Insights

May 22, 2026: A Crowell & Moring team represented Kanders & Company in a complex carveout transaction in which Kanders acquired the biosecurity business of publicly traded Ginkgo Bioworks. The resulting company, Perimeter Systems, has launched as the world’s first integrated biosecurity infrastructure platform, designed to transform biological signals into real-time intelligence and accelerate decisive response. At closing, Perimeter secured $60 million in growth capital, led by Kanders in partnership with SCS Financial, Goldcrest Capital, Four Cities Capital, and the Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund (SAIF).

New York – March 9, 2026: Crowell & Moring represented Kutt, a peer-to-peer social betting platform, in its sale to publicly traded Bitcoin ATM company Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM).

Washington – July 1, 2025: A Crowell & Moring team represented Parsons Corporation in its $89 million acquisition of Chesapeake Technology International, a defense technology firm known for its advanced capabilities supporting all-domain operations and the Indo-Pacific Command.

In late April 2026, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed legislation enacting broad worker protections: 

On April 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) outlining a new standard for “joint employment” — under which separate entities will be found jointly liable for the other’s violations — under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MPSA). The Proposed Rule purports to standardize the definition of “joint employment” across all three laws to create “clarity” and “uniformity” for employers and employees alike.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed another revision to independent contractor regulations, one that would provide for more leeway in classifying workers as contractors. DOL’s proposed rule, published on February 26, 2026, would rescind the Biden DOL’s March 2024 independent contractor regulation and reinstate a framework substantially tracking the prior Trump rule of January 2021. The proposed rule would also apply the narrower analysis to worker classifications under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). The comment period closes in late April 2026; until then, the 2024 rule remains in effect for purposes of private litigation.

Please join us for the next edition of Third Thursday – Crowell & Moring's Labor and Employment Update, a webinar series dedicated to helping our clients stay on top of developing law and emerging compliance issues. This month's program covers a difficult wage and hour question. Employers continue to struggle over the definition of what constitutes “compensable work” and the corresponding duty to pay for certain activities performed before and after the normal work day. The Supreme Court’s decision earlier this week to review the Ninth Circuit’s controversial decision in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk illustrates the problem. Busk presents the specific question of whether time spent waiting to undergo a security check following work must be compensated. 

Please join us for the next edition of Third Thursday – Crowell & Moring's Labor and Employment Update, a webinar series dedicated to helping our clients stay on top of developing law, emerging compliance issues, and best practices.

Please join us for the next edition of Third Thursday – Crowell & Moring's Wage Hour Update, a webinar series dedicated to providing practical solutions to wage hour problems that continue to vex even the most sophisticated employers.  Our Third Thursday webinars review important developments in wage hour law, and focus on best practices for compliance and strategies for managing and winning complex wage and hour litigation. Our next webinar will take place on Thursday, February 21 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern.

Protecting trade secret, confidential, and non-public information is a key issue for many employers that takes many forms, including physical and electronic security, confidentiality agreements and restrictive covenants with employees, and steps to minimize IP leakage. While many of these measures apply to all employers, government contractors may be subject to certain rules that in some cases broaden, or in other cases restrict the methods through which contractors can protect their trade secrets and confidential information. For instance, there are specific statutory and regulatory mechanisms for contractors to protect against the release of trade secret information, such as through the Procurement Integrity Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Additionally, there may be special trade secret considerations for government contractors that develop intellectual property in whole, or in part, with government funds under a federal contract.

Crowell's Rebecca Springer and Andrew Bagley discuss the legal implications for employers during the government shutdown including wage and hour issues that arise for government contractors. The Lightning Round podcast is Crowell’s biweekly rundown on developments and trends in the Labor and Employment space.