California and New York recently enacted statutory restrictions aimed at “stay-or-pay” arrangements: California AB 692 (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 16608 & Cal. Lab. Code § 926) and the New York Trapped at Work Act (N.Y. Lab. Law art. 37, §§ 1050-1055), respectively. Such arrangements are contractual provisions that, while falling short of a non-competition agreement, make it costly
EEOC Issues Updated Guidance on National Origin Discrimination
The EEOC has issued a one-page technical assistance document, “Discrimination Against American Workers Is Against the Law” and updated its national origin discrimination landing page, reinforcing national origin discrimination protections with a focus on immigration-related issues. The latest guidance follows the EEOC’s previous 2016 Enforcement Guidance on National Origin Discrimination, which remains in effect.
Title VII,
FTC Signals Forthcoming Non-compete Enforcement Actions
On September 4, 2025, the FTC announced an enforcement action and proposed settlement with Gateway Pet Memorial Services (the “Company”), a pet cremation company, over the Company’s overuse of post-employment non-competes with certain terms it found concerning. At nearly the same time, the FTC withdrew its appeals pending in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits of district court rulings issued last
US States Can (And Will) Continue To Regulate Artificial Intelligence … for Now
Martin Edwards, vice president of Taft’s Public Affairs Strategies Group in Taft’s Washington, D.C. office, contributed to this post.
Early on July 1, the U.S. Senate voted to halt an effort to impose a 10-year moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence. The vote, 99-1, removed the AI provision from President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that had evolved from a
Harris Quoted in TechTarget Piece on SAP and Celonis Legal Dispute
Taft partner Marcus Harris was quoted in the TechTarget article, “SAP agrees to allow Celonis data access until case resolved,” published on June 26. In the piece, Harris provided insight into the ongoing legal dispute between SAP and Celonis, addressing the implications of SAP’s agreement to permit continued data access while litigation is pending.
Read the article here.
Harris,
Avoid Costly Mistakes: Insights from Recent ERP Legal Battles
In this video, I discuss two recent ERP lawsuits involving SAP and Oracle.
- In March 2025, Celonis sued SAP in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging in a 61-page complaint that SAP excludes process mining competitors and other third-party providers from its ecosystem.
- According to Celonis, SAP makes it virtually impossible for its customers
U.S. Supreme Court Holds Majority-Group Plaintiffs Are Not Subject to a Heightened Evidentiary Standard Under Title VII
On June 5, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Jackson in Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Services, ruling that the “background circumstances” test—which applies a heighted evidentiary standard to majority group plaintiffs seeking to state a prima facie claim for disparate treatment under Title VII—is inconsistent with Title VII. The Court vacated
Is Your ERP Software Project Doomed? Red Flags to Watch For!
Vendors often minimize an ERP implementation’s complexity, cost, and length.
- Their goal is to sell software, not set a customer’s expectations.
- But are they contributing to ERP failure? Is the customer to blame for believing them?
Understanding your business requirements and how you want your ERP software to address those requirements is critical to success.
- Without understanding your present state,
Harris to Moderate Panel at ITechLaw’s 2025 World Technology Conference
Taft Partner Marcus Harris will moderate the panel “Safeguarding and Upholding Intellectual Property in Emerging Digital Landscapes” at ITechLaw’s 2025 World Technology Law Conference in San Diego. The panel is scheduled for May 15 at 1:10 p.m. PDT and will bring together legal professionals to discuss the evolving challenges of protecting intellectual property (IP) as digital technologies, including artificial intelligence,
Kansas Passes Pro-Employer Restrictive Covenant Legislation
On April 9, 2025, Kansas Governor Laura Kelley signed into law Senate Bill No. 241 (the “Bill”), which amends the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act (the “Act”) to (a) create presumptions of enforceability for non-solicitation covenants meeting the Act’s requirements, and (b) require reformation of overbroad restrictive covenants. The Act expressly excludes non-competition covenants from its scope. K.S.A. § 50-163(d)(6).