As we welcome the new year, host Tom Godar continues his discussion with Elizabeth Filter, CEO of VARC Inc., as she shares insights from her experience as a servant-leader. Her journey of successfully growing an enterprise that has focused on creating opportunities for people with disabilities while meeting the exacting demands of manufacturers is an inspiring story.

Liz offers an overview of her role as a CEO in empowering and engaging her staff and communicating opportunities and challenges to the thousand-plus employees who participate in this mission driven business. The discussion highlights how well-designed policies can create opportunities for individuals to make decisions independently and effectively. Liz explains how valuing her employees creates an environment for growth for employees and growth for VARC.

Join this discussion as Tom asks Liz how fostering a positive employment environment not only creates success but diminishes opportunities and incentives for employees to either leave or challenge the enterprise through legal proceedings. This capstone of the discussion is an amazing episode of the Labor Law Insider.

Host Tom Godar is delighted to welcome Elizabeth Filter, CEO of VARC, Inc., to the Labor Law Insider podcast for a two-part discussion on expanding a business in an increasingly challenging environment. In this special episode, Liz, best described as a servant leader, explains how creating a responsive, resilient, and respectful culture can drive organizational and individual success. She shines a light on fostering a culture focused primarily on candidate and employee character. Liz has steered the VARC team through a decade of growth and diversification in a business beset with market retrenchment. She shares how retooling the hiring and onboarding process, and reframing the real role of employees, are key to empowering employees to fulfill VARC’s mission of providing those with disabilities and life challenges “personalized client services to help individuals experience their community…[and] make every day count…”

In Part 2 of this discussion, Tom and Liz will explore how proactive communication and clear employer expectations align her staff. As a result, the likelihood that employees will turn to third parties or mount legal challenges to resolve workplace issues is greatly diminished. Join us for this amazing episode of the Labor Law Insider.

Host Tom Godar welcomes Husch Blackwell attorneys Tom O’Day and Tracey O’Brien to the podcast for the second part of a two-part discussion on employee restrictive covenants, including noncompete agreements.

Tom begins this timely episode by highlighting the September 10 directive from Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson. The FTC is still in the business of policing noncompete agreements, as it issued correspondence to several healthcare employers and staffing firms suggesting that they “conduct a comprehensive review of their employment agreements—including any non-competes or other restrictive agreements—to ensure they are appropriately tailored and comply with the law.”

Our discussion then pivots to look at the state regulatory frameworks in place relating to non-competes in greater detail. These state-level requirements—which can vary greatly from state to state—must play an important role in how employers draft their restrictive covenants. Tracey outlines how more states are prohibiting non-competes for those receiving lower compensation and that states often have specific provisions directed at healthcare professionals and providers.

The conversation wraps up with some practical tips to consider for drafting employee agreements and some common pitfalls to avoid. Don’t miss this informative episode that touches on one of the hottest areas of labor and employment law.

Additional Resources

Barbara Grandjean, Wendy Arends, Courtney Steelman, and Chengzhuo He. “FTC Abandons 2024 Non-Compete Rule, Signals Priority in Non-Compete Enforcement Actions,” September 16, 2025.

Host Tom Godar welcomes Husch Blackwell attorneys Tom O’Day and Tracey O’Brien to the podcast for a two-part discussion on employee restrictive covenants, including noncompete agreements. Our conversation kicks off with a summary of what constitutes a restrictive covenant and federal agency stances toward noncompete agreements over time. Tom, Tom, and Tracey review how the Biden administration made policy and enforced regulations severely restricting the use of noncompete agreements and describe how the second Trump administration is moving away from its predecessor’s more aggressive posture.

At the same time, several state governments are moving forward with legislation restricting the use of noncompete prohibitions. Tracey summarizes state-level lawmaking during the 2025 legislative sessions, which demonstrates that states are indeed at the forefront of policymaking on restrictive covenant issues. Tracey also covers the basic differences among the states and how compliance with this emerging patchwork of state law can be challenging.

In a forthcoming Part II of this discussion, our insiders will break down those state-specific issues relating to noncompetes in greater detail and provide listeners with some practical takeaways for compliance.

Additional Resources

National Labor Relations Board, Universal Automation & Mechanical Services, 01-CA-300935 (case-closing email)

Host Tom Godar welcomes to the show Husch Blackwell partner Jon Anderson for the second installment of a two-part conversation with Howard Bellman, a fixture in the world of dispute resolution for many decades who has helped to shape the procedures and fora associated with mediation and arbitration in Wisconsin and nationally.

In this episode, Tom and Jon build on their prior discussion with Howard, covering the role that mediation and arbitration plays in maintaining labor-management peace. The conversation explores the arbitrator’s point of view in the dispute resolution setting, and Howard provides signature perspectives on taking the temperature of the disputants and learning how to read a room, even when that room is virtual. Tom, Jon, and Howard then consider some best practices for the arbitration process, including the need to be clear in communicating with the arbitrator, to understand what the case is ultimately about, and to confront the weaknesses of your case. The group also discusses the value of written briefs and opening statements in the context of arbitrations, where arbitrators often have no real knowledge of the substance of the matter until the disputants present their cases.

The episode concludes with a brief summary of how the arbitration process has evolved as public policy has shifted repeatedly—particularly at the National Labor Relations Board—during the first quarter of the 21st century.

Be sure to catch this interesting discussion about the crucial role arbitration plays in maintaining accord between labor and management.

Host Tom Godar welcomes to the show Husch Blackwell partner Jon Anderson to help him lead a two-part conversation with Howard Bellman, a fixture in the world of dispute resolution for many decades who has helped to shape the procedures and fora associated with mediation and arbitration in Wisconsin and nationally.

In Part I, our conversation covers the broad contours of dispute resolution within the context of labor and employment law and focuses initially on dispute resolution mechanisms in connection with collective bargaining agreements. These proceedings can be advantageous for the parties involved, especially in the labor setting, due to their speed and ability to preserve labor-management peace, an important consideration within the CBA setting. The conversation then turns to specific arbitration language found in CBAs, providing some practical insights into drafting arbitration provisions and how those provisions are implemented in addressing grievances and resolving disputes.

Be sure to catch this interesting discussion about the crucial role arbitration plays in maintaining accord between labor and management.

Host Tom Godar welcomes back to the show Husch Blackwell attorney Mary-Ann Czak for the second installment of a two-part discussion on a recently published memorandum from William Cowen, Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The memo sets forth guidelines for NLRB regions to use in approaching settlement agreements that urge NLRB personnel to “focus on pursuing foreseeable harms that are clearly caused by the unfair labor practice.”

In Part I of our show, Tom and Mary-Ann explore how the memo could lead to a reduction of the board’s pursuit of expansive make-whole remedies that had created significant dissatisfaction among management-side counsel.

In Part II, Tom and Mary-Ann discuss the possibility of seeing more non-admission clauses as part of settlement agreements under the current NLRB. The use of these clauses saw a sharp decline during the Biden administration as a matter of board policy; however, the Cowen memo seemingly rolls back this approach, providing the regions with ample latitude to incorporate non-admission clauses as they see fit.

Tom and Mary-Ann then consider the issue of non-admission clauses from a more holistic standpoint vis-à-vis the Cowen memo. They contend that the memo restores a level of discretion to the regions, while attempting to strike a more practical-minded balance in the enforcement of labor law violations.

The conversation then moves on to consider the NLRB’s 2022 Thryv case, which expanded available remedies under the National Labor Relations Act, and how Thryv might be approached by a newly constituted board.

Don’t miss this episode covering how NLRB policy could be changing regarding settlements.

Related Materials

National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel. “Seeking Remedial Relief in Settlement Agreements,” Memorandum GC 25-06, May 16, 2025.

National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel, “Full Remedies in Settlement Agreements,” Memorandum GC 21-07, September 15, 2021.

Thryv Inc. and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1269, case number 20-CA-250250, before the National Labor Relations Board.

Host Tom Godar welcomes back Husch Blackwell attorney Mary-Ann Czak for a two-part discussion on a recently published memorandum from William Cowen, acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The memo sets forth guidelines for NLRB regions to use in approaching settlement agreements that urge NLRB personnel to “focus on pursuing foreseeable harms that are clearly caused by the unfair labor practice.”

In Part I of our show, Tom and Mary-Ann explore how the memo could lead to a reduction of the board’s pursuit of expansive make-whole remedies that had created significant dissatisfaction among management-side counsel. As Mary-Ann explains, the NLRB’s aggressive posture on remedies was the product of a 2021 memorandum that directed board prosecutors to expanded remedies in settlement agreements, including consequential damages and employer letters of apology, among other items. In 2021, the board had a 100% settlement rate; by 2024, it had dropped to 96.3%.

Some companies regarded the 2021 memorandum as punitive and have been willing to litigate rather than submit to what they regarded as an unfair settlement process that had created labor-management discord, extended the timeline for resolving cases, and driven up costs for both the government and litigants. Our conversation also covers some practical suggestions regarding the default language found in settlement agreements.

Don’t miss this episode that covers how NRLB policy regarding settlements could be changing, and stay tuned for Part II, which will cover non-admission clauses and other settlement issues in the Cowen memo.

Related Materials

National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel. “Seeking Remedial Relief in Settlement Agreements,” Memorandum GC 25-06, May 16, 2025.

National Labor Relations Board Office of the General Counsel, “Full Remedies in Settlement Agreements,” Memorandum GC 21-07, September 15, 2021.