Labor

  • April 18, 2025

    DC Circ. Revives Fired Workers' Bias Suit Over Vax Policy

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday revived claims by two Black employees of a union who allege they were disparately affected by a COVID-19 vaccination policy where more Black employees than white employees were fired if they didn't get vaccinated, saying their racial discrimination allegations regarding the policy "cross the line from conceivable to plausible."

  • April 18, 2025

    Unions Score Injunction To Stop DOGE's Access To SSA Data

    The Social Security Administration cannot give Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to personal data within the agency's system, a Maryland federal judge ruled, saying the government "cannot flout" federal privacy law while granting an injunction to unions and a retiree advocacy group.

  • April 18, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Court Weighs $20M Raytheon Cos. Wage Deal

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for potential initial approval of an almost $20 million class action settlement involving three Raytheon companies. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • April 18, 2025

    Union Hits Kroger Chain With Counterclaim In Strike Suit

    The Kroger-owned grocery chain King Soopers violated a poststrike agreement with a United Food & Commercial Workers local by pressuring the union to agree to a collective bargaining agreement by an arbitrary deadline, the union alleged in a counterclaim in the company's strike lawsuit against it in Colorado federal court.

  • April 18, 2025

    NY Forecast: Judge Hears Hospital's Bid To Nix Race Bias Suit

    In the coming week, a New York federal judge will consider a hospital's request to toss a suit brought by a doctor who claims she was discriminated against on the basis of her race and gender and retaliated against when she complained.

  • April 18, 2025

    CFPB Mass Layoffs Blocked Again In DC Court

    A D.C. federal judge once again halted the layoffs of more than 1,000 employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying at an emergency hearing Friday morning that she needed a full record to determine whether the firings complied with a D.C. Circuit order from last week.

  • April 17, 2025

    NY Judge Scrubs Groups' Anti-Congestion-Pricing Claims

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday rejected claims from local residents and community groups alleging New York's revised congestion pricing tolls wrongfully discriminated against out-of-state commuters and unfairly benefited public transit riders instead of roadway users.

  • April 17, 2025

    DC Circ. Says Lateness Doomed Starbucks' NLRB Challenge

    The National Labor Relations Board was not obligated to accommodate Starbucks after its attorney filed a challenge to a board judge's ruling 23 minutes late, the D.C. Circuit ruled Thursday, holding that the board did not abuse its discretion by refusing to process the challenge.

  • April 17, 2025

    Minn. Gig Driver Union Bills Raise Employee Status Concerns

    Labor advocates in Minnesota are pushing to give ride-hailing drivers in the state collective bargaining rights in bills modeled after a successful ballot measure in Massachusetts, despite lingering concerns from some advocates that such proposals do not do enough to address the core issue of drivers' employment status.

  • April 17, 2025

    Tenet Asks Court To Enforce Dead Arbitrator's $546K Award

    Tenet Healthcare Corp. has asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to require the Service Employees International Union to follow an arbitrator's final order to pay $546,000 after making derogatory statements, despite the arbitrator dying before ruling on the union's post-judgment reconsideration motion.

  • April 17, 2025

    AFL-CIO, Unions Can Pursue Some DOGE Access Claims

    The AFL-CIO, unions and advocacy groups may pursue allegations that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency lacks the power to access data from the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies, a D.C. federal judge ruled while tossing some claims under federal administrative and privacy law.

  • April 17, 2025

    Starbucks Dodged Union On Dress Code, NLRB Judge Says

    Starbucks violated federal labor law by punishing workers for wearing union T-shirts at a store in Jacksonville, Florida, without negotiating with their union first, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the discipline wasn't in line with the company's typical dress code policy enforcement.

  • April 17, 2025

    Littler Hires 5th DC Labor Atty From Akin In 4 Months

    Littler Mendelson PC has hired another member of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP's Washington, D.C., labor team, the fifth attorney from that group to move in the past four months, who helped represent the Pac-12 college football conference alongside several former colleagues he's now rejoining.

  • April 17, 2025

    NYC Strikes Deal To End Housing Workers' OT Suit

    New York City struck a deal to resolve a housing development worker's collective action accusing it of running afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act by stiffing city employees on overtime wages, a federal court filing said.

  • April 16, 2025

    Unions Want 'Unlawful' Mediation Service Layoffs Blocked

    A coalition of unions on Wednesday asked a New York federal judge to order the Trump administration to immediately stop dismantling the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service while the unions challenge the layoffs at the agency in court, calling them "unlawful and unconstitutional."

  • April 16, 2025

    Southwest Moves Union's Sick Leave Fight To Federal Court

    Southwest Airlines has moved a union lawsuit challenging its sick leave settlement with the state of Colorado to federal court, after the union amended its complaint to add a proposed class of flight attendants also challenging the deal.

  • April 16, 2025

    NLRB Prosecutors Pull Several More Challenges To Case Law

    National Labor Relations Board prosecutors are no longer looking to overturn four employer-friendly rulings that they'd sought to ax under President Joe Biden-era general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, the prosecutors told the board Wednesday in a case that pits the agency against Starbucks.

  • April 16, 2025

    Union Denied More Time In Feds' Bid To Bless CBA Rebuke

    A Kentucky federal judge has refused to delay an approaching hearing on the U.S. Department of the Treasury's bid to nullify its workers' union contracts, despite a union's assertion that it's been given little time to prepare for a consequential case and that it has yet to be served.

  • April 16, 2025

    Orgs. Sue DOL Over Termination Of Int'l Labor Rights Projects

    Three nonprofits have filed suit in D.C. federal court to have the U.S. Department of Labor reinstate cooperative agreements aimed at supporting workers' rights programs abroad, claiming that the department, at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency, terminated the agreements based on "policy disagreement."

  • April 16, 2025

    Coalition Offers Free Legal Aid To Fired Federal Workers

    A coalition of organizations, including unions like the AFL-CIO and nonprofits like the nonpartisan legal volunteering network We the Action, has teamed up to connect the thousands of federal employees fired under the Trump Administration with free legal support, calling on lawyers across the U.S. to join their efforts.

  • April 16, 2025

    Starbucks Seeks Ax Of Board Ruling On Union Decert. Votes

    The National Labor Relations Board should rethink legal precedent that allows board officials to refuse to schedule union decertification elections at workplaces that stand accused of certain labor law violations, Starbucks told the board, asking it to overrule a 2022 decision.

  • April 16, 2025

    Pa. Judge Cuts Atty Fees To $950K In ERISA Deal Final OK

    A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that counsel representing two union elevator industry workers should be awarded $950,000 in legal fees, down from the attorneys' initial request of $1.7 million for settling a nearly 30,000-member class action over the management of a union 401(k) plan.

  • April 16, 2025

    Starbucks Wants 2nd Circ. To Reverse NLRB On 1-Pin Rule

    The Second Circuit must reverse a National Labor Relations Board decision finding that barring employees at a Manhattan Starbucks from wearing more than one union pin is illegal, the coffee giant argued, saying the board ignored a 2012 ruling from the same appeals court upholding the policy.

  • April 15, 2025

    Whistleblower Says DOGE's NLRB Probe Exposed Data

    An employee with the National Labor Relations Board sent a whistleblower disclosure to members of Congress on Monday alleging that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency harvested Americans' sensitive information and likely exposed the data to foreign adversaries.

  • April 15, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Skeptical Amazon Violated Labor Law

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Tuesday pushed a National Labor Relations Board attorney to address why it was a violation of federal labor law for Amazon to tell employees that it can make exceptions to a policy limiting their off-duty access to a Kentucky facility at any time, "when the legal right exists whether the workers are told or not."

Expert Analysis

  • 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

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    A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

  • How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase

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    Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.

  • How Trump Admin May Approach AI In The Workplace

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    Key indicators suggest that the incoming Trump administration will adopt a deregulatory approach to artificial intelligence, allowing states to fill the void, so it is critical that employers pay close attention to developing legal authority concerning AI tools, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

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    General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.

  • Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2025

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    While companies must monitor for policy shifts under the new administration in 2025, it will also be a year to play it safe and remember the basics, such as the importance of documenting retention policies and conducting swift investigations into workplace complaints, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • NLRB Likely To Fill Vacuum After NMB Jurisdiction Ruling

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    The National Mediation Board's recent ruling in Swissport Cargo Services LP abandoned decades of precedent by concluding the Railway Labor Act doesn’t apply to airline service providers, likely leading the National Labor Relations Board to assert its jurisdiction instead and potentially causing more operational disruptions and labor strife, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ring In The New Year With An Updated Employee Handbook

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    One of the best New Year's resolutions employers can make is to update their employee handbooks, given that a handbook can mitigate, or even prevent, costly litigation as long as it accounts for recent changes in laws, court rulings and agency decisions, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • 9 Things To Expect From Trump's Surprising DOL Pick

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    The unexpected nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., to lead the U.S. Department of Labor reflects a blend of pro-business and pro-labor leanings, and signals that employers should prepare for a mix of continuity and moderate adjustments in the coming years, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Why State Captive Audience Laws Matter After NLRB Decision

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    As employers focus on complying with the National Labor Relations Board's new position that captive audience meetings violate federal labor law, they should also be careful not to overlook state captive audience laws that prohibit additional types of company meetings and communications, says Karla Grossenbacher at Seyfarth.

  • Pa. Ruling Highlights Challenges Of Employer Arb. Appeals

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    A Pennsylvania federal court's recent ruling in Welch Foods v. General Teamsters Local Union No. 397 demonstrates the inherent difficulties employers face when seeking relief from labor arbitration decisions through appeals in court — and underscores how employers are faced with often conflicting legal priorities, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NLRB One-Two Punch Curbs Employer Anti-Organizing Tools

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decisions in Siren Retail and Amazon, limiting employer speech about the impact of unionization and outlawing captive audience meetings, severely curtail employers' arsenal of tools to combat an organizing campaign — though this may soon change under a new administration, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Timing Of An NLRB Power Shift Hinges On Biden Nominees

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    President-elect Donald Trump seems certain to shake up the National Labor Relations Board's prounion Democrat majority, but the incoming president's timing depends on whether the current Senate confirms two pending nominees to board positions, say attorneys at Fox Rothschild.

  • 5 Tips For Complying With NLRB Captive Audience Ban

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recently ruled that so-called captive audience meetings violate federal labor law, representing a radical shift in precedent and creating new standards for employers to follow when holding workplace meetings where union representation will be discussed, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

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