Welcome to Labor of Law. The Trump administration's hardline immigration stance has left employers scrambling to keep up with the additional scrutiny and changing rules when it comes to hiring foreign workers. Plus: I was in court in Washington when a judge scolded DOJ and the EEOC over their delay in reinstating the Obama-era expanded EEO-1 pay-data rule. There's a Wall Street MeToo case moving toward trial, and scroll down for our latest Who Got the Work roundup.

I'm Erin Mulvaney in Washington, and I want to take a moment here and say thanks to everyone for reading Labor of Law. I'm leaving for a new reporting gig in D.C., but you can still follow me on Twitter @erinmulvaney. Tips and feedback for Labor of Law are welcome and appreciated! Contact Mike Scarcella in Washington at [email protected] and on Twitter @MikeScarcella.

On Immigration, 'Uncertainty Is Unprecedented'

The Trump administration quickly ramped up immigration enforcement, adding some level of uncertainty for employers hiring foreign nationals for specialized work. April 1 is the deadline for employers filing for H-1B visas. Amid the stream of new proposed rules, and greater scrutiny, law firms are beefing up their immigration services. The Trump administration's maneuvering on the immigration front is keeping firms busy.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in January hired Shannon Donnelly from Baker McKenzie, where she led the Washington office's immigration and global mobility team. “We are certainly in an area of uncertainty with inbound immigration to the United States. We were looking for a place for our practice,” Donnelly told me.

A recent report from Envoy Global found that 95 percent of employers say that sourcing foreign talent is important to their talent acquisition strategies and ultimate growth of their companies. It found that there is no slowdown in demand—80 percent of the respondents said they expect to increase or keep steady the number of foreign workers. Nearly all of the employers said they wanted faster processing times.

Donnelly said her clients—including large financial institutions—need help navigating uncertainty with U.S. immigration services. She said she also helps clients explore alternatives outside the U.S. “The uncertainty is unprecedented. Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients are at a loss because we aren't sure where the agency will land on things that used to be easily approvable in the context of high skilled workers,” she told me.

Michael Durham, an immigration law partner at Barnes & Thornburg, said employers value stability when they are making decisions. He said he's seeing clients look to find a plan B when searching for visa holders. “The work is there. These companies need to expand. They want to grow, and there is a shortage of workers in the United States,” Durham said. “They are going through the process but it's not a friendly environment.”

The Trump administration is moving forward with a proposal to end work permits for the spouses of H-1B visa holders. The move would eliminate work permits for nearly 100,000 spouses seeking green cards. “Rolling back the permits could have sweeping consequences for the Bay Area, where tech companies heavily rely on high-skilled immigrants,” according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Clark Hill attorney Michael Nowlan predicted the move will foster litigation. “It will be hard for the administration to justify that change,” Nowlan said. Employers want foreign, highly skilled workers, but those candidates may seek work elsewhere because of restrictive immigration programs in the U.S. “The administration has changed the landscape without formally changing it,” he said.

Greenspoon Marder partner Nandini Nair said the processing times are dragging and it creates headaches for clients. Nair said her workload has increased significantly under the Trump administration. She said she'll file 100 pages now as opposed to five to prove a worker such as a software engineer is a “professional position.”

Nair told me: “We don't know from one day to the next what's coming down. We literally hold our breath for some announcement to drop. It would be fine if we get formal guidance. We instead learn by denials and requests for evidence.”

Who Got the Work

>> “Florida law firm Amlong & Amlong P.A. must pay over $422,000 in sanctions for misconduct during a pair of employment law cases, a federal appeals court ruled,” Bloomberg Law reports. Read the Eleventh Circuit's per curiam ruling here. Karen Coolman Amlong argued for Amlong & Amlong, and Barry Pollack of Boston's Pollack Solomon Duffy argued for EDCare Management Inc.

>>”Boston-based State Street Bank has been hit with a lawsuit by two former executives in its New York offices alleging that they were fired after complaining about gender discrimination,” Reuters reports. Mikhail Ratner of New York's Silverman, Sclar, Shin & Byrne filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

>> Friedman Realty Group Inc., the New Jersey real estate investment firm, has agreed to pay $60,000 to resolve federal pregnancy discrimination claims, the EEOC said this week. Steven Angstreich of the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, firm Weir & Partners represented Friedman Realty. EEOC lawyers Debra Lawrence, Maria Luisa Morocco and Tanisha Wilburn represented the agency. “Pregnancy discrimination hurts everyone—especially the worker who is deprived of a paycheck when she needs it most,” Lawrence, the EEOC Philadelphia district office regional attorney, said in a statement. “We are pleased that Friedman agreed to a settlement that not only provides monetary compensation to the worker but also contains important relief to protect all employees from pregnancy discrimination.” Read the consent decree here.

Around the Water Cooler

• Judge Scolds US Lawyers Over Delay in Pay-Data Compliance. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan (above) in Washington wasn't pleased to learn the EEOC hadn't taken steps to implement her order reinstating the Obama-era EEO-1 pay-data collection rule. “I am not in the business of running the EEOC nor do I want to set an unrealistic deadline. I can, but I don't think you want me to do that,” the judge said. Chutkan told the EEOC to provide her an update by April 3. [Law.com]

• Morgan Lewis Takes on Lawyer Mental Health With New Program, Executive.“As more law firms work to tackle issues of attorney mental health and well-being, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius is launching a new initiative and adding an executive position focused entirely on employee wellness issues. The firm on Monday debuted ML Well, combining educational programming with physical health and community engagement initiatives.” [Law.com]

• How I Made Partner: Fisher & Phillips' Jessia Causgrove. “Making partner wasn't something that happened overnight, and it wasn't based on a single victory or capturing a single new client relationship. I think it was a combination of my taking ownership of my client work, cultivating meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues, and extensive dedication to the practice of law.” [Law.com]

• Wall Street Has Been Unscathed by MeToo. Until Now. “The case is slogging its way through the court system. Discovery is ongoing, there is zero talk of cutting a deal, and unless something dramatic happens, Sara Tirschwell v. TCW Group, David Lippman and Jess Ravich could become the first major Wall Street case of the #MeToo era to go to trial.” [NYT]

• Ethics Conference Panel: Best Practices in Getting Managers to Report Issues. Companies need to find ways to make sure all employees from managers to entry-level workers are being treated equally, which becomes a challenge when companies have operations in several different countries, according to a panel of in-house lawyers at the 2019 Global Ethics Summit. [Corporate Counsel]

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace. Two lawyers at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo—O'Kelly McWilliams III, a member, and associate Jennifer Budoff—offer takeaways about the rise of AI. They write: “The use of AI may also bring with it the potential for implicit bias and disparate impact toward protected categories, particularly in the context of gender and age. In addition, if AI is not properly introduced into the workforce, it may foster concerns among employees that the company no longer values their work or cause anxiety about employee job security.” [Corporate Counsel]

• Facebook Agrees to Change Ad Platform to Settle Discrimination Claims. In a settlement with civil rights and labor groups, Facebook Inc. announced sweeping changes to its ad platform Tuesday to resolve claims that advertisers for housing, employment and credit opportunities targeted the website's audiences in a discriminatory basis, my colleagues Ellis Kim and Ross Todd report. [Law.com]

Notable Moves

>> Janell Ahnert has joined Littler Mendelson as a shareholder in its Birmingham, Alabama, office. She joins from Bressler, Amery & Ross.

>> Miller & Chevalier said Thomas Cryan Jr. has rejoined the firm as a member in the employee benefits department. Cryan, who practiced at Miller & Chevalier from 2008 to 2012, joins from Littler Mendelson P.C.