On April 24, 2025, the Florida House and Senate passed the Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act, which Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign. The Legislature emphasized Florida’s legitimate state interest to strong legal protections in employment contracts, promoting information sharing, training, and development. The law takes effect on July 1, 2025. While most states have moved to restrict non-compete agreements, the CHOICE Act cements Florida as the most non-compete-friendly state in the country. It covers statutorily defined non-compete and garden leave agreements, ensuring full enforceability if specific conditions are met.

In a seminal case regarding New York’s Child Victims Act (“CVA”), in Nellenback v, Madison County, ___ N.Y.3d ___, 2025 NY Slip Op 02263 (2025), the New York Court of Appeals held on April 17, 2025: (1) “we must evaluate the reasonableness of the [defendant’s] supervision by the then-prevailing standards, not today’s”; (2) “[r]eferences to ‘generalized norms or practices’ alone are not sufficient [to raise a triable issue of fact in opposition to summary judgment] where … there is nothing in the record that indicates the [defendant] had any opportunity or reason to know about the abuse”; and (3) plaintiffs cannot defeat summary judgment where “any jury determination [as to constructive notice] would be purely speculative.” Each is pivotal for CVA defendants.

A judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently granted a freight broker’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). In this case, Armstrong Transport Group, LLC, a licensed freight broker, was sued by Yunieski Riveron Gonzalez for negligence arising out of injuries Gonzalez suffered while unloading cargo he alleges was improperly loaded and secured.

The United States has seen a dramatic change in tariff policy under the second administration of President Donald J. Trump. The tariffs are part of a larger effort to reduce trade deficits and bring manufacturing back to the United States. But the implementation of the tariffs has been fast and extreme, with tariffs imposed, modified, and suspended frequently, in some cases daily. The most stringent of the tariffs imposed to date have been tariffs on goods from China, one of the largest U.S. trade partners.

The Trump administration’s 2025 energy policy reflects a new direction focused on advancing traditional energy development by reducing regulatory oversight. The policy emphasizes the rollback of certain environmental and sustainability initiatives, including revisions to greenhouse gas regulations, suspension of climate-related program funding, and withdrawal from select international climate agreements. 

On April 2, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficit” (the “Order”). The Order set sweeping, across-the-board tariffs on virtually all countries with varying tariff rates. The basis of the Order was the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Trade Act of 1974, the National Emergencies Act, and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232).

There were a few key developments for labor and employment law in the state of Michigan for the year 2024. Such developments include changes to Michigan’s paid sick leave requirements and increases to the minimum wage. Here is a summary of these key changes.

Nebraska's labor and employment landscape is undergoing significant changes. From new paid sick leave requirements to enhanced protections for workers, these changes are reshaping the relationship between employers and employees across the state.