IEC scored an important victory before the U.S. Supreme Court with its 6-3 decision striking down Chevron deference, which requires federal courts to give deference to agencies’ reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes. IEC joined an amicus brief advocating for reform of the Chevron standard in the case known as Loper Bright, providing the Court with examples of how inconsistent NLRB precedent, established with the protection of Chevron, has caused unpredictability in labor relations. Regulatory agencies will now face more scrutiny and litigation, as courts will now have a more active role in interpreting ambiguous statutes without deferring to agency expertise.
A judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas prevented the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule banning most noncompetes from going into effect by issuing a preliminary injunction last week, but only for the party who brought the litigation challenging the rule. The Court stated it would enter a final ruling on the merits of the action by August 30 and will likely have implications for the rule’s enforceability throughout the nation. The rule is scheduled to take effect on September 4. IEC joined an amicus to this case, as well as the case before the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The IRS/Treasury released the final rule implementing the prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship (PWA) requirements for certain clean energy projects under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). While some modifications were made at IEC’s request, the final rule still unnecessarily prevents projects operating under a project labor agreement from being subject to penalty payments violating certain PWA requirements. The rule has an effective date of August 26 and an overview can be found here.
