shortly after the Fifth Circuit overturned the District Court’s injunction, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which… Read more
