Employment Regulation After Loper Bright and Corner Post: NLRB, EEOC, DOL Rulemaking; Rule Challenges; Client Impact

Description

Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Corner Post Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will have a significant impact on federal agency rulemaking, rule implementation, and legal challenges to federal rules. Employment is highly regulated by several federal agencies, including the NLRB, EEOC, DOL, and OSHA. Given that several impactful rules are currently being challenged--such as the EEOC's Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the DOL's minimum salary requirement for "white collar" exemptions, and the NLRB's "joint employment" standard--employment counsel should understand the implications these decisions may have on federal agency rulemaking and interpretation, legal challenges, and how their clients may be affected.

Loper Bright overruled the Chevron doctrine which, for 40 years, has served as the two-step framework for federal courts in deciding disputes between federal agencies and private parties challenging agency regulations. Under Chevron, courts would first ask whether Congress had "directly spoken to the precise question at issue" in the statute. If not, the courts were required to defer to the agency's interpretation as long as it was reasonable. Loper Bright has now put the task of interpreting statutory provisions back into the hands of federal courts.

Corner Post has increased agency exposure to suits by redefining when the statute of limitations period begins during which rules may be challenged. The Court held that the six-year statute of limitations for suits against the federal government begins to run only once the plaintiff has been injured, a significant change from the prior stance that the six-year period began once the rule was published. Therefore, entities formed within the last six years may bring challenges to regulations that have stood for decades.

Listen as our expert panel guides practitioners through the recent Loper Bright and Corner Post decisions and discusses the impact on employment regulation where new challenges to longstanding regulations may be brought, even if they had previously been upheld under Chevron. The panel will also discuss the potential impact on current legal challenges and how clients may be affected.