Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP, a national plaintiff side law firm, is pleased to announce the February 2025 promotion of two new additional partners. Esther Lee Bylsma and J. Caleigh MacDonald join a growing partner tier at the firm.

As of January 1st 2025 twenty one states welcomed new minimum wages for (most) workers.  While the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour, most workers in the United States fall under additional minimum wages supplied by their state, county or city. 

The April 2024 federal non-compete rule from the FTC aimed to ban nearly all new non-compete agreements and invalidate most existing ones. Exceptions were limited to specific high-level employees with access to sensitive information. However, courts in Texas and Florida have since issued injunctions halting enforcement of the ban.

Despite the federal ban being on hold, a majority of the U.S. workforce is employed in states that impose varying restrictions on non-compete agreements.

Predictability pay, also known as predictive scheduling, refers to laws requiring employers to provide hourly and part-time workers with consistent, advance notice of their work schedules. When employers make last-minute changes, affected employees may be entitled to additional pay. These laws aim to promote financial stability and fairness, particularly in industries like retail and hospitality. 

As of 2025, Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont have joined other states including California and New York in requiring companies to supply information about pay and benefits in job postings. 

Recently in California wage theft and labor law news:  Another California city adds wage theft ordinance that requires developers to pay all wage theft obligations before receiving permits,  The California Department of Labor is struggling to connect with all the workers for which it has received settlements and back pay, and there is a backlog at California state agencies handling wage theft claims.

As of October 2024, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is implementing a policy that it can no longer investigate wage theft claims from workers earning more than $53,000 per year (approximately $25.34 per hour). This move is part of an effort to manage a backlog of claims and allocate resources to lower-income workers, who are often more vulnerable to wage theft. BOLI cited resource constraints and increasing workloads as key reasons for establishing this threshold. The agency states the reason for the change is it is struggling with underfunding and reduced staff, stating it has around 150 full time staff members. 

On July 30th, 2024 the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) released an order regarding a case involving Amazon.com, Inc (CPSC Docket No.: 21-2). The case centered on the sale of hazardous products through Amazon’s platform. In another court they were found responsible for a drivers accident when a child was hit and seriously injured by a delivery van.

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) released a new report in June of 2024, reviewing seven extreme heat events from 2013 to 2022 to estimate economic costs and health impacts.

As extreme heating events increase in frequency, workers and employers need to consider the best ways to protect themselves from injury and death. Heat stroke, heat exhaustion, syncope, kidney failure and rhabdomyolysis are all possible when a worker is exposed to excessive heat and not given sufficient water, breaks and if working outside shade.

In California, worker’s compensation is generally the exclusive remedy for employees who are injured on the job, meaning they usually cannot sue their employers in a civil trial for workplace injuries. 

However, there are exceptions to the rule, which allow for injured workers to take their case to court.