Compliance Stuff

The Texas Business Court has entered the growing national debate about whether conversations with AI tools like ChatGPT are discoverable, and it came down on the side of protection. In a minute entry filed June 3, 2026, Judge Grant Dorfman of the Eleventh Division ruled that a non-lawyer’s ChatGPT conversations, prepared in anticipation of litigation, can qualify as protected attorney work product under Texas procedural rules. The ruling came in Tate Group Automotive, LLC v. Legacy Automotive Capital, LLC , Cause No. 25-BC11B-0020, after the Court completed an in camera review of ChatGPT “conversations” that the plaintiff had withheld from production. The decision continues the developing judicial dialogue on AI discoverability, siding with two federal courts that have found no waiver and expressly splitting from another federal court that reached the opposite conclusion. In doing so, the Court rejected the argument that a non-lawyer’s sharing of information with ChatGPT necessarily wa...

The shift to remote and hybrid work arrangements has fundamentally changed how employers manage (and potentially mismanage) wage-and-hour compliance. While flexible work models offer significant benefits, they also present unique challenges under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and analogous state laws. Wage-and-hour claims remain one of the most frequently litigated employment issues, and remote work has created new avenues for liability, particularly with respect to timekeeping, overtime, and off-the-clock work. Below are some key compliance risks that employers should be addressing now, along with practical strategies to mitigate exposure. Tracking Hours Worked Non-exempt employees must be paid for all hours worked, including time that may be difficult to capture in a remote setting . Even small increments of unrecorded time can lead to significant liability when aggregated across a workforce. Without direct supervision, employees may:  Work outside scheduled hours Respond t...

As 2025 drew to a close, we continued to see employers lose jury trials and face million-dollar verdicts because they i gnored the basics of the interactive process requirements under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Most often, the fact patterns involve an employee who is underperforming or struggling in performing their job or who refuses or is unable to perform certain job functions. Frustrated that the work is not being handled, these employers rush to terminate the employee’s job, often without following a systematic or logical approach and failing to document the process. For instance, in one recent case, an employee who was required to drive at night told her supervisor that she felt unsafe working at night and had difficulty driving because she had night blindness, where bright streetlights and traffic lights blinded her, created halos, and made it difficult to see. Her manager dismissed her concerns, noting that she had previously driven at night, and she was subsequ...

The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history has ended, and employers must now refocus their attention on agency actions and compliance priorities that may have resumed or accelerated. After 43 days of near-total inactivity, key labor and employment agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Labor (DOL), and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), are back online and poised to clear massive backlogs. This means a surge in enforcement activity, renewed regulatory initiatives, and heightened scrutiny across multiple fronts.  Why the Crunch Matters During the shutdown, most non-essential agency functions were suspended. EEOC investigations stalled, and mediations and investigative conferences were canceled . The DOL halted wage and hour audits, classification reviews, and technical assistance, while the NLRB postponed union elections and representation hearings. Although deadlines for certain filings were tolled (temporarily suspen...

  Beginning January 1, 2026, age 50+ catch‑up contributions for “high‑paid participants” of 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) retirement plans must be made on a Roth basis. As a result, employers must identify who is a “high-paid participant” and ensure that corresponding catch-up contributions are characterized as Roth — even if a participant’s standing catch-up deferral election is pre‑tax.   The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released final regulations   implementing the mandatory Roth catch-up, which will create pressure points for payroll systems, retirement plan recordkeepers, and plan sponsors. This update summarizes the new mandatory Roth catch-up requirement, highlights selected issues for payroll and human resources to consider, and recommends solutions to reduce compliance risk.  The New Mandatory Roth Catch‑Up Rule Under final IRS regulations, a catch‑up eligible participant with FICA wages paid by applicable employer(s) above a wage thresh...

There has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the current artificial intelligence (AI) boom, as well as the potential for a bust reminiscent of the end of the dot com era . AI continues to predominate venture capital (VC) investment, with  KMPG  recently reporting that “VC investors continued to double down on AI in Q3’25, with companies developing AI models and platforms attracting many of the largest funding rounds of the quarter.” And this is showing no signs of slowing down. While experts can debate whether we are in an AI bubble that could burst, unlike the boom cycles we have experienced in the past, this time, investors are becoming more selective. AI startup formation will no doubt continue its surge as we move into 2026, but funding will become even more concentrated among those companies that can demonstrate a real product-market fit and a credible plan for legal rights and regulatory compliance. Below are three trends that we can expect to define the AI sect...

  When the federal government shuts down,   many agencies   — including the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the “Board”) — scale back and, in some instances, suspend operations. For employers, this can create uncertainty about how to handle labor relations issues when the NLRB is not actively processing cases, conducting elections, or issuing rulings. However, it is critical to remember that the  National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) itself is still in effect . Most private employers,  regardless of whether they are unionized , remain fully bound by its requirements, even if Board enforcement is temporarily delayed. Below are key considerations for maintaining compliance and minimizing risk during this shutdown period. 1. Eligible employees can still engage in protected activity. Even though the NLRB may not be operating at full capacity, employers must continue to respect employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity, including union organiz...

On Friday, September 5, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or the Commission) brought its multiyear effort to ban employee noncompete agreements to a conclusion . As readers of this blog will certainly remember,  in April 2024 , the FTC voted to adopt a regulation (the  Noncompete Rule  or the Rule) that would have banned the great majority of employee noncompete agreements across the country. The Noncompete Rule was immediately challenged in court and, in August 2024, a  federal court in Texas  held the Noncompete Rule unlawful and issued a broad order vacating the Rule in its entirety. The FTC appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals but, given the subsequent change in presidential administrations, it was  long anticipated  that the Trump-Vance FTC was likely to abandon its efforts to defend the Biden-era Noncompete Rule. On September 5, these expectations came to fruition, as the FTC finally and definitively announced its ...