Client Alerts
- August 2, 2019
President Trump sent global markets diving yesterday afternoon with his surprise Twitter announcement that he will begin imposing a 10% tariff on another $300 billion in Chinese imports (List 4) effective September 1, 2019. President Trump’s tweets noted that the progress of Robert Lighthizer’s and Steve Mnuchin’s talks earlier this week with China were “constructive”, but criticized China for not making progress on the key issue of opening its market to more agricultural products and halting to Chinese exports of Fentanyl.
August 2, 2019As reported by our team in recent alerts, there is an emerging trend of states adopting and/or considering legislation to ban or otherwise restrict the use of non-competes against “low wage” employees. Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are the latest states to jump on the bandwagon and reform their non-compete laws. As summarized below, these laws provide major changes affecting employers and employees.
July 22, 2019On July 15, 2019, Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, joined a group of 17 other State Attorneys General from around the country in urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take a harder line against non-compete and no-poach agreements.
July 19, 2019On July 18, 2019, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) released the details of its Social Equity Program enacted by the MRA Adult-Use Marihuana Establishments Emergency Rules.
July 16, 2019The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has announced that its Web-based portal for collecting pay and hours data for calendar years 2017 and 2018 opened on July 15, 2019.
July 3, 2019LATE MONDAY THE USTR ANNOUNCED A SUPPLEMENTAL LIST OF 89 TARIFF ITEMS FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION THAT ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR ADDITIONAL TARIFFS
July 3, 2019Today, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (“MRA”) released emergency administrative rules to implement the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (“MRTMA”). These rules establish the framework for adult-use marijuana establishments and clarify the interplay between the MRTMA and the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act (“MMFLA”).
July 2, 2019On June 29, 2019, President Donald Trump announced at the G-20 summit in Japan that United States companies would be allowed to sell equipment to Huawei provided that those sales did not pose a “great” national security risk. Many news organizations reported that the U.S. had agreed to drop sanctions against Huawei as part of an agreement with China to reopen trade negotiations.
June 26, 2019The U.S Supreme Court decided Monday, in Iancu v. Brunetti, that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ban on “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks could not withstand the first amendment challenge.
June 24, 2019Employers frequently use template employment agreements containing “one-size fits all” non-compete and non-solicitation provisions.
June 21, 2019The United States Trade Representative (USTR) formally announced the long-awaited exclusion process for $200 billion of products imported from China and subject to tariffs since September of 2018 under Section 301 List 3.
June 21, 2019Introduced legislation says the federal government won't interfere
June 18, 2019For many years, interested parties have attempted to change Michigan’s AUTOMOBILE NO-FAULT LAW to benefit various competing interests. The current impetus for change is the unlimited nature of personal injury protection (PIP) under the No-Fault Statute.
June 11, 2019The Department of Education has initiated a far-reaching notice of proposed rulemaking that could make significant changes to higher education. The rulemaking was announced by Secretary DeVos today.
June 7, 2019After much criticism for the backlog in processing Section 232 exclusion requests and pressure from Congress, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) has announced a new Interim Final Rule that changes the process for requesting exclusions from the duties and quantitative limitations imposed on steel and aluminum under action taken by the President pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 as amended.
June 5, 2019What Butzel Clients (and Others) Can Do Right Now about Tariffs – Write/Call Your Congressional RepsThe escalating tariffs that President Trump announced on all goods imported from Mexico are set to commence on June 10th, unless a delegation of Mexican officials meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and others today are able to convince President Trump that Mexico is taking enough action to stop the flow of immigrants crossing into the United States at its southern border.
May 31, 2019You don’t have to be a trade secrets lawyer to have conversational knowledge of Huawei’s trials and tribulations over the past couple of years.
May 31, 2019President Trump yesterday tweeted an announcement that he is imposing a new escalating tariff on Mexican imports to address the illegal migration crisis at the Southern Border to pressure Mexico to take action to halt the flow of migrants through that country.
May 30, 2019Jump to PageThe State of Washington recently adopted a new law restricting the use of non-compete agreements against “low wage” workers. Specifically, on May 8, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee (also a 2020 Democrat Presidential Candidate) signed HB 1450, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2020. The new law still allows employers to use and enforce “reasonable” non-compete agreements, but adds the following restrictions (among others).
May 29, 2019On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) issued a new Fact Sheet detailing the circumstances when a Business Associate can be held directly liable for violating provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rules.
Page: