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Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

Many federal contractors are required to file Type 2 Consolidated Employer Information Reports, Standard Form 100 (EEO-1 Reports). Generally, employers that are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and has 100 or more employees must file an EEO-1 Report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

Multiemployer pension plan (MEPP) withdrawal liability often costs millions of dollars, ‎even for small employers. People weighing whether to buy or sell a construction company (or its ‎assets) will want to be aware of any potential withdrawal liability that may be assessed.‎ Employers that withdraw from an underfunded MEPP are subject to withdrawal liability ‎under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

Polaris Innovations Ltd. v. Brent, Appeal No. 2019-1483 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 15, 2022) In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit provided what appears to be its first precedential opinion construing Section 317 of the Patent Act—a provision concerning the effect of settlement during an America Invents Act (AIA) proceeding. The Court’s opinion construes the statute in ways that may be unexpected for parties who seek to settle inter partes review (IPR) petitions ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

Despite their reputation, traditional defined benefit (pension) plans can be a valuable tool for small business succession planning. Defined benefit pension plans are often associated with unions and financial mismanagement resulting in severe underfunding and government bailouts. They are often viewed by many within the retirement plan industry itself as a relic ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

On September 8, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the reserved right of the Metlakatlan Indian Community to fish in the off-reservation waters where Metlakatlans had traditionally fished, and held that Metlakatlans are not subject to an Alaska statute creating a limited-entry program for commercial fishing. Metlakatla Indian Community v ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | September 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, questions about employee health-privacy-related symptoms, testing, and vaccination became prevalent in discussions about the workplace at all levels—from “the water cooler” to national news ...

Provisur Technologies, Inc. v. Weber, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2021-1942, -1975 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 27, 2022) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit reviewed an IPR decision and addressed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s consideration of certain evidence submitted to supplement a prior art disclosure. The Court also found that the Board violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by failing to sufficiently explain its rationale concerning its obviousness determinations ...

In April of 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026, which increased the minimum wage for employees of federal government contractors to $15. The Executive Order provided that this minimum wage would be adjusted to account for inflation. On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal contractors will increase to $16.20 because of inflation ...

On October 5, 2022, during the Tribal Consultation session in Washington, D.C ...

The past two years have seen significant growth in the number of mergers and acquisitions nationwide with many business owners choosing to liquefy their assets and move on. At the same time, employers have had to cope with numerous challenges that have made the otherwise routine task of employee onboarding and I-9 preparation more difficult. Some employers (unlawfully) stopped preparing I-9s for new hires altogether ...

On October 7, 2022, the White House released its National Strategy for the Arctic Region, further developing the federal government’s approach to the northernmost region, which is under intergovernmental purview. The document is an update to a policy released in 2013, and is intended to express the federal government’s “affirmative U.S ...

On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule amending its small-business size regulations to incorporate the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) revision for 2022 (NAICS 2022) into its table of small-business size standards ...

On Aug. 16, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Although it garnered headlines mostly for its $80 billion commitment to the Internal Revenue Service, the IRA went a long way toward providing tax incentives to real estate and related industries. Selecting a few primary issues from the IRA, as with any large-scale legislation, can be a challenge ...

The Oregon legislature passing Senate Bill 1501 in March of this year set the stage for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF’s)‎ rulemaking process to implement a comprehensive set of changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act (FPA). The rulemaking process is now nearing its conclusion. ODF held hearings and informational meetings on draft rules implementing changes to the FPA stemming from the Private Forest Accord Report throughout September ...

With the end of the year just around the corner, it’s a good time to reassess plans and action-items. When reviewing your year-end estate planning or business transition concerns, there are several things to contemplate and review, such as year-end gift giving and tax considerations. Below is a list of items we’ve identified that you might want to consider as you plan for the end of the year and future transitions ...

Weisner v. Google LLC, Appeal No. 2021-2228 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 13, 2022) In its only precedential patent case this last week, the Federal Circuit again revisited the thresholds for disposing of cases under Section 101, brought on a motion to dismiss.  In a split decision, the Court affirmed the dismissal of two patents, but reversed the district court concerning two other patents, all of which shared the same specification ...

On December 7, 2021, in Georgia v. Biden, Case No. 1:21-cv-163, a federal district court judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in any state or territory of the United States. This injunction was nationwide applied to all federal contractors ...

International Business Machines Corp. v. Zillow Group, Inc. et al., Appeal No. 2021-2350 (Fed. Cir. 2022) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a Rule 12(c) judgment on the pleadings that IBM’s U.S. Patent Nos. 9,158,789 (the ’789 patent) and 7,187,389 (the ’389 patent) are drawn to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 ...

The Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration have announced the various retirement plan benefit and employment tax limits for 2023. Certain limitations will not change for 2023 because they are not subject to annual adjustments.  However, limits tied a cost of living index have increased.    The limits for 2023, as compared to those in effect for 2022, are set forth below ...

ABC Corp. v. Tomoloo Official, Appeal Nos. 2021-2277, -2355, -2150 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 28, 2022) ABC Corp. v. eBay, Inc., Appeal No. 2022-1071 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 28, 2022)  The following summary covers two decisions issued the same day, dealing with preliminary injunctions issued from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in a single litigation.  In one of those decisions, the Federal Circuit examined the notice requirement under FRCP 65(a) and held it was not met ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | November 2022

Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Motorola Mobility LLC, Appeal Nos 2021-1555, -1795 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 4, 2022) Our Case of the Week is ostensibly a case about whether a patent owner has standing to sue when that patent holder has granted an exclusive license. But the case turns on the application of collateral estoppel, when Uniloc, the patent owner, dismissed an appeal against Apple in an unrelated suit concerning the same facts. The case sounds like a cautionary tale about dismissing cases on appeal ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | November 2022

Summary: On October 28, 2022, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement by prohibiting the award of any DoD contract to entities that require their employees to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements that would restrict their employees from lawfully reporting waste, fraud, or abuse related to the performance of a DoD contract to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative who is authorized

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | November 2022

In March 2022, the Oregon legislature passed House Bill (HB) 4002, which imposes new overtime pay requirements for agricultural workers beginning on January 1, 2023. The bill also establishes a refundable tax credit for eligible employers to help offset all or part of the additional wage expenses attributed to overtime pay ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | November 2022

In re: Apple Inc., Appeal No. 2022-162 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 8, 2022) In our Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit granted Apple’s petition for mandamus, directing the District Court for the Western District of Texas to vacate a scheduling order that would require Apple and counter-party Aire Technology Ltd ...

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt | November 2022

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held a three-hour oral argument in the Brackeen v. Haaland case. Brackeen involves constitutional challenges to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) that could have far-reaching consequences on many areas of federal Native peoples’ law, from Tribal sovereignty to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. ICWA ...

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