Labor
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November 06, 2024
EEOC, Union Still Can't Get Approval To End 53-Year-Old Suit
A New York federal judge rejected the latest bid from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an Ironworkers local for approval of a deal to end a decades-old race bias suit, finding Wednesday they still couldn't provide data showing racial hiring disparities had been eliminated.
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November 06, 2024
Alaska Voters On Brink Of Nixing Captive Audience Meetings
Alaska voters are poised to approve a ballot measure restricting employers from holding so-called captive audience meetings in the state, which would make it the latest state to join a movement limiting the common anti-union tactic and the first to adopt the policy by ballot measure.
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November 06, 2024
NJ Nursing Home Loses 2nd Bid To Halt NLRB Suit
A New Jersey federal judge shot down a nursing home operator's second attempt to use a constitutional argument to block National Labor Relations Board prosecutors from pursuing a case against the company, saying Wednesday that the company's second injunction bid too closely resembled its first failed bid.
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November 06, 2024
Amazon Calls For Halt To NLRB Delivery Drivers Proceeding
Amazon urged a California federal judge to pause a National Labor Relations Board case alleging the e-commerce giant jointly employed its former contractor's Teamster-represented drivers, raising now-familiar claims that removal protections for agency officials violate the U.S. Constitution.
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November 06, 2024
Mass. Voters Back Gig Driver Unions, Setting Up Possible Suit
Massachusetts voters on Tuesday handed Uber and Lyft drivers a novel route to unionization, likely setting up a legal challenge to the measure that experts predict will face an uphill climb.
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November 05, 2024
Trump's Second Term Poses Range Of Outcomes For NLRB
Donald Trump's projected return to the White House is poised to have a major effect on the National Labor Relations Board, with the potential for a dramatic reversal of the last four years of pro-union policy.
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November 05, 2024
An Early Look At Trump's Supreme Court Shortlist
With former President Donald Trump projected to win the 2024 presidential election and the Republicans' success in securing the U.S. Senate majority, Trump may now get the chance to appoint two more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, cementing the court's conservative tilt for decades to come.
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November 05, 2024
GOP's Senate Win Hands Future Of The Judiciary To Trump
Republicans were projected to take back the White House and Senate and possibly the House early Wednesday, putting the GOP in position to back Donald Trump's agenda and his slate of young, conservative judicial nominees.
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November 05, 2024
The Firms With An Inside Track To A New Trump Admin
Law firms that have represented Donald Trump and the Republican Party on everything from personal legal woes to election-related lawsuits could see the risks of that work pay dividends as Trump is projected to secure a second term in office.
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November 05, 2024
Wage Ballot Measures See Mixed Results In 4 States
Voters on Tuesday approved statewide ballot measures that will raise the minimum wage and establish paid sick leave while rejecting those that would impact the tipped subminimum wage.
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November 05, 2024
Cannabis And Psychedelic Reform Bids Fail In Multiple States
Efforts to liberalize cannabis and psychedelic laws via ballot initiatives met with defeat in multiple states on Election Day, dealing a blow to reformers of drug policies.
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November 05, 2024
Mich. Unemployment Claimants, UAW Seek Class Certification
The United Auto Workers union and Michigan residents urged a federal judge Monday to certify a class of people who say the state suspended their unemployment payments without proper notice, a practice the claimants say violates a seven-year-old agreement with the state's unemployment insurance agency.
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November 05, 2024
Trader Joe's Wine Shop Closure Was Legal, NLRB Judge Says
Trader Joe's did not violate federal labor law by shuttering its Manhattan wine shop where union organizing was bubbling up, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Tuesday, saying agency prosecutors hadn't shown the grocery chain closed the store because of organizing efforts.
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November 05, 2024
NLRB Dings Vermont Software Co. Over 4 Workers' Firings
A Vermont software development company violated federal labor law by firing a worker who created a salary spreadsheet and three workers who supported him, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday, upholding an agency judge's decision.
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November 05, 2024
NLRB Judge Orders 3rd Vote At Ala. Amazon Warehouse
Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are poised to vote for a third time on whether to unionize after a National Labor Relations Board judge on Tuesday found the company interfered with the last vote by vilifying workers' prospective union and confiscating union flyers.
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November 05, 2024
Apple Unlawfully Interrogated Worker, CWA Tells 5th Circ.
The National Labor Relations Board correctly found that Apple unlawfully interrogated a worker at a unionizing New York City store, the Communications Workers of America told the Fifth Circuit, saying the appellate court's decades-old test for determining whether there was coercive interrogation would yield the same result.
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November 05, 2024
Boeing Machinists Ratify New Contract, Ending Strike
A majority of 33,000 Boeing employees represented by the Machinists union voted Monday to ratify a new labor contract that includes a 38% wage increase over four years, ending a nearly two-month strike that hampered Boeing's production and cash flow.
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November 05, 2024
UFCW Members' Claims Against Delegate System Are Nixed
Two members of the United Food and Commercial Workers don't have standing to challenge the union's system of selecting convention delegates, a D.C. federal judge ruled, finding the plaintiffs couldn't show how they were harmed by the method for apportioning delegates by union local.
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November 05, 2024
AFL-CIO Backs NLRB In 5th Circ. Constitutional Challenge
The AFL-CIO and one of its member unions have asked the Fifth Circuit to undo a trio of injunctions that blocked National Labor Relations Board cases from proceeding on constitutional grounds, saying the injunctions "perpetuate a much graver constitutional harm than they claim to remedy."
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November 05, 2024
Waste Co. Agrees To Settle Union Pension Withdrawal Suit
A municipal waste company has agreed to resolve a Teamsters pension fund's lawsuit alleging that the company owes over $7.5 million to cover a predecessor's unpaid contributions, a New York federal judge said Tuesday.
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November 05, 2024
On The Ground: How Attorneys Safeguarded The Election
Attorneys worked tirelessly Tuesday to support citizens and election workers on the final day of voting in one of history's most contentious presidential contests.
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November 04, 2024
New Panel Not Needed In NLRB Row, Exxon Tells 5th Circ.
A Fifth Circuit panel questioned ExxonMobil's assertion that it could keep the same National Labor Relations Board panel makeup besides a board member flagged for conflict of interest, telling Exxon there was "good reason" for a completely new panel during oral arguments Monday.
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November 04, 2024
NLRB Orders Diner To Read Notice About Breaking Labor Law
An '80s-themed restaurant in Houston must read a notice out loud to workers after illegally terminating employees who went on strike, the National Labor Relations Board determined Monday, upholding an agency judge's unfair labor practice findings.
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November 04, 2024
Starbucks Fights NLRB's View On High Court Injunction Order
The National Labor Relations Board isn't considering a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on what standards courts must apply to injunction requests under federal labor law, Starbucks argued to a Michigan federal judge, challenging the agency's bid to make the court order the company to reinstate a fired union backer.
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November 04, 2024
Grindr Return-To-Work Policy Was Retaliatory, NLRB Attys Say
Grindr retaliated against its unionizing employees by giving them two weeks to either commit to returning to the office or resign, the National Labor Relations Board's Los Angeles office said in a new complaint against the gay dating app operator, saying 83 people lost their jobs as a result.
Expert Analysis
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Key Employer Questions On Ill. Workers' Rights Amendment
With the Illinois' Workers' Rights Amendment recently voted into the state constitution despite challenges in and out of court, employers struggling to understand if the ban on right-to-work statutes applies to the private sector should follow litigation on the amendment for help interpreting its scope and applicability, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.
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What To Know About NLRB's Expanded Labor Remedies
The National Labor Relations Board’s recent Thryv decision, which added "foreseeable pecuniary harms" to employee remedies for unfair labor practices, should prompt employers to recalibrate risk assessments involved in making significant employment decisions, says Manolis Boulukos at Ice Miller.
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Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2023
A recent wave of pivotal judicial, legislative and executive actions has placed an even greater responsibility on employers to reevaluate existing protocols, examine fundamental aspects of culture and employee relations, and update policies and guidelines to ensure continued compliance with the law, say Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Bria Stephens at Lawrence & Bundy.
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NLRB Takes Antiquated Approach To Bargaining Unit Test
The National Labor Relations Board's recent decision in American Steel Construction rewrites history and tries to demonstrate that the interests of the employees included in a union's proposed petitioned-for unit are superior to the interests of the employees excluded, ignoring the reality of modern organizing, say Patrick Scully and Iris Lozano at Sherman & Howard.
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Nonstatutory Labor Antitrust Exemption Risk In Sports Unions
Given the increased focus on union organizing across all industries, sports leagues and other multiemployer groups should be mindful of the unresolved breadth of the nonstatutory labor exemption — which can allow individuals to bring antitrust claims during the bargaining period — as they navigate a rapidly changing legal landscape, say attorneys at Latham.
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To Avoid A Rail Strike, Congress Tread A Well-Worn Path
While the congressional legislation President Joe Biden signed this week to avoid a national rail shutdown may seem extraordinary, interventions of this sort have been used a dozen times since the passage of the Railway Labor Act in 1926, making them far from unprecedented, says Charles Shewmake at Holland & Knight.
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IRS Starts Clock On Energy Projects' Labor Rule Exemption
A U.S. Department of the Treasury notice published this week started the 60-day clock for clean energy projects seeking to be grandfathered from having to meet new labor requirements to qualify for enhanced tax credits, and uncertainty about how the provisions will apply should be incentive for some investors to begin construction soon, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Top 10 Labor And Employment Issues In M&A Transactions
In order to ensure that M&A transactions come to fruition in the current uncertain environment, companies should keep several labor and employment issues in mind during the due diligence process to minimize risk, says Cassidy Mara at Akerman.
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Does NLRA Preempt Suits Against Unions For Strike Damage?
The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up Glacier v. Teamsters Local 174, whose central issue is whether the National Labor Relations Act preempts state lawsuits brought against unions for causing property damage while conducting strikes, which will affect the balance of power between unions and employers during labor disputes, say Michael Warner and Jenny Lee at Franczek.
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How Employers Can Prevent And Remedy Antisemitism
The Brooklyn Nets' recent suspension of Kyrie Irving for espousing antisemitism is a reminder that employers must not tolerate discrimination in the workplace, and should should take steps to stop and abate the effects of the antisemitism, says Amy Epstein Gluck at FisherBroyles.
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Steps For 'Boys Markets' Relief For Unlawful Union Strikes
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Tony Torain at Polsinelli offers employers a practical guide to applying for injunctive relief when faced with unlawful union strikes, using principles based on the 1970 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boys Markets v. Retail Clerks Union.
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Employers Should Note Post-Midterms State Law Changes
State ballot measures in the recent midterm elections could require employers to update policies related to drug use, wages, collective bargaining and benefit plans that offer access to abortion care — a reminder of the challenges in complying with the ever-changing patchwork of state workplace laws, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.
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Weighing Workplace Surveillance For Remote Workers
Workers who opt to continue working remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic remain under the watchful eye of their employers even from their own homes, but given the potential legal risks and adverse impacts on employee well-being, employers must create transparent policies and should reconsider their use of monitoring technologies at all, says Melissa Tribble at Sanford Heisler.