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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a new regulation to modernize and improve the H‑1B program, a visa program commonly used by U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers for specialized occupations.  The new regulation took effect on January 17, 2025.

The intent of the H-1B program is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals from outside the U.S.  The…
Continue Reading Changes to H-1B Program Now In Effect

On January 14, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued an opinion letter stating that employers are not permitted to require employees to use accrued employer-provided paid leave benefits during a designated Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave when the employee is also receiving benefits from a state or local family and medical leave program.

In the last few years, many states and localities have established paid family and medical leave programs that…
Continue Reading Interplay Between FMLA and State or Local Family and Medical Leave Programs

Business people having on presentation at office rendered by computer graphic 3D.

After a 6-week hiatus, I am back again with more updates about the Corporate Transparency Act’s (CTA) journey through federal court. For those of you tuning back in, this post relates to our firm’s series about the Corporate Transparency Act and Beneficial Ownership Reporting. Please follow the link here to see all our firm’s posts on this topic.

When I last posted about legal challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act in federal court (see here), a federal court…
Continue Reading The Corporate Transparency Act is Here (Kind of). Now It’s in Court (Several More Times)?

As the House case nears a potential settlement, Division I universities and their associated NIL collectives have established strategic plans for the dawn of the “revenue sharing era” of college sports. As the ground is shifting in the NIL world once again—perhaps more substantially than at any point before—college athletes and their agents should be prepared to effectively navigate the legal and contractual challenges that will undoubtedly arise in this new era.
Background
After the NCAA permitted collegiate…
Continue Reading Effectively Navigating MOUs, Revenue Sharing, and Collective Contracts

Discovering an undisclosed problem shortly after moving into a newly purchased house can be an aggravating experience for a new homeowner.

It is particularly frustrating for the homeowner who obtained a pre-purchase inspection as part of the house purchase. When the basement of the house begins to experience water intrusion after every rain, the homeowner begins to theorize that the home inspector negligently overlooked critical signs during the inspection.

Kevin Trost, U.W. 1998, is the founding member of…
Continue Reading What Home Inspectors Aren’t Legally Responsible for May Surprise You

In an alert posted this morning, FinCEN has announced that reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership reports even with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order yesterday.

Instead of issuing a new deadline for filing reports, FinCEN stated that despite the Supreme Court granting a stay (i.e., pause) of the nationwide block on enforcing the CTA, another nationwide order issued by a federal judge on January 7th remains in place (Smith v. U.S. Department of…
Continue Reading CTA Reporting Requirements Paused – FinCEN Under Pressure

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The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and its beneficial ownership reporting requirements are back in effect. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the federal government’s request to stay (i.e., pause) the nationwide block on enforcing the CTA.

The merits of the CTA are still under review by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral arguments scheduled for March 25, 2025. With the Supreme Court’s decision today, the CTA is currently enforceable unless the 5th Circuit rules otherwise based…
Continue Reading Livin’ on a Stay: The CTA Saga Continues

All employers, regardless of whether they sponsor employees for work visas, should closely monitor the Trump Administration’s evolving immigration policies. This is critical due to an anticipated surge in the enforcement of immigration laws and the potential labor supply disruptions stemming from significant changes to immigration policy. Employers who are unsure about their I-9 compliance, operate in immigrant-reliant industries, or lack a plan for managing unannounced site visits from federal officers seeking to enforce immigration laws, should act now…
Continue Reading Employers Should Pay Attention to Major Changes to Immigration Policy Under the Second Trump Administration

On November 15, 2024, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) 2024 overtime rule (“Overtime Rule”). This decision came months after the Overtime Rule went into effect and the first increase to the salary requirement was implemented. Due to the delay in the ruling, many employers have already made changes to comply with the first increase and are left wondering what they should do now.
Continue Reading Judge Tosses DOL Overtime Increase – What Employers Should Be Considering and Other Wage & Hour Reminders

January 3, 2025
The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) has been on a journey this past month with a whirlwind of court rulings: halted by a federal district court, reinstated by the Fifth Circuit’s motions panel, had its reporting deadlines extended by FinCEN, and then halted again by the Fifth Circuit’s merits panel. Amidst all this back-and-forth, predicting what will happen next can be challenging, but here are a few possible scenarios.

(1) The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Briefing…
Continue Reading The CTA Journey – It Goes On and On and On

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a nationwide injunction on the reporting of beneficial ownership information under the Corporate Transparency Act. The injunction issued by a Texas federal court in early December had been overturned last week by a different Fifth Circuit panel.

For now, reporting companies are (again) no longer required to report beneficial ownership information, but reporting of beneficial ownership under the CTA could be required in the future.  The Fifth Circuit will hear arguments…
Continue Reading Corporate Transparency Act Blocked Again

December 27, 2024
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has once again vacated enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its reporting requirements. This latest decision temporarily halts the mandate for entities to disclose beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), reinstating a pause on compliance obligations.

The appellate court’s panel emphasized preserving the “constitutional status quo” while evaluating substantive legal challenges to the CTA. This follows a sequence of rulings that…
Continue Reading Oops! …The Court of Appeals Did It Again – CTA Halted!

On December 23, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed a preliminary injunction of the Corporate Transparency Act. As a result, the U.S. federal government is again able to enforce the CTA, which includes the reporting of beneficial ownership information. Shortly after the Fifth Circuit issued the stay, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network extended the filing deadlines for certain reporting companies to submit beneficial ownership information. The response to the Fifth Circuit’s decision by…
Continue Reading Corporate Transparency Act Reinstated With New Reporting Deadlines

FinCEN has extended the reporting deadline for companies created or registered before January 1, 2024, to January 13, 2025. In an alert posted Tuesday night, FinCEN recognized that “reporting companies may need additional time to comply given the period when the preliminary injunction had been in effect.” Previously, the reporting deadline for these companies was January 1, 2025.

FinCEN also extended the deadline to January 13, 2025, for companies created on or after September 4, 2024, that had…
Continue Reading FinCEN Announces New January 13, 2025, Deadline for Most CTA Filings

The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and its reporting requirements are back in effect. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the U.S. Government’s motion for an emergency stay of the nationwide CTA injunction. This means the federal injunction that sought to overrule or pause the CTA is temporarily halted. As a result, reporting companies formed before January 1, 2024 are once again obligated to complete their required CTA beneficial owner information reports by the January 1, 2025 reporting…
Continue Reading The CTA is Back, Back Again

The anticipated Emergency Rule further outlining the Department of Revenue’s policies, procedures, and interpretations of Wis. Stat. Sec. 125 was just released! If you are a brewery, winery, distillery, or wholesale permittee in the State of Wisconsin this emergency rule applies to you and will impact your business. We will have more information about the Emergency Rule and its impacts in the coming days. However, for now, you may read the rule in its entirety at the link below:…
Continue Reading Emergency Rule 2419 Released by Wisconsin Department of Revenue