Kansas state flag. Vector illustration.

On April 8, 2025, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 241 (SB 241) into law, amending the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act (K.S.A. 50-163). Taking effect on July 1, 2025, this new employer-friendly legislation clarifies the enforceability of customer and employee non-solicitation covenants in Kansas. Under the new law, customer and employee non-solicitation agreements that meet specific requirements are presumed valid and enforceable. This new law also mandates courts to modify overbroad restrictive covenants. SB 241 expressly does not apply to non-competition covenants—meaning it does not affect the enforceability of traditional non-competes, which continue to be governed by existing law.

Last week, a Hennepin County judge sentenced an employer following a first-of-its-kind criminal conviction for wage theft in Minnesota.

Since its enactment in 2019, Minnesota’s Wage Theft Prevention Act has imposed stringent penalties on employers who unlawfully withhold wages from employees. Under the Act, employers may face felony charges if they commit wage theft with intent to defraud their employees in an amount greater than $1,000.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor released their 2026 Congressional Budget Justifications (CBJ) on May 30, 2025, providing valuable information related to the EEOC’s enforcement intentions and the future of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). A CBJ is the annual budget justification materials of a federal agency or a component of a federal agency that are submitted in conjunction with the President’s annual budget submission. The CBJ provides a detailed description of each program and information about how the agency will use funds, including increases and decreases in spending. The EEOC CBJ identifies four enforcement priorities and anticipated investigations into systemic intentional discrimination using the pattern or practice method of proof. Additionally, the EEOC CBJ and the Department of Labor’s Budget in Brief confirm that the OFCCP will be extinguished with its remaining two programs distributed to the EEOC and the Veterans Employment Training Service.

Some ampoules with vaccine and syringe injection.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought workplace vaccination policies to the forefront, raising complex questions about religious accommodations. Over four years after the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, these policies remain in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) crosshairs. The EEOC’s settlement with Infinity Rehab, announced on May 20, 2025, demonstrates that decisions made during the pandemic continue to create challenges for employers—and provides important insight into the EEOC’s current enforcement priorities.

On Wednesday, April 23rd, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” which renounces disparate impact theories of discrimination, and signals a significant shift for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) enforcement approach. In the EO, the White House directed all agencies to “deprioritize enforcement of all statutes and regulations to the extent they include disparate-impact liability.” The EO asserted the administration’s stance that disparate impact liability is unlawful, violates our Constitution, and “threatens the commitment to merit and equality of opportunity that forms the foundation of the American Dream.”

On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs issued a press release announcing two technical assistance documents jointly released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the DOJ. The stated purpose of the technical assistance is to encourage whistleblowers to file discrimination charges with the EEOC relating to unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs or practices or, in the case of state and local government employees, with the Department of Justice. It provides employees with instructions on how and where to file a claim of DEI related discrimination, along with descriptions of the types of DEI-related programs and activities that may constitute unlawful DEI under the current Administration’s policies. For employers, the technical guidance offers insight into the types of DEI activities that will be targeted by the Administration.

Missouri’s new minimum wage and paid sick leave law (“Proposition A”) currently is subject to two legal challenges; (1) a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the law, and (2) a house bill that, if passed by the Senate and governor, would alter the minimum wage component of the law and eliminate paid sick leave components of the law. The paid sick leave component of the law otherwise remains scheduled to go into effect on May 1, 2025, with relevant April 15, 2025, notice and posting compliance deadlines for employers. The fate of the paid sick leave component of Proposition A—and the law as a whole—remains uncertain. In the meantime, employers should plan as though the law will go into effect as scheduled.

In previous legal updates, our team analyzed the recent executive order entitled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which encourages, but does not mandate, that private employers end certain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices that the order considers “illegal.” Despite the executive branch’s shift in its approach to DEI, the underlying legal framework for private employers has not changed. The same is true for the recent executive order on gender identity entitled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” While this order introduces significant changes for federal agencies and federal contractors, private employers remain largely unaffected at this time.

On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump named Commissioner Andrea R. Lucas as Acting Chair of the EEOC. Since joining the commission in 2020, Lucas has been a strong advocate for addressing the evolving landscape of employment and civil rights issues. As these changes continue to shape the workplace, it’s crucial for both…

U.S. Supreme Court, in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana

On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a rare unanimous decision in EMD Sales Inc. v. Carrera, addressing the standard of proof employers must meet to establish that an employee is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Court held employers need only prove employees meet an FLSA exemption by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely true than not), rejecting the Fourth Circuit’s use of the higher “clear-and-convincing-evidence” standard. This ruling carries significant implications for employers in the context of employee classification and defending against unpaid overtime claims.