Labor

  • July 26, 2024

    NLRB Official OKs Union Ouster Vote At Brooklyn Poultry Co.

    A decertification election can proceed at a poultry company in Brooklyn, a National Labor Relations Board official concluded, saying the parties didn't have a signed successive contract when a worker filed the petition to oust an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local.

  • July 26, 2024

    Conn. Worker Says Mayor Fired Him For Joining Teamsters

    The city of Shelton, Connecticut, fired a public works employee who joined a local Teamsters union after the mayor and other bosses pressured him to invoke a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case that allows government employees to avoid paying mandatory union dues, according to a federal lawsuit.

  • July 26, 2024

    8th Circ. Sends Construction Industry Dispute Back To NLRB

    The National Labor Relations Board must rethink its decision finding a bargaining relationship between a union and construction contractor required the company to provide requested information, the Eighth Circuit ruled, finding there wasn't enough evidence to back up the board's conclusion over the relationship.

  • July 26, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: Warehouse Worker Carveout Args At 9th Circ.

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for oral arguments at the Ninth Circuit regarding whether warehouse workers are interstate transportation workers and therefore exempt from federal arbitration requirements. Here's a look at that proposed class action and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • July 26, 2024

    BNSF Railway Hit With Union Suit Over Minn. Job Eliminations

    BNSF Railway violated the Railway Labor Act by eliminating certain union positions at a Minnesota locomotive maintenance shop and assigning out those jobs' tasks to employees in other crafts, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers said in a suit filed in Minnesota federal court.

  • July 26, 2024

    NLRB Finalizes Rollback Of Trump-Era Union Election Rules

    The National Labor Relations Board on Friday finalized its rule rolling back Trump-era changes to union election procedures, restoring policies blocking union representation elections when an employer is alleged to have tainted the vote and insulating unions from removal if an employer voluntarily recognizes them.

  • July 25, 2024

    Fla. Agency Gets Most Of Unions' Claims Over Dues Law Axed

    A public employee relations agency secured an early win against claims from Florida teachers unions that provisions in a state law pertaining to dues deductions and recertification violated the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled, sending only one contracts clause allegation to trial.

  • July 25, 2024

    US Calls For Labor Scrutiny At Mexican Components Plant

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced a new request Thursday calling on Mexican authorities to investigate claims that workers at a components manufacturing plant were fired for protected activities and blocked from joining outside unions.

  • July 25, 2024

    Video Game Actors Strike After AI Contract Negotiations Stall

    After a year and a half of bargaining that hasn't yielded a union contract, SAG-AFTRA members who provide voiceover and acting work for video games are going on strike, the union announced Thursday.

  • July 25, 2024

    Texas Judge Again Orders Transfer Of SpaceX NLRB Suit

    A Texas federal judge again denied SpaceX's request that he reconsider an earlier decision transferring to California the company's challenge to the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board, reaffirming a May decision holding the company did not provide good reason to rethink the transfer.

  • July 25, 2024

    6th Circ. Asks Union If Steel Co. Must Pay 'Double' Benefits

    During oral arguments Thursday in a "messy, complex" union fringe benefits dispute, a Sixth Circuit panel questioned whether ruling for a union pension fund would require a steel contractor to pay benefits twice for out-of-state workers. 

  • July 25, 2024

    Wash. High Court Tosses Nurse's Religious Bias Lawsuit

    A state-run residential care facility was allowed to fire a nurse who kept requesting religious leave after the facility had already given her nine days off to practice nondenominational Christianity — seven more religious days than its union contract required, Washington state's high court ruled Thursday.

  • July 25, 2024

    USDA Drops Push To Certify Contractors' Labor Compliance

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday scrapped from a proposed rule requirements for federal contractors to attest that they were following federal and state labor laws, tossing President Barack Obama's efforts an earlier version of the rule revamped.

  • July 25, 2024

    Starbucks Threatened Loss Of Tuition At NY Cafe, NLRB Says

    Starbucks illegally threatened the loss of a free college tuition benefit if workers unionized at a cafe in upstate New York, the National Labor Relations Board determined while affirming an agency judge's finding that the coffee chain's so-called captive audience meetings were lawful.

  • July 25, 2024

    Union Rightly Certified At Dispensary, NLRB Tells DC Circ.

    The D.C. Circuit should reject a Phoenix cannabis dispensary's challenge to union certification, National Labor Relations Board attorneys argued, saying an agency official properly certified a United Food and Commercial Workers local as the dispensary workers' representative after tossing the argument that the union election notice was tainted.

  • July 25, 2024

    Rising Star: Jones Day's Kristina Yost

    Kristina Yost of Jones Day has acted as lead counsel for Bloomberg LP in several high-profile Fair Labor Standards Act suits, helped a manufacturing company defeat a suit claiming it failed to pay overtime and worked to resolve an age discrimination case against IBM, earning her a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 25, 2024

    Calif. Justices Rule Prop 22 Is Constitutional

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Proposition 22 statewide ballot measure from 2020 that exempts certain app-based drivers from the state's independent contractor classification law, a ruling that could have widespread consequences for the gig economy and driver litigation.

  • July 24, 2024

    NLRB May Change Tack After Dropped Joint Employer Appeal

    The National Labor Relations Board's decision last week to drop its appeal of a Texas federal judge's decision striking down its joint employer regulation leaves the future of the policy uncertain, with experts saying one option is for the board to return to setting the standard by deciding cases.

  • July 24, 2024

    Safeway Gets Early Win In Floor Co.'s SEIU Conspiracy Suit

    A floor cleaning company can't pursue its claim that Safeway took part in a civil conspiracy with a Service Employees International Union affiliate to award a contract to a competitor, a California federal judge ruled.

  • July 24, 2024

    CUNY Profs Ask Justices To Take Challenge To NY Union Law

    Six City University of New York professors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to ax a state law that lets unions represent all employees of certain public-sector workplaces, saying the law violates their First Amendment right to dissociate from advocacy groups that support policies they oppose.

  • July 24, 2024

    NLRB GC Calls For 'Unprecedented' Remedy, Starbucks Says

    Union organizing did not lead Starbucks to combine three stores in Seattle into one corporate unit, the coffee giant argued to a National Labor Relations Board judge, opposing agency prosecutors' bid for various remedies, including an "unprecedented" disbandment of a business operation called the Heritage District.

  • July 24, 2024

    Starbucks Shorted Union Workers On Raises, Judge Says

    Starbucks violated federal labor law by offering smaller raises to employees of stores where workers started a nationwide union drive than it did to nonunion workers, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, recommending a broad cease-and-desist order against the company given its "proclivity" to break the law.

  • July 24, 2024

    Unions, Energy Groups Back Enbridge 6th Circ. Rehearing Bid

    Labor unions and energy industry groups are joining Enbridge Energy's push for the full Sixth Circuit to rehear a panel decision that sent a Michigan lawsuit aiming to shut down the company's Line 5 pipeline back to state courts.

  • July 24, 2024

    Rising Star: Weil's Rebecca Sivitz

    Rebecca Sivitz of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has helped several companies successfully handle mergers and restructuring, including helping The Kroger Co. face a first-of-its-kind challenge from the Federal Trade Commission, earning her a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 23, 2024

    7th Circ. Affirms Ruling Mining Co. Flouted Labor Law

    The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday backed the National Labor Relations Board's ruling that a mining company violated federal labor law by unilaterally barring employees from clocking in more than five minutes before their shift, but it denied a union's bid to extend the violation to strike replacements.

Expert Analysis

  • What To Know About NLRB's Expanded Labor Remedies

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    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.

  • Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2023

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    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.

  • NLRB Takes Antiquated Approach To Bargaining Unit Test

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    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.

  • Nonstatutory Labor Antitrust Exemption Risk In Sports Unions

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    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.

  • To Avoid A Rail Strike, Congress Tread A Well-Worn Path

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    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.

  • IRS Starts Clock On Energy Projects' Labor Rule Exemption

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    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.

  • Top 10 Labor And Employment Issues In M&A Transactions

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    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.

  • Does NLRA Preempt Suits Against Unions For Strike Damage?

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    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.

  • How Employers Can Prevent And Remedy Antisemitism

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    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.

  • Steps For 'Boys Markets' Relief For Unlawful Union Strikes

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    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.

  • Employers Should Note Post-Midterms State Law Changes

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    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.

  • Weighing Workplace Surveillance For Remote Workers

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    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.

  • Don't Ignore NLRA When Using Employee Resource Groups

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    Companies often celebrate the benefits of employee resource groups when recruiting in a tight labor market, and while it’s not common to associate National Labor Relations Act protections with ERGs, employers should assess the potential for labor claims when using this worker engagement tool, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O’Connor.

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