Labor

  • December 19, 2024

    NLRB Says Co. Threatened Worker Over Grievance Win

    A divided National Labor Relations Board panel said that a U.S. Air Force contractor illegally threatened a worker and changed his schedule because he won a hiring grievance, splitting over the strength of a judge's read of witnesses.

  • December 19, 2024

    Hospital Dodged Bargaining Over OT Change, NLRB Says

    A Puerto Rico hospital violated the National Labor Relations Act when it changed how it assigns overtime without bargaining with its workers' union, the National Labor Relations Board ruled, applying a recent precedent shift for evaluating when companies' unilateral changes to employees' working conditions break the law.

  • December 19, 2024

    NLRB Urges DC Circ. To Affirm Finding Of Hospital's Bad Faith

    The National Labor Relations Board urged the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to affirm a ruling that George Washington University Hospital sabotaged negotiations by insisting on unreasonable contract terms and illegally rebuked the union after workers soured on its progress toward a deal.

  • December 19, 2024

    Dinsmore Adds Labor And Employment Duo In Denver

    Dinsmore & Shohl LLP has hired two labor and employment attorneys in Denver from a firm one of those attorneys helped found, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • December 18, 2024

    Janitors' Picket Was Legal, NLRB Says On 2nd Go-Round

    Janitors at a San Francisco commercial building didn't engage in a secondary boycott when they picketed outside their work location, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in a case on remand from the Ninth Circuit, departing from a Trump-era board ruling.

  • December 18, 2024

    Judge Wants To Know If Colo. Kroger Merger Fight Is Moot

    A Colorado state judge wants to know whether two recent decisions blocking the proposed $24.6 billion merger of The Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. Inc. has mooted Attorney General Phillip J. Weiser's challenge to the transaction, according to a briefing plan approved Tuesday. 

  • December 18, 2024

    The Biggest Labor Decisions Of 2024

    A number of rulings this year have reshaped federal labor law, including National Labor Relations Board decisions restricting employers' tactics in anti-union campaigns and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling tweaking the test for the board to win injunctions. Here, Law360 looks at these and more of the biggest labor decisions of 2024.

  • December 18, 2024

    Black Worker Says UPS, Teamsters Engaged In Discrimination

    A UPS worker told a Mississippi federal court that a supervisor repeatedly made references to slavery and discriminated against him because he is Black and that an International Brotherhood of Teamsters local discouraged him from pursuing his discrimination claims.

  • December 18, 2024

    NLRB Says Starbucks Illegally Axed Worker Who Opened Mail

    Starbucks violated federal labor law by firing a worker at a New York store during a unionization campaign, the National Labor Relations Board ruled, reversing an agency judge's finding that the company fired the worker because he opened a letter from the board.

  • December 18, 2024

    IAM Elevates Longtime HR Counsel To Associate GC

    The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced that the union's longtime director and counsel for human resources will be elevated to the role of associate general counsel at the start of 2025.

  • December 18, 2024

    DEI Attacks, Hybrid Work, Paid Leave: 2024's Workplace Shifts

    Over the past year, challenges to employers' diversity, equity and inclusion programs reached a fever pitch, hybrid arrangements began to dominate the teleworking environment, and states and cities took unprecedented steps on paid leave. Here's a look at the major evolutions in workplaces in 2024.

  • December 18, 2024

    Restaurant's Firings Violated Labor Law, NLRB Judge Finds

    A Richmond, Virginia, restaurant violated federal labor law by firing eight workers who demanded better working conditions, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the eatery must rehire the employees with back pay.

  • December 17, 2024

    Union Says DOL's H2-A Contracts Defy Court Order

    A farmworkers union told a Washington federal judge Monday that the U.S. Department of Labor is violating a court injunction by greenlighting H-2A contracts that do not include 2020 prevailing wage rates for the upcoming cherry and apple harvests.

  • December 17, 2024

    DC Circ. Nixes Challenge To Union Vote At Transformer Co.

    An electrical transformer manufacturer can't overturn the National Labor Relations Board's certification of a union with claims that agency officials botched the representation vote, the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday, saying the company's allegations about the length of the voting period lack merit.

  • December 17, 2024

    With End In Sight, Biden NLRB Defined By Major Shifts In Law

    The tenure of the National Labor Relations Board under President Joe Biden is drawing to a close and labor law experts said they will remember it for issuing a string of consequential decisions that expanded union rights and reintroduced issues to the ever-changing labor law landscape.

  • December 17, 2024

    Starbucks Baristas Authorize Strike Amid First Contract Talks

    Unionized Starbucks baristas have voted to authorize a strike at the coffee giant, Workers United announced Tuesday, as the parties went back to the negotiating table with outstanding issues for first contracts related to wages, benefits and settling unfair labor practice claims.

  • December 17, 2024

    Police Captains Say Del. City Fails To Pay Them OT

    The city of Wilmington, Delaware, misclassifies police captains as overtime-exempt despite their duties being nearly identical to those of police officers, who are eligible for overtime pay, a Delaware federal court was told.

  • December 17, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms NLRB Bargain Order Against Chemical Co.

    A chemical manufacturer must comply with a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering it to negotiate with a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate, the Eleventh Circuit found, rejecting the company's claim that two ballots that could have swayed the vote outcome should have counted.

  • December 17, 2024

    NLRB Orders Rerun Election At USC Clinic Over Threats

    The National Labor Relations Board called for another representation election at a University of Southern California health clinic after it threatened to erode benefits just ahead of a union's loss, but the board rejected a judge's recommendation to educate the voters about their labor rights.

  • December 17, 2024

    NLRB Says Distillery Gave Raises To Undercut Union Support

    The National Labor Relations Board has ordered a Kentucky distillery to bargain with a Teamsters local, agreeing with an agency judge that the raises and free bourbon the distillery handed out in November 2022 was an illegal attempt to undermine the union organizing campaign.

  • December 17, 2024

    Groups Want Win In Partially Blocked Prevailing Wage Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating how prevailing wages are calculated under the Davis-Bacon Act should sink because it is arbitrary and capricious, a group of construction groups said, urging a Texas court to ax the rule after it partially blocked it.

  • December 16, 2024

    Amazon Puts Speed Over Worker Safety, Sanders Report Says

    Amazon prioritizes speed and profit over warehouse workers' safety, and the company has ignored its own internal studies on how to improve workplace safety, according to a report Sen. Bernie Sanders has released that Amazon vehemently derided late Monday as an attempt to support a false "preconceived narrative."

  • December 16, 2024

    Starbucks Made Illegal Posts On Website, NLRB Judge Says

    Starbucks must take down statements on a company website unveiled during Workers United's organizing campaign that offered training and improved benefits, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Monday, finding the coffee chain must post a notice nationwide that its comments violate federal labor law.

  • December 16, 2024

    Pa. Archaeologists Can Vote On Teamsters Representation

    A National Labor Relations Board official cleared archaeologists and cultural resources technicians at a Pennsylvania environmental consulting company to vote on union representation, saying one archaeologist is a union-ineligible supervisor and another may be, but the rest of the workers are not.

  • December 16, 2024

    Albertsons Says Kroger 'Squandered' $25B Merger Bid

    The Kroger Co. Inc. "willfully squandered" opportunities to complete a now-blocked $24.6 billion mega-merger with Albertsons Cos. Inc., according to an unsealed five-count lawsuit in Delaware's Court of Chancery potentially seeking billions in damages.

Expert Analysis

  • The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media

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    As election season enters its final stretch and employees increasingly engage in political speech on social media, employers should beware the liability risks and consider policies that negotiate the line between employees' rights and the limits on those rights, say Bradford Kelley and James McGehee at Littler.

  • Proposed Law Would Harm NYC Hospitality Industry

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    A recently proposed New York City Law that would update hotel licensing and staff coverage requirements could give the city commissioner and unions undue control over the city's hospitality industry, and harm smaller hotels that cannot afford full-time employees, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

  • US Labor And Employment Law Holds Some Harsh Trade-Offs

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    U.S. labor and employment laws have evolved into a product of exposure-capping compromise, which merits discussion in a presidential election year when the dialogue has focused on purported protections of middle-class workers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Immigration Insights From 'The Proposal'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with their colleague Robert Lee about how immigration challenges highlighted in the romantic comedy "The Proposal" — beyond a few farcical plot contrivances — relate to real-world visa processes and employer compliance.

  • Insuring Lender's Baseball Bet Leads To Major League Dispute

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    In RockFence v. Lloyd's, a California federal court seeks to define who qualifies as a professional baseball player for purposes of an insurance coverage payout, providing an illuminating case study of potential legal issues arising from baseball service loans, say Marshall Gilinsky and Seán McCabe at Anderson Kill.

  • Preparing For The NLRB's New Union Recognition Final Rule

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    The National Labor Relations Board's impending new final rule on union recognition puts the employer at a particular disadvantage in a decertification election, and best practices include conducting workplace assessments to identify and proactively address employee issues, say Louis Cannon and Gerald Bradner at Baker Donelson.

  • The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

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    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

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    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Key Steps To Employer Petitions For Union Elections

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    Since the National Labor Relations Board shifted the burden of requesting formal union elections onto employers in its Cemex decision last year — and raised the stakes for employer missteps during the process — companies should be prepared to correctly file representation management election petitions and respond to union demands for recognition, says Adam Keating at Duane Morris.

  • Focus On Political Stances May Weaken Labor Unions

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    Recent lawsujits and a bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives call attention to the practice of labor unions taking political stances with which their members disagree — an issue that may weaken unions, and that employers should stay abreast of, given its implications for labor organizing campaigns, workplace morale and collective bargaining, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NLRB Ruling Highlights Rare Union Deauthorization Process

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    A recent National Labor Relations Board decision about a guard company's union authorization revocation presents a ripe opportunity for employees to review the particulars of this uncommon process, and employer compliance is critical as well, say Megann McManus and Trecia Moore at Husch Blackwell.

  • Latest 'Nuclear Verdict' Underscores Jury-Trial Employer Risk

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    A Los Angeles Superior Court jury's recent $900 million verdict in a high-profile sexual assault and harassment case illustrates the increase in so-called nuclear verdicts in employment cases, and the need for employers to explore alternative methods of resolving disputes, say Anthony Oncidi and Morgan Peterson at Proskauer.

  • After Chevron: What Loper Bright Portends For The NLRB

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court has a long history of deferring to the National Labor Relations Board's readings of federal labor law, the court's Loper Bright v. Raimondo decision forces courts to take a harder look at the judgment of an agency — and the NLRB will not be immune from such greater scrutiny, says Irving Geslewitz at Much Shelist.

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