Labor

  • May 23, 2024

    Union Fund Trustees Fight DOL Mismanagement Suit

    Two trustees of an embattled union life insurance fund have asked an Illinois federal judge to toss the U.S. Department of Labor's claims that they let a fellow trustee siphon about $2.6 million and amended the fund's rules to shield themselves from liability.

  • May 23, 2024

    Amazon Illegally Surveilled Workers With Algorithm, Org. Says

    A workers advocacy group in Missouri accused Amazon of violating federal labor law by using "intrusive algorithms" to watch employees' organizing activities, according to an unfair labor practice charge obtained by Law360 on Thursday, advancing a legal theory from the National Labor Relations Board's top prosecutor.

  • May 23, 2024

    Alaska Airlines, Union Beat Fired Workers' Religious Bias Suit

    A Washington federal judge tossed a suit from two Christian flight attendants who said they were illegally fired by Alaska Airlines and abandoned by their labor union for opposing the airline's support for LGBTQ+ rights, ruling there's no proof unlawful bias cost them their jobs.

  • May 23, 2024

    NLRB Official OKs Union Vote At Colo. Movie Theater

    Workers at a dine-in movie theater near Denver can have an election to decide whether they want the Communications Workers of America to represent them, a National Labor Relations Board regional director determined, nixing the company's bid to expand the bargaining unit to other facilities.

  • May 22, 2024

    Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron

    A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.

  • May 22, 2024

    Carpenter Sues Union Healthcare Plan After Losing Coverage

    A union healthcare plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when it stopped working with a Bay Area insulation company whose union contract expired, a new proposed class action filed in California federal court alleges.

  • May 22, 2024

    Steel Co. Tells Mich. Court Not To Order Worker's Rehire

    A Michigan federal judge can't enforce an arbitration award requiring the rehire of a fired worker, a steel manufacturer argued Wednesday, claiming the arbitration panel went beyond the parties' collective bargaining agreement in ordering reinstatement.

  • May 22, 2024

    NLRB Official OKs Union Vote At Philadelphia Coffee Shops

    Workers at three Philadelphia coffee shops can vote on representation by a Service Employees International Union affiliate, a National Labor Relations Board official has ruled, shooting down the employer's argument that workers at two of the stores have different working conditions from those at the third location.

  • May 22, 2024

    NLRB Sets Up Eligibility Test For Northeastern Police Union

    Northeastern University in Boston violated federal labor law by refusing to bargain with a union representing campus police sergeants and detectives, the National Labor Relations Board concluded, potentially teeing up a challenge from the university to test the union's certification.

  • May 21, 2024

    2nd Circ. Partially Backs Win For Nurses' Union Pension Plan

    In a 90-page opinion, the Second Circuit on Tuesday mostly upheld a Manhattan federal judge's decision affirming an arbiter's award favoring a nurses' pension plan, agreeing that White Oak Global Advisors LLC must return "Day 1" fees totaling nearly $2 million and pay prejudgment interest said to top $22 million.

  • May 21, 2024

    OSHA Hit With Constitutional Challenge To Walkaround Rule

    A dozen business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the so-called walkaround rule in Texas federal court Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of a two-month-old regulation that expanded workers' right to bring in outside representatives during job safety inspections.

  • May 21, 2024

    NLRB Nixes Enforcement Bid Against Starbucks At 9th Circ.

    The National Labor Relations Board called for the dismissal of its enforcement bid against Starbucks in the Ninth Circuit over a decision finding the company illegally threatened workers in Hawaii, saying the coffee chain has expressed an intent to follow the board's decision.

  • May 21, 2024

    TV Workers Get OK For Union Vote Despite Co.'s Objections

    A National Labor Relations Board official has cleared 22 employees of a Sacramento, California, broadcast news company to vote on representation by a Communications Workers of America-affiliated union next week, rejecting the company's bid for a smaller voting pool.

  • May 21, 2024

    Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023

    The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.

  • May 21, 2024

    The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms

    The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.

  • May 21, 2024

    With Ex-Faegre Partner, Norton Rose Adds To ERISA Expertise

    Norton Rose Fulbright has boosted its Washington, D.C., office with an ERISA litigator and experienced labor lawyer who most recently was with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.

  • May 20, 2024

    Justices Turn Away Hospital Construction Feud

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a case that centers on a $180 million project to expand a Mississippi children's hospital, once again declining to resolve whether parties that agree to certain arbitral rules have also agreed to delegate jurisdictional questions to the arbitrator.

  • May 20, 2024

    Alibaba Resists Class Cert. Over Failed Ant Group IPO

    Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has again urged a New York federal judge not to certify a class of investors who claim they weren't warned about regulatory risks Alibaba faced in the lead-up to a $34 billion initial public offering of its fintech affiliate, saying the suit's challenged misstatements did not affect Alibaba's stock price.

  • May 20, 2024

    Texas Judge Rescinds Denial Of SpaceX's Rethink Bid

    A Texas federal judge on Monday walked back his decision last week not to reconsider an order transferring SpaceX's National Labor Relations Board constitutionality dispute to a California court, saying he is "awaiting input from the Fifth Circuit."

  • May 20, 2024

    NLRB Resets Bad Faith Line In Bargaining Redo

    A recent National Labor Relations Board ruling that George Washington University Hospital sabotaged union negotiations by demanding unreasonable concessions reinforces that the content of a party's proposals may render them illegal, departing from the Trump-era board's approach in the same case.

  • May 20, 2024

    NLRB Attys Say Mich. Starbucks Injunction Row Must Proceed

    The U.S. Supreme Court's pending decision over a National Labor Relations Board injunction standard shouldn't pause a Michigan federal court case against Starbucks seeking reinstatement of fired employees, the board argued Monday, saying a stay would be detrimental to the workers' interests.

  • May 20, 2024

    NLRB Judge Says Amazon Has 'Proclivity' For Violating NLRA

    Amazon's "proclivity to violate" federal labor law justifies broad remedies including a notice reading at a facility on Staten Island, New York, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the e-commerce giant illegally barred a pro-union banner in the break room and threatened workers.

  • May 20, 2024

    UPS Unit's Firing Of Organizer Flouted Law, NLRB Judge Says

    A UPS unit violated federal labor law by firing an employee who led a union drive at a company warehouse in Tracy, California, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled.

  • May 20, 2024

    6th Circ. Orders Sanctioned Prison Co. To Pay NLRB Atty Fees

    The Sixth Circuit said a Federal Bureau of Prisons contractor has to pay the U.S. National Labor Relations Board's attorney fees from arguing the contractor should be held in contempt in a dispute over two fired union supporters, with one judge dissenting in part over 0.4 billable hour.

  • May 17, 2024

    UC Says Union Trying To Illegally Strike Amid Campus Protest

    The University of California system is accusing the union that represents its graduate student workers of calling for an illegal strike over the university system's pushback to pro-Palestine campus protests, filing an unfair labor practice charge Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Water Cooler Talk: Sick Leave Insights From 'Parks And Rec'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper spoke with Lisa Whittaker at the J.M. Smucker Co. about how to effectively manage sick leave policies to ensure legal compliance and fairness to all employees, in a discussion inspired by a "Parks and Recreation" episode.

  • 3 Employer Lessons From NLRB's Complaint Against SpaceX

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    Severance agreements traditionally have included nondisparagement and nondisclosure provisions as a matter of course — but a recent National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX underscores the ongoing efforts to narrow severance agreements at the state and federal levels, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Time For Congress To Let Qualified Older Pilots Keep Flying

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    While a previous Law360 guest article affirmed the current law requiring airline pilots to retire at age 65, the facts suggest that the pilots, their unions, the airlines and the flying public will all benefit if Congress allows experienced, medically qualified aviators to stay in the cockpit, say Allen Baker and Bo Ellis at Let Experienced Pilots Fly.

  • Game-Changing Decisions Call For New Rules At The NCAA

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    From a newly formed college players union to coaches transferring at the drop of a hat, the National College Athletic Association needs an overhaul, including federal supervision, says Frank Darras at DarrasLaw.

  • What Makes Unionization In Financial Services Unique

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    Only around 1% of financial services employees are part of a union, but that number is on the rise, presenting both unique opportunities and challenges for the employers and employees that make up a sector typically devoid of union activity, say Amanda Fugazy and Steven Nevolis at Ellenoff Grossman.

  • Assessing Work Rules After NLRB Handbook Ruling

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    The National Labor Relations Board's Stericycle decision last year sparked uncertainty surrounding whether historically acceptable work rules remain lawful — but employers can use a two-step analysis to assess whether to implement a given rule and how to do so in a compliant manner, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • A Look At Global Employee Disconnect Laws For US Counsel

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    As countries worldwide adopt employee right to disconnect laws, U.S. in-house counsel at corporations with a global workforce must develop a comprehensive understanding of the laws' legal and cultural implications, ensuring their companies can safeguard employee welfare while maintaining legal compliance, say Emma Corcoran and Ute Krudewagen at DLA Piper.

  • Employers Beware Of NLRB Changes On Bad Faith Bargaining

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    Recent National Labor Relations Board decisions show a trend of the agency imposing harsher remedies on employers for bad faith bargaining over union contracts, a position upheld in the Ninth Circuit's recent NLRB v. Grill Concepts Services decision, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • What A Post-Chevron Landscape Could Mean For Labor Law

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Chevron deference expected by the end of June, it’s not too soon to consider how National Labor Relations Act interpretations could be affected if federal courts no longer defer to administrative agencies’ statutory interpretation and regulatory actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Eye On Compliance: Employee Social Media Privacy In NY

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    A New York law that recently took effect restricts employers' ability to access the personal social media accounts of employees and job applicants, signifying an increasing awareness of the need to balance employers' interests with worker privacy and free speech rights, says Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau at Wilson Elser.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What The NIL Negotiation Rules Injunction Means For NCAA

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent preliminary injunction reverses several prominent and well-established NCAA rules on negotiations with student-athletes over name, image and likeness compensation and shows that collegiate athletics is a profoundly unsettled legal environment, say attorneys at Pillsbury.