Mitzi Wyrick is a member of the Firm's Litigation & Dispute Resolution Service Team. She concentrates her practice in the areas of class actions, labor and employment law matters, and complex commercial litigation.
On April 15, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) targeted the widespread use of noncompete agreements by Rollins, Inc., the parent company of pest-control brands including Orkin, HomeTeam, and Critter Control. In a proposed consent order, the FTC required Rollins to stop enforcing non-compete restrictions for more than 18,000 employees ...
On February 18, 2026, the EEOC filed a federal lawsuit against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc. (“Coca-Cola”) alleging that it violated Title VII when it excluded male employees from an employer-sponsored event. Specifically, the EEOC alleged that Coca-Cola discriminated against male employees because only female employees were ...
By: Mitzi Wyrick
On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”). The Order has ramifications for both federal contractors and private employers.
The Order revoked Executive Order 11246, which had been in effect since 1965 ...
By: Mitzi Wyrick
In two recent decisions, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has reversed years of existing precedent and restricted both what employers can say to their employees in response to a union campaign and where they can say it. Both decisions apply prospectively.
Captive Audience Meetings. Taking away one of the most ...
By: Mitzi Wyrick
On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) must meet the traditional four-part test to obtain preliminary injunctions under §10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA).
Case Background
In 2022, six Starbucks employees at a ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
For the past several years, Wyatt has been an exhibitor at the KYSHRM Conference that draws in hundreds of Human Resources professionals from across the state. We have also had the opportunity to conduct a mock trial at the conference to show how an employment law case can unfold. This year, our mock trial concerned a small ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
On June 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court held in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College that admissions policies using race or diversity as a factor violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
On October 31, 2022, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College to revisit the issue of when and whether colleges can consider race in admissions decisions. The Court’s ruling ...
By: Glen M. Krebs
On November 12, 2021, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that spouses of E and L visa holders were no longer required to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to work in the United States. Instead, L-2 and E dependent spouses are authorized to work in the United States just by ...
Written by: Mitzi D. Wyrick
OSHA ETS. The Supreme Court has issued a stay preventing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from implementing the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) mandating that employers with 100 or more employees establish policies requiring their employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on January 7, 2022 concerning two federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The Court will hear a challenge to the enforceability of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires employers with 100 or ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
Challenges are pending to several portions of President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for employers with 100 or more employees, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate for certain ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
OSHA ETS Challenges. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is facing an onslaught of challenges to its recently-announced Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which requires employers to adopt a mandatory vaccination or testing policy. At least 27 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida ...
By: Mitzi Wyrick
President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan implemented a national strategy to increase vaccination rates. As part of the Plan President Biden signed Executive Orders requiring that executive branch employees and federal contractors and subcontractors be vaccinated. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ...
By: Mitzi D. Wyrick
In an attempt to give vaccination numbers a shot in the arm, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers from the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. Covered employers must develop ...
By: Mitzi Wyrick
In an effort to get more Americans vaccinated, President Biden announced a series of new rules for employers that will cover approximately 100 million workers across the country. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to issue a new Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) covering employers with 100 ...
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has adopted a National Emphasis Program (NEP) focused on enforcement efforts for companies that put the largest number of workers at risk of contracting COVID-19. OSHA has identified establishments with certain NAICS codes and having an elevated illness rate as reflected ...
If you are interested in sponsoring a foreign national worker for a new cap-subject H-1B visa now is the time to start preparing your applications.
US Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the upcoming H-1B cap season is scheduled to open on March 9th at noon and continue through ...
Written by: Mitzi D. Wyrick
The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published streamlined forms for employers and employees to use in requesting leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The DOL has attempted to make the new forms easier for employers and employees to understand and use. For example, more ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is hosting a national online dialogue to provide employers and employees with an opportunity to offer their perspectives as the DOL develops compliance assistance materials and outreach strategies related to the implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA ...
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance for employers to address questions about wage and hour issues that employers may face in dealing with the coronavirus. It is posted here: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/pandemic
In addition, the DOL posted information about leave under the Family and ...
By Thomas E. Travis and Mitzi D. Wyrick
With continued breaking headlines from news outlets regarding the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the world, and its capacity for disruption to the international economy, employers are questioning what, if any, specific actions they should consider in forming their own response plan. ...
The Kentucky Court of Appeals and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals have both recently examined the issue of contractually-shortened statutes of limitations for employment claims. Both cases involved employment applications containing nearly identical statements shortening statutes of limitations to six months for any ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
On January 12, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) updated its standard for determining who is a joint employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) for the first time in 60 years. Under the FLSA, an employee may be employed by more than one employer, which puts each employer at risk for unpaid wages ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
In a ruling that will undoubtedly affect how employers choose to proceed with respect to unemployment claims, the Kentucky Court of Appeals held that employers must have counsel to represent them in referee hearings and before the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Commission. In Nichols v. Kentucky Unemployment Insurance ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
Based on a recent court ruling, what you say in unemployment proceedings can now lead to a lawsuit. In Hickey v. General Electric Company, 2017-SC-000135-CL, the Kentucky Supreme Court held in a unanimous opinion that employers may be sued for making false statements during unemployment proceedings. This ruling means that ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
In Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) overturned the standard established in Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia, 343 NLRB No. 646 (2004) for weighing the legality of employee handbook rules and workplace policies. In Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia, the NLRB created confusion ...
In PCC Structurals, Inc., 365 NLRB No. 160, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) clarified the correct standard for determining whether a proposed bargaining unit constitutes an appropriate unit for bargaining when the employer contends that the smallest appropriate unit must include additional employees. The ...
In Raytheon Network Centric Systems, 365 NLRB No. 161, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a ruling affecting bargaining obligations that are required before implementing a unilateral “change” in employment matters. Until 2016, when the NLRB decided E.I. du Pont de Nemours, 364 NLRB No. 113, the NLRB ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
Last year, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued new overtime regulations that would have substantially increased the salary level necessary for employees to remain classified as exempt. Just before the new regulations were to go into effect, a United States District Court in Texas issued a nationwide ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
The United States Department of Labor Has Revived its Practice of Issuing Opinion Letters
Under the Obama Administration, the DOL’s Wage & Hour Division ceased issuing Opinion Letters and undertook the practice of issuing Administrator’s Interpretations which were designed to set forth generally applicable ...
The United States Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) “persuader rule,” which requires employers and their advisors (including employers’ attorneys) to disclose publicly any advice that directly or indirectly persuades employees regarding union organizing or collective bargaining activity, took effect on April ...
In Hisle, et al. v. Correctcare – Integrated Health, Inc., Ky. App. (June 12, 2015), the Kentucky Court of Appeals addressed the issue of what test applies when employees claim to have missed meal breaks. Plaintiffs, who were nurses and medication aids employed at a prison, sued under the Kentucky wage and hour laws alleging ...
By Mitzi D. Wyrick
In Creech, Inc. v. Brown, et al, 2012-SC-000651 (Ky. 2014) rendered June 19, 2014, the Kentucky Supreme Court altered the landscape for employers who have covenants not to compete signed by their employees. The employer, Creech, Inc. (“Creech”), provided hay and straw to farms. In 2006, after Donald Brown (“Brown” ...
By Mitzi D. Wyrick
President Obama has directed the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) to revise regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act to make more workers eligible for overtime pay. Specifically, the DOL will be reviewing the executive, professional, and administrative exemptions, sometimes referred to as the ...
By Mitzi D. Wyrick
Effective November 2012, Kentucky has updated its Unemployment Insurance poster. Previously, the poster stated that medical restrictions that result in reduced work hours were potentially eligible for benefits. Now, Kentucky has removed this language from the Unemployment Insurance poster. The poster now states only ...
By Mitzi D. Wyrick
What does your Department of Labor ("DOL") company profile look like? Did you know that the DOL has recently made its online enforcement database searchable and available to the public? In an effort at greater transparency, the DOL has posted its compliance and enforcement audit results online. Results are searchable in a variety ...
By Mitzi Wyrick
Emergency temporary legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would require employers to provide up to five days of paid time off to workers who are sent home because they are sick. Employers would not be required to pay employees who stay home voluntarily, but employers would be required to pay employees ...