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On November 15, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas blocked the Department of Labor’s 2024 Rule that would have expanded entitlement to overtime wages for millions of American workers. The decision to vacate and remand the rule back to the department for further consideration applies nationwide. 

HB 5100 and HB 5101, as passed by the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, and to be signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, provide a new income tax credit. For tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2025, Michigan will allow an income tax credit for qualifying research and development expenses incurred in the calendar year.

Can employers force workers to sit through a meeting where its (critical) views of unionization are presented to dissuade them from joining a union? The National Labor Relations Board ruled that mandating employees to attend these so called “captive-audience meetings” violates Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This decision, resulting from a case involving Amazon’s mandatory anti-union meetings at its Staten Island facilities, overturns a significant 1948 ruling that had previously permitted companies to hold mandatory gatherings to present opposing perspectives on union formation, justified by Section 8(c) of the NLRA, which protects employers’ right to express opinions.

The Internal Revenue Service recently announced the 2025 cost of living adjustments for the estate and gift tax exclusion amounts.

In Grigsby v. United States, the Justice Department used discovery procedures in federal district court essentially to audit a taxpayer’s federal income tax credits for research activities. The court found that the taxpayer was not entitled to the credits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari.

On Nov. 1, 2024, the IRS published its annual cost of living adjustments for various retirement plan limits. These increases are more modest than recent years, a reflection that inflation is slowing.

On October 21, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations released its 2025 examination priorities. The examination priorities are published annually by the Division to inform investors and registered investment advisers (RIAs), among others, about potential capital market risks and the Division’s examination focus areas for the upcoming year.

Earlier this week, the IRS released Notice 2024-77, which provides much-anticipated guidance related to the handling of so-called “inadvertent benefit overpayments” from qualified retirement plans under the SECURE 2.0 Act.  The Notice provides information on whether and when a plan sponsor is obligated to attempt to recoup an inadvertent benefit overpayment from the IRS’ perspective, as well as guidance on the rollover treatment of inadvertent benefit overpayments. 

The IRS recently issued Notice 2024-73, which provides much-needed guidance on long-term, part-time employees in ERISA-governed 403(b) retirement plans. Following passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act, an employee is generally considered a LTPT employee if he or she works at least 500 hours per year for two consecutive years.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a monetary civil penalty imposed for willfully failing to file a foreign bank account report (“FBAR”) was a “fine,” and had to be evaluated for excessiveness under the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit held that the penalty was a fine because it did not have a “remedial” purpose that compensated the United States for expenses or loss. Two years earlier, the First Circuit held that a monetary civil penalty imposed for willfully failing to file an FBAR report was not a “fine” and did not have to be evaluated for excessiveness under the Excessive Fines Clause of Eighth Amendment. Final resolution of the issue will require action by Congress or the Supreme Court.