Compliance Stuff

In a significant win for businesses fighting CIPA claims, a California federal court just held that searching sensitive health terms and distributing that information to third parties is not a legally protectable privacy interest, foreclosing a plaintiff from pursuing a class action lawsuit. Although the court allowed the plaintiff to amend his complaint and fix its deficiencies, the February 23 decision marks a significant shift in evaluating a plaintiff’s so-called injuries in these cases. Rather than accepting plaintiff’s threadbare allegations of harm, the court in  Maghoney v. Dotdash Meredith Inc.  dug into the allegations of the complaint and questioned whether the plaintiff had actually alleged awareness that his information had been shared with third parties and whether any data shared could have been associated with his name or other personally identifiable information. Here is what you need to know to use this decision to successfully defend against CIPA lawsuits, ...

On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued new field assistance indicating it will no longer seek liquidated damages in administrative matters against employers for unpaid minimum wage or overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . The field assistance takes the position that the WHD is not authorized to seek liquidated damages unless it does so through a lawsuit. Quick Hits The WHD issued field assistance instructing regional solicitors (RSOLs) to stop seeking liquidated damages in administrative matters over unpaid minimum wage and overtime. The field assistance states that the WHD has determined that the FLSA does not authorize the secretary of labor to seek liquidated damages unless the division files a lawsuit, a change to recent enforcemen t. The policy change took effect on June 27, 2025, and applies prospectively. Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2025-3  clarifies that the WHD may not supervise the payment of liquid...

  The Trump Administration has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to postpone oral argument in a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s 2024 independent contractor rule. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to pause oral argument in a legal challenge brought by trucking companies in order to give the incoming leadership at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) a chance to review the case and determine its next steps in the litigation. The appeals court granted the motion, tabling oral argument which had been scheduled for Feb. 5, 2025. ( Frisard’s Transp., LLC v. United States DOL , No. 24-30223, Jan. 24, 2025). The 2024 independent contractor rule, issued in January 2024, revised the DOL standard for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the FLSA. The rule, which took effect March 11, 2024, formally adopted the six-factor “economic realities” test to determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contracto...