The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

His quote came to mind during the past few weeks as I have been taking stock of the past year and looking forward to 2018. In particular, I have been thinking about my colleagues who have been recognized for doing the kind of excellent work they always do. They don’t expect any fanfare or special recognition, but the kudos started coming in the form of awards and rankings for individual lawyers, teams and the firm.

“If you move here, you move the world.”

That is the message in Detroit’s bid to attract Amazon to the vibrant city that has been our headquarters for 165 years. And we wholeheartedly agree.

We understand the appeal for those who want to come to Detroit and to all of the downtowns we call home. In fact, the appeal is so strong that we never left. We welcome the wave of new businesses that have opened in Detroit in recent years, and are excited to continue our relationship with the city that has always been our home and has shaped who we are as a firm.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that it will launch two new training programs: Leading for Respect (for supervisors) and Respect in the Workplace (for all employees). The EEOC is offering these programs as an alternative to harassment prevention; the training will be conducted by EEOC Training Institute staff.

According to the EEOC, the programs will focus on respect, acceptable workplace conduct, and the types of behaviors that contribute to a respectful and inclusive workplace. The Commission also noted that the programs are customizable for different types of workplaces and include a section for reviewing the employers’ own harassment prevention policies and procedures.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a letter to all U.S. attorneys and the heads of all federal agencies, had advised that while Title VII provides various protections to transgender individuals, it “does not prohibit discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status.” Sessions noted: “The sole issue addressed in this memorandum is what conduct Title VII prohibits by its terms, not what conduct should be prohibited by statute, regulation, or employer action. As a law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice must interpret Title VII as written by Congress.”

LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder today announced the appointment of Steve Arwood of St. Johns to the State Waterways Commission.

Housed within the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the seven-member Commission is an advisory body responsible for the acquisition, construction and maintenance of recreational harbors, channels, docking and launching facilities, and administration of commercial docks in the Straits of Mackinac.

William Emanuel was recently approved as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. Emanuel has extensive experience representing employers in various traditional labor issues, such as NLRB matters, collective bargaining, labor arbitration, union election campaigns, strikes, etc.

The higher salary requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) white collar exemptions that were set to take effect December 1, 2016, have been ruled invalid by a U.S. District Court in Texas. The same court preliminarily enjoined the implementation of these regulations on November 22, 2016. That decision is presently on appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Although the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) requested that the district court delay its final decision on the merits of the case until after the court of appeals rules on the preliminary injunction, the district court declined to do so and issued its final decision on August 31, 2017.

Each year, U.S. News & World Report releases its Best Lawyers in America list, which recognizes lawyers across the nation for their excellence, based entirely on peer review. The firm was very pleased to see that once again, Miller Canfield lawyers comprised an impressive portion of the latest list, which was released last week. 

We are all especially happy to see that four of our colleagues have been named to the Best Lawyers list for the first time or have been named in new practice areas. 

Luke Polcyn is joining Miller Canfield's Real Estate Group. He previously worked as an attorney for the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

As previously reported, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently reviewing a challenge to the recent Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") overtime changes. Previously, a Texas district court entered an injunction preventing the Department of Labor ("DOL") from implementing new regulations regarding the determination of who is exempt for overtime purposes. On June 30, the DOL filed its reply brief with the Court of Appeals, stating that although it was no longer defending the overtime rule set to become effective on Dec. 1, 2016, it believed the district court erred in concluding that the DOL had no authority to set white-collar salary limitations. Therefore, the DOL requested that the court rule in its favor on that issue and reject the district court’s issuance of the injunction, which, it argued, “would call into question any salary-level test adopted by the [DOL].”