When Congress overrode President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act on January 1, 2021, it enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), which was part of the defense authorization bill.
President Biden signed a flurry of executive orders on January 20, 2021, his first day in office, a number of which rescinded or revised the prior administration’s executive orders and policies with regard to equity in the workplace.
After running a presidential campaign that emphasized the benefits of lawful and employment-based immigration, President Biden has issued a number of executive orders to reverse the Trump administration’s positions and eliminate restrictions.
On January 21, 2021, President Biden designated Commissioner Charlotte Burrows (D) as the new chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued four new opinion letters. The final Wage and Hour opinion letter issued by the DOL under the Trump administration, FLSA2021-9, addressed two issues related to the trucking industry.
On the last full day of the Trump administration, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) clarified that staffing firms can qualify as “retail or service establishments” under FLSA section 7(i).
With the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. imminent and Democrats now poised to take control of the Senate, WPI offers the following insights on what may be expected on the labor and employment front in the weeks and months to come.
On January 18, 2021, the Trump administration officially lifted widespread travel restrictions barring the entry of foreign national travelers physically present in certain countries within 14 days prior to entry.
In a much-anticipated decision, a federal court on December 1, 2020, ruled in favor of business and university plaintiffs, setting aside two new interim final rules that would have instituted major changes to the H-1B program.
We continue to monitor changes in the Trump administration’s handling of ongoing agency immigration reforms through the end of 2020 and into early 2021 that may impact employers’ ability to sponsor foreign workers on visas.
