In a long awaited decision reversing 26 years of existing precedent, on June 21st the United States Supreme Court ruled in South Dakota  v. Wayfair, Inc., that states and other taxing jurisdictions could require out of state retailers to collect sales tax on online sales even though the retailers had no physical presence in the taxing jurisdiction.
Continue Reading United States Supreme Court Declares Open Tax Season on On-line Retailers

Photo: Judge Neil Gorsuch (Public Domain)
Photo: Judge Neil Gorsuch (Public Domain)

Last month, President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to fill the vacant seat left by the late Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.  While Judge Gorsuch’s nomination has been met with both praise and criticism from a divided electorate, it may bring good news to employers wrestling with leave requests under federal disability laws.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Nominee’s Record on Disability Leave Favorable to Employers

Photo: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr (CC by 2.0)
Photo: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr (CC by 2.0)

On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.”  Among other things, the EO attempted to implement a travel ban whereby individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen would be prohibited from entering the United States. Immediately, nationals from the named countries faced extraordinary hardship in entering the U.S.  Individuals with valid non-immigrant visas, such as F-1 student visas, H-1B work visas and other individuals with valid visas were affected. Green card holders (immigrant visa holders) were also affected.  These non-immigrants and immigrants are individuals who live in the United States, have family, jobs, homes, or other ties to the U.S., and who have gone through the lengthy and rigorous immigration process to obtain valid visas to enter the U.S. The EO extended to effect refugees who had been vetted by the U.S. government and granted refugee status by the U.S. to escape persecution.
Continue Reading The Effects of President Trump’s Immigration Executive Order

The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) yesterday released its long awaited final rule which revises the salary test for the “white collar” exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  The new rule will be effective December 1, 2016 and is expected to impact some 4.2 million salaried workers based simply on the revision