On June 27, 2022, following the G7 annual summit in Madrid, Spain, President Biden issued a statement affirming the United States commitment to levy tariffs on imports from Russia, impose sanctions on entities aiding Russia, and restrict Russian access to industrial inputs services and technologies. These measures will impact a substantial number of U.S. industrial sectors and businesses, and create additional considerations for U.S. companies navigating a complex maze of potential legal risks.

On June 28, 2022, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a joint alert advising financial institutions to be aware of individuals or entities attempting to circumvent U.S. export controls related to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

On June 30, 2022 – the final day of the October 2021 term – the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review whether California’s worker classification law runs afoul of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 as applied to truck drivers. This blow to 70,000+ independent contractors in California will reverberate across the national supply chain and interstate commerce.

The Florida Third District Court of Appeal unanimously expanded the rights of private employees to sue for workplace discrimination under a local Miami-Dade County ordinance. In White v. AutoZone Investment Corp., No. 3D21-598 (Fla. 3d DCA June 15, 2022), the Third District held that the “plain and unambiguous language” of section 11A-28(10) of the Miami-Dade County Code establishes a private cause of action for employees who file employment discrimination complaints under the ordinance.

The United States Supreme Court held in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana that individual claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) may be divided from the PAGA action and forced into arbitration, which then causes the individual plaintiff to lose standing to act as a group-wide PAGA representative. This holding opens a path for employers around the holding in Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, which precluded the division of PAGA actions into individual and representative claims through an agreement to arbitrate.

The patchwork of state laws that impact transportation-related claims can create substantial headaches for companies that operate across state lines. To assist businesses in navigating this complexity, Lewis Brisbois' National Transportation Practice attorneys have developed "cheat sheets" for most of the United States, with more coming soon.