FTC Joins Forces with NLRB to Further Its Gig Economy and Worker Protection Agenda
We recently discussed the various ways in which the Federal Trade Commission is focusing on worker protections in the gig economy. Though we didn't have a crystal ball to foresee it, the FTC announced that it is furthering those efforts through a new partnership with the National Labor Relations Board. On July 19, 2022, FTC Chair Lina Khan and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of their respective agencies to "promote interagency collaboration," to enhance enforcement efforts, and to "better root out practices that harm workers."
How a Recent FACTA Decision Impacts the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act's Standing Analysis
Several years ago, in Salcedo v. Hanna, the Eleventh Circuit held that the receipt of a single allegedly unsolicited, autodialed text message was not a concrete enough injury-in-fact to establish Article III standing for a plaintiff under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). We covered that decision here. Since then, the Salcedo court's reasoning has been applied by Florida district courts in cases involving five text messages, the receipt of ringless voicemails, and unanswered prerecorded message calls.
District Court to New York Attorney General: "No Personal Jurisdiction Piggybacking"
A New York district court, in FTC v. Quincy Bioscience Holding Co., granted an individual defendant's partial motion for summary judgment, dismissing claims brought by the New York Attorney General (NYAG) for lack of personal jurisdiction over him. The dismissal shows a procedural challenge to the FTC's effort to piggyback on the remedial authority of state AGs to backfill the hole in its remedial powers after the Supreme Court's decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC.
FTC Starts the Engine on Car Sales Fees and Advertising Rulemaking, but Other Rulemaking Faces Major Questions
The FTC is off to the races with another proposed rulemaking. On June 23, the FTC, by a 4-1 vote, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to combat what it perceives as "junk fees" and "bait-and-switch advertising tactics" in the auto sales industry. Congress gave the FTC the authority to write rules governing the retail sale of automobiles, using APA rulemaking and not the more cumbersome Magnuson Moss rulemaking that the FTC normally must follow in consumer protection rulemakings. This authority is no small matter, as on June 30, the Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA, which will make rulemakings by the FTC and other government agencies more challenging.