The Supreme Court just upended the legal world by significantly reducing the power of federal regulators and placing more authority in the hands of judges – a move that will have a major impact on workplace regulations for years to come. In today’s ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the decades-old Chevron doctrine which required courts to defer to a federal agency’s position on the law when a statute is open to interpretation. As we predicted earlier this year, the Court tossed out that standard in favor of judicial interpretation, enabling courts to strike down agency rules much more easily and giving employers a powerful tool to fight back against regulatory overreach.
Much of your daily life as an employer has been shaped by federal agencies that have benefitted from the courts’ deference to agencies under the Chevron doctrine to mold their agendas.
This decision will make it easier to challenge regulations and thus may limit the ability of agencies to reshape labor and employment law to the degree with which they have over the last 40 years. The decision is likely to affect pending legal challenges to an array of federal agency rules, including:
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Why Should You Attend?
Employers and their representatives must assess how this will impact laws and policies now that most federal laws can be challenged. Whether you are opposed to the decision or approve that it has been decided, it will change how your policies will be implemented. This confusion will impact your compliance efforts and how Employee Handbook, policies, and how penalties may be assessed.
Just because a court has more discretion to accept or reject an agency’s interpretation does not mean the interpretation will be rejected. However, with greater judicial discretion, a rule may be upheld in one court and invalidated in another. This could lead to a spate of inconsistent rulings throughout the country, creating jurisdictional conflicts and compliance headaches for large employers in multiple states.
Who Will Benefit?