Labor

  • December 12, 2024

    NLRB Affirms Result Of Charlotte Airport Workers' Union Vote

    A National Labor Relations Board official properly oversaw a union representation election for a group of cargo handlers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the NLRB ruled, holding that the workers are subject to the National Labor Relations Act rather than the Railway Labor Act.

  • December 12, 2024

    'Love Is Blind' Cast Members Are Employees, NLRB GC Says

    Cast members of the Netflix reality series "Love Is Blind" are employees under federal labor law, the NLRB's Minneapolis office alleged in a complaint obtained by Law360, claiming the producers have unlawful provisions in agreements demanding thousands of dollars if participants quit the reality show or breach the pacts.

  • December 12, 2024

    Political Consultant Beats Union President's Defamation Suit

    A Washington federal judge has tossed a United Food and Commercial Workers official's suit against a political consultant, holding that she did not prove the consultant defamed her by distributing a flyer accusing her of corruption ahead of a potential merger of union locals.

  • December 11, 2024

    Grocery Store Rulings Back Enforcers' Merger Approach

    Federal and state enforcers scored key victories Tuesday with a pair of court rulings blocking the planned $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons that largely adopted their allegations about the deal and rejected a proposal to unload nearly 600 stores to save it.

  • December 11, 2024

    SEIU Asks Court To Make Ohio Nursing Home Rehire Worker

    A Service Employees International Union affiliate asked an Ohio federal judge to enforce an arbitration award requiring a Toledo, Ohio, healthcare facility to rehire a fired worker with back pay, saying the window to challenge the award has closed and the facility now must comply.

  • December 11, 2024

    NLRB Says Pharmacy Illegally Fired Worker For Wage Chats

    A pharmacy in South Dakota violated federal labor law by firing a technician who chatted about wages with colleagues, the National Labor Relations Board determined Wednesday, ordering the company to reinstate the worker and compensate her with back pay.

  • December 11, 2024

    Quick Party Shift Coming To NLRB As McFerran Vote Fails

    President-elect Donald Trump appears poised to have an immediate opening to seat a Republican majority at the National Labor Relations Board after the U.S. Senate narrowly voted down a push to give outgoing Democratic Chairman Lauren McFerran another term Wednesday.

  • December 11, 2024

    SEIU Asks For Judge's Help Getting Fla. Hospitals To Arbitrate

    A Service Employees International Union affiliate is seeking a Florida federal judge's help in getting a dispute over legal fees with 17 Florida hospitals before an arbitrator, asking the judge to compel arbitration after a colleague decided last week that the fight should proceed outside of court.

  • December 11, 2024

    2nd Circ. Must Hold NYC Grocer In Contempt, NLRB Says

    A grocery store in Queens, New York, should be found in contempt of a Second Circuit decision requiring it to negotiate with a union, the National Labor Relations Board argued, saying the business has "sabotaged the bargaining process."

  • December 11, 2024

    NLRB Tells 5th Circ. To Uphold Trader Joe's Firing Ruling

    The National Labor Relations Board urged the Fifth Circuit to uphold an NLRB ruling finding Trader Joe's violated federal labor law by firing a worker who raised COVID-19 concerns, pushing back on the company's claim that the board overstepped its authority with the remedies it issued.

  • December 11, 2024

    Albertsons Sues Kroger In Chancery After Blocked Megadeal

    Grocery giant Albertsons, in a Wednesday lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, said Kroger did not put forth its "best efforts" into getting their planned $24.6 billion megamerger cleared while also announcing official plans to nix the deal, moves that came just one day after two judges blocked the proposed acquisition.

  • December 10, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Newark Airport Workers' Union Vote Was Valid, NLRB Says

    A National Labor Relations Board official properly oversaw a union representation election in which cargo handlers at Newark Liberty International Airport voted to affiliate with the Service Employees International Union, the board ruled Tuesday, rejecting an argument by the workers' employer that the NLRB lacked jurisdiction.

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Tees Up Boston Hotel's Union Certification Fight

    A Boston hotel illegally refused to bargain with a UNITE HERE local, the National Labor Relations Board found Tuesday, giving the hotel a pathway to challenge the union's certification in federal court and rejecting its constitutional claims against the agency.

  • December 10, 2024

    AFL-CIO Backs DOL In Effort To Keep H-2A Labor Rule Alive

    The AFL-CIO on Tuesday backed the U.S. Department of Labor's efforts to toss a suit in North Carolina federal court challenging the department's final rule protecting union-related activities for agricultural workers on seasonal H-2A visas, saying that it doesn't violate federal labor law.

  • December 10, 2024

    Labor Judges' Removal Ruling 'Pyrrhic' Without Injunction

    A federal judge's ruling Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that a check on the president's power to fire National Labor Relations Boards' judges is unconstitutional may be a meager victory for the agency's legal detractors because it doesn't grant their real prize: a path to block the board from processing cases. 

  • December 10, 2024

    DOE Contractor Can't Stop Deducting Dues, NLRB Judge Says

    A contractor for a U.S. Department of Energy nuclear facility in New Mexico violated federal labor law by halting union dues deductions during negotiations, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, citing board precedent requiring employers to continue collecting workers' dues after a contract expires.

  • December 10, 2024

    6th Circ. Judges Doubt Engineers' Claims Avoid Labor Act

    Sixth Circuit judges on Tuesday sounded skeptical that a group of auto engineers' claims over a bribery scheme between the United Auto Workers union and Fiat Chrysler, which the engineers allege negatively affected their employment, wouldn't be based on their collective bargaining agreement and thus preempted by federal labor law.

  • December 10, 2024

    NJ Panel Revives Union's Suit Over Sick Leave Policies

    A New Jersey appeals court upended Jersey City's win in a firefighters union's lawsuit challenging two city policies pertaining to sick leave, finding Tuesday the union put forward enough information to defeat the city's dismissal bid.

  • December 10, 2024

    9th Circ. OKs Dues Language In Allegiant Union Contract

    Allegiant Air and a Transport Workers Union local can keep their victory over a challenge to the dues provision of their collective bargaining agreement, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, upholding a California federal judge's ruling that the provision's language is legal under the Railway Labor Act.

  • December 10, 2024

    $24.6B Kroger-Albertsons Merger Blocked By 2 Judges

    Kroger's planned $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons suffered double whammy blows Tuesday, first from an Oregon federal judge who temporarily blocked the deal in a Federal Trade Commission challenge, and then from a Washington state judge who sided with the state's attorney general and issued a permanent, national block.

  • December 10, 2024

    Calif. Tribe Can't Vacate Card Check Award, Judge Says

    An arbitration award requiring UNITE HERE and a California tribe that owns a casino to follow a representation process with a card check procedure stands, a federal district court judge ruled, finding the arbitrator's decision was rational.

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Reworks Standard For Employers' Unilateral Changes

    The National Labor Relations Board made it more difficult Tuesday for employers to make changes to their employees' working conditions without approval from their union, replacing a Trump-era standard that strengthened management rights clauses in labor contracts.

  • December 10, 2024

    Ill. Steelmaker Fired Workers For Striking, NLRB Judge Says

    An Illinois steel manufacturer must reinstate six employees who were fired after they walked off the job to protest their work conditions, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the firings violated the National Labor Relations Act.

  • December 10, 2024

    Conn. AG Invited To Weigh In On Nurses Union's OT Dispute

    A Connecticut federal judge has given the state's attorney general a chance to intervene in a nurses union's suit against a hospital over its practice of requiring nurses to work overtime, saying the constitutionality of a new state statute is at the heart of this dispute.

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Judge Protections Get Ax In Constitutional Challenge

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday sided with a Massachusetts hospital in its challenge to National Labor Relations Board judges' job protections, saying the board's judges must be removable at will, but stopping short of holding that their protections are a basis for blocking cases they're currently hearing.

Expert Analysis

  • 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

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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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.

  • What's Next After NLRB Ruling On Overbroad Noncompetes

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    If the National Labor Relations Board's recent ruling on noncompete provisions and its extension of Section 7 rights to limit noncompetes is adopted, this interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act will have to survive scrutiny by the courts without the deference previously afforded under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent overturning of Chevron, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Starbucks v. McKinney, adopting a more stringent test for National Labor Relations Board Section 10(j) injunctions, may lessen the frequency with which employers must defend against injunctions alongside parallel unfair labor practice charges, say David Pryzbylski and Colleen Schade at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • A Way Forward For The US Steel-Nippon Deal And Union Jobs

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    Parties involved in Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel should trust the Pennsylvania federal court overseeing a key environmental settlement to supervise a way of including future union jobs and cleaner air for the city of Pittsburgh as part of a transparent business marriage, says retired judge Susan Braden.

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