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Shawn D. Fabian

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Shawn Fabian is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's Chicago and New York offices.

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From smart watches to exoskeletons, wearable technologies are quickly changing the landscape of the American workplace. Several states and administrative agencies have responded to this shift by enacting new laws and issuing regulatory guidance concerning the use of such technologies. The latest of these responses includes a fact sheet issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) titled “Wearables in the Workplace: Using Wearable Technologies Under Federal Employment Discrimination Laws.” The fact sheet provides guidance on how employers can use wearable technologies while maintaining compliance with various federal employment laws. More broadly, the fact sheet signals growing concern over the use of employee-monitoring technologies. Continue Reading Wearable Technologies and Employment Risks – EEOC Issues New Guidance

As previously reported (here and here), some Delaware courts have recently declined to “blue pencil,” i.e., modify and narrow overbroad restrictive covenants. Instead, they have stricken in their entirety covenants deemed overbroad and declined to enforce them. On December 10, 2024, in Sunder Energy, LLC v. Tyler Jackson, et al., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed that Delaware courts have the discretion to decline to blue pencil overbroad restrictive covenants, even if the defendant’s conduct would violate a more narrowly circumscribed covenant. Continue Reading Delaware Supreme Court Refuses to Enforce Noncompete Against Company Founder Who Joined Competitor

An Indiana appellate court recently declined to enforce an executive’s non-compete on the grounds that the covenant’s activity restriction was overbroad.Continue Reading Indiana Appellate Court Rules Medical Company’s Non-Compete with Chief Operating Officer Overbroad and Unenforceable 

In less than two months, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. President-elect Trump has already announced that he will nominate Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as his pick to serve as the next Secretary of the Department of Labor (“DOL”). It remains to be seen if the Trump DOL will continue the current administration’s targeting of the healthcare industry.Continue Reading Will the Trump Labor Department Continue the Current Sharp Focus on the Healthcare Industry?

Washington Governor Jay Inslee recently signed Senate Bill 5935 into law, amending and expanding Washington’s statute restricting the enforceability of noncompetition covenants (Revised Code of Washington 49.2). The amended statute, effective June 6, 2024 and enacted to “facilitat[e] workforce mobility and protect[] employees and independent contractors,” follows a growing trend among states restricting the enforceability of noncompetition covenants and creates additional considerations for employers entering into non-compete agreements with Washington-based employees.Continue Reading Washington’s Amended Non-Compete Law Creates New Considerations for Employers

Illinois is the latest in a growing trend among states and cities throughout the country to enact salary transparency laws. Illinois joins the ranks of California, Washington and Colorado, among others, requiring employers to disclose pay scale and benefits in job postings. On August 11, 2023, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 3129 into law. Like its California, Washington and Colorado counterparts, the Illinois law is rooted in historic pay inequity among marginalized groups. The law amends Illinois’ Equal Pay Act and, beginning January 1, 2025, requires employers with 15 or more employees to disclose pay scales and benefits in job postings, as well as retain records of compliance with the amended law. Continue Reading Illinois is the Latest State to Enact a Salary Transparency Law

For those employers who have not yet modified their Minnesota employment and non-compete templates, the time is now. Pursuant to MN SF 3035, as of July 1, 2023, Minnesota employers are prohibited from entering into post-employment non-compete agreements with employees and individual independent contractors. Continue Reading Time for Employers to Modify Minnesota Protective Covenant Templates

In a blog earlier this year, we discussed the Delaware Chancery Court’s refusal to enforce a sale of business non-compete in Kodiak Building Partners, LLC v Adams. We wondered then whether Kodiak represented a one-off decision or whether it augured a trend that might give buyers of businesses pause. Delaware courts seem to have answered the question. In what constitutes a notable trend for buyers of businesses, Delaware courts have twice more refused to enforce non-competes under a sale of a business analysis. Continue Reading Buyer Beware: Delaware Courts Continue to Refuse to Enforce Deal-Based Non-Competes

Recently, Illinois became the third state to pass a mandatory paid time off law called the “Paid Leave for All Workers Act” (the “Act”), which grants employees a minimum of 40 hours of paid time off per year for any reason. Only Nevada and Maine provide similarly sweeping mandatory paid leave. Governor Pritzker has indicated he will sign the legislation. This new law, which would be effective January 1, 2024, will have a major impact on the landscape of paid leave in Illinois. It affects nearly everyone, its uses are unlimited, and it comes with new reporting and record-keeping requirements, as well as civil penalties for non-compliance. Though employers may provide more generous paid leave than the Act requires, the Act sets the new minimum standard for paid time off across the state.Continue Reading Time to Update Your Policies: Illinois Passes Sweeping Paid Leave Legislation

In a victory for the plaintiffs’ bar, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that all claims under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), 740 ILCS 14/1, et seq., are subject to a five-year statute of limitations. For years, litigants and courts have grappled with whether BIPA claims must be brought within one, two, or five years of an alleged BIPA violation. The Court’s long-awaited decision in Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc., 2023 IL 127801 (Ill. Feb. 2, 2023), puts an end to that pervasive uncertainty. Continue Reading Illinois Supreme Court Rules All BIPA Claims Are Subject to Five-Year Time Limit

Courts and state legislatures continue to take aim at post-employment non-competes. In a companion blog, we recently detailed the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule banning post-employment non-competes. However, for years (and even under the FTC’s overreaching proposed rule), non-competes in the sale of business context have generally received less scrutiny.Continue Reading Buyer Beware: Delaware Declines to Enforce Sale of Business Non-Compete