Labor

  • September 20, 2023

    Union Urges NLRB Judge To Stand By Starbucks Firing Ruling

    A National Labor Relations Board judge should stand by his ruling that Starbucks improperly fired a worker-organizer at a Manhattan store, but reconsider his finding that the company didn't have to discuss the employee's firing with the staff's union beforehand, Workers United and NLRB prosecutors said. 

  • September 20, 2023

    Google, Contractor Snub Talks, Striking YouTube Workers Say

    YouTube Music employees went on strike Wednesday, accusing Google and a contractor of refusing to bargain with their union after the National Labor Relations Board said the companies are joint employers, setting up a test-of-certification case with the union's filing of an unfair labor practice charge.

  • September 20, 2023

    Department Shuffle Can't Ax Union Vote, NLRB Official Says

    Twenty-five quality assurance engineers at a Utah bank software company can vote on whether to be represented by the Teamsters, an NLRB official held, rejecting the company's argument that a recent departmental reorganization had disbanded the potential bargaining unit and rendered an election inappropriate.

  • September 19, 2023

    Union Nabs Default Judgment In Management Co. Firing Case

    The National Labor Relations Board granted board prosecutors' motion for default judgment in a case accusing a management company of firing a union-represented office worker and replacing her with a nonunion worker, ruling Tuesday that the company's attorney didn't adequately justify missing the response deadline.

  • September 19, 2023

    NLRB Injunction Bid Tees Up Quick Test For Cemex

    A bid by National Labor Relations Board prosecutors to make a green nonprofit unwind a mass layoff and bargain with a union offers an early court test of new precedent lowering the bar for orders forcing employers that violate workers rights to recognize and deal with unions.

  • September 19, 2023

    Wash. Appeals Court Remands Kronos Hack Payment Dispute

    A health care system's overpayments to workers in connection with a 2021 Kronos ransomware attack need further review, a Washington state appeals court concluded, reversing a trial court's decision granting summary judgment to three unions in their suit over the company's clawback of the payments.

  • September 19, 2023

    NLRB Member Interested In Talking 'No-Electioneering Zone'

    A National Labor Relations Board panel has rejected a transportation business's challenge to the results of a union representation election over alleged union misconduct, though the board's Republican member said he would be open to addressing the enforcement of "no-electioneering" zones in the future.

  • September 19, 2023

    Chamber Tells 6th Circ. Worker-Silencing Ruling Goes Too Far

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked the Sixth Circuit Monday to vacate a National Labor Relations Board decision that says severance agreements can't bar workers from disparaging their employers, as the decision exceeds the board's authority and runs against precedent.

  • September 19, 2023

    NLRB Urges 9th Circ. To Make Kaiser Unit Share Docs

    A Kaiser Permanente affiliate must provide a health care workers' union with requested documents about mental health services, the National Labor Relations Board told the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the appeals court should back the board's findings that the company violated federal labor law.

  • September 19, 2023

    Replacement Steelworkers Present $4M Travel Time Deal

    Steelworkers brought in to replace union workers during a lockout at Allegheny Technologies Inc. asked a Pennsylvania federal court Tuesday to sign off on a $4 million deal settling their suit seeking compensation for the extra time it took to transport them past picket lines, calling it an "excellent" outcome.

  • September 19, 2023

    NLRB Judge Says Union Led Member On 'Wild Goose Chase'

    A longshoremen's union violated federal labor law when it led a member who tried to challenge a union-imposed fine on a "wild goose chase" toward an appeal process that turned out to be either "nonexistent or simply hidden," a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

  • September 18, 2023

    Ex-Philly Union Leader Seeks Third Delay Of Corruption Trial

    Pointing to a growing mountain of evidence to sift through in a corruption case spanning several trials, counsel for former International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 leader John Dougherty asked a Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday to postpone his trial yet again while he gets up to speed.

  • September 18, 2023

    Judge Says USW Can Pursue NLRB Failure-To-Bargain Charge

    The United Steelworkers cannot be barred from pursuing unfair labor practice charges against a manufacturer for changing a labor contract's terms after it acquired a bankrupt company that was party to the agreement, a Delaware federal judge ruled Monday, saying the union may proceed with claims over the manufacturer's post-sale actions.

  • September 19, 2023

    College Hoops Union Bid Puts Athletes' Rights Issue To NLRB

    As a broader legal trend points toward compensating college athletes for their labor, a recent petition for a union representation election among players on Dartmouth College's men's basketball team poses tricky questions about how these rights apply in the labor context.

  • September 18, 2023

    NLRB Defends Camera Use Order Against Produce Co.

    National Labor Relations Board attorneys urged the D.C. Circuit to uphold the board's finding that a produce company violated federal labor law by telling a driver to uncover his truck's camera during lunch, saying Monday the board reasonably found this created the impression the company was monitoring union activity.

  • September 18, 2023

    Airlines Trade Group Sues Colo. Over Sick Leave Law

    Airlines for America has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado's 2020 law creating sick leave requirements for workers, arguing that the regulations are preempted by federal law.

  • September 18, 2023

    Union Fund Says Adviser Pushed $30M Bad Investment

    A pension fund for union-represented construction workers in Southern California squandered $30 million due to bad advice from an investment adviser, the fund alleges in a new lawsuit filed in California federal court seeking to recoup the money.

  • September 18, 2023

    3M Won't Arbitrate Workers' Grievances, Union Says

    3M Co. won't arbitrate two workers' grievances over the assignment of shifts, an International Union of Operating Engineers affiliate argued in a complaint removed to California federal court.

  • September 18, 2023

    Steel Co. Owes $2.2M In Unpaid Benefits, Mich. Judge Rules

    A Nevada steel company must pay Michigan ironworkers' pension funds more than $2 million in unpaid benefits and other fees for more than a year's worth of employees' work on a project in Detroit, a Michigan federal judge ruled Sunday.

  • September 18, 2023

    Electric Co. Must Yield Wage Info To IBEW, NLRB Judge Says

    A Nebraska electrical contractor violated federal labor law by withholding wage information from its workers' union, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the request was relevant to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local's work as the employees' representative.

  • September 18, 2023

    NLRB GC Calls For Cemex Order Against Cannabis Co.

    National Labor Relations Board attorneys asked an agency judge to order a cannabis company to negotiate with a United Food and Commercial Workers local under a recent board precedent shift, saying the company's unfair labor practices led to the union's loss of majority support.

  • September 18, 2023

    Kellogg Skimped On Retirees' Pension Payments, Suit Says

    Kellogg lowballed thousands of retirees' retirement benefits by using outdated formulas to calculate pension payments, a former employee said in a proposed class action filed in a Michigan federal court.

  • September 15, 2023

    Software Co.'s Firing Of Worker Was Illegal, NLRB Judge Says

    A software company in Silicon Valley violated federal labor law by firing a worker who had raised concerns that a group of employees shared, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday, saying evidence showed the company's bias against the worker's protected activities.

  • September 15, 2023

    UAW, Big Auto Resume Labor Talks Amid Walkouts

    The United Auto Workers and Detroit's Big Three continued contract negotiations over the weekend but showed little sign of any agreement as 12,700 workers remained on strike at three General Motors, Ford and Stellantis facilities, as an emboldened UAW fired back at the automakers' warnings of impending layoffs and shuttered operations.

  • September 15, 2023

    IBEW Local Urges Court To Preserve Arb. Win In Benefits Row

    An International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local urged a New York federal judge Friday to preserve its arbitration win in a dispute with a power plant operator over which workers qualified for a supplemental retirement benefit, saying the arbitrator's decision was "reasonable, if not inevitable."

Expert Analysis

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Remote Work Policies

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    Implementing a remote work policy that clearly articulates eligibility, conduct and performance expectations for remote employees can ease employers’ concerns about workers they may not see on a daily basis, says Melissa Spence at Butler Snow.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Bias Lessons From 'Partner Track'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with CyberRisk Alliance's Ying Wong, about how Netflix's show "Partner Track" tackles conscious and unconscious bias at law firms, and offer some key observations for employers and their human resources departments on avoiding these biases.

  • NLRB GC Memos Complicate Labor Law Compliance

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    Policy memoranda from National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo outlining new interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act create compliance dilemmas for employer counsel, who must review not only established law, but also statements that may better predict how the board will decide future questions, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NLRB Order May Mean Harsher Remedies For Labor Violations

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    The National Labor Relations Board's recent ruling against a Nebraska meat processor, ordering an expanded range of remedies for the employer's repeated labor law violations, signals the NLRB's willingness to impose harsh remedies more frequently, in the full spectrum of unfair labor practice litigation, say Eric Stuart and Zachary Zagger at Ogletree.

  • Eye On Compliance: Joint Employment

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    Madonna Herman at Wilson Elser breaks down the key job conditions that led to a recent National Labor Relations Board finding of joint employment, and explains the similar standard established under California case law — providing a guide for companies that want to minimize liability when relying on temporary and contract workers.

  • How Unions Could Stem Possible Wave Of Calif. PAGA Claims

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    Should the California Supreme Court hold in Adolph v. Uber that the nonindividual portions of Private Attorneys General Act claims survive even after individual claims go to arbitration, employers and unions could both leverage the holding in Oswald v. Murray to stifle the resurgence in representative suits, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Tips For Defending Employee Plaintiff Depositions

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    A plaintiff cannot win their employment case through a good deposition, but they can certainly lose it with a bad one, so an attorney should take steps to make sure the plaintiff does as little damage as possible to their claim, says Preston Satchell at LexisNexis.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Whistleblowing Insights From 'Dahmer'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with DS Smith's Josh Burnette about how the show "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" provides an extreme example of the perils of ignoring repeat complaints — a lesson employers could apply in the whistleblower context.

  • Labor Trends To Watch In Warehousing And Distribution

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    Employers in the warehousing and distribution sector should prepare for major National Labor Relations Board updates this year that will likely increase their exposure to unfair labor practice charges and make it easier for workers to unionize, say Laura Pierson-Scheinberg and Lorien Schoenstedt at Jackson Lewis.

  • Musk Ruling A Lesson On Employer Statements About Unions

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    A recent Fifth Circuit decision in Tesla v. National Labor Relations Board found that Elon Musk's 2018 tweets threatened employees at the company amid a unionizing campaign, reminding employers that communicating public statements about union organizing should be rooted in facts, says Daniel Handman at Hirschfeld Kraemer.

  • Cannabis Labor Peace Laws Lay Fertile Ground For Unions

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    State legislatures are increasingly passing cannabis laws that encourage or even mandate labor peace agreements as a condition for licensure, and though open questions remain about the constitutionality of such statutes, unionization efforts are unlikely to slow down, says Peter Murphy at Saul Ewing.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Attendance Policies

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    Employee attendance problems are among the most common reasons for disciplinary action and discharge, which is why a clear policy neatly laid out in an employee handbook is necessary to articulate expectations for workers and support an employer's position should any attendance-related disputes arise, says Kara Shea at Butler Snow.

  • Religious Institution Unionization Risks Post-NLRB Decision

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    A recent National Labor Relations Board decision granted Saint Leo University religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Act, potentially setting a new standard for other religious educational institutions, which must identify unionization risks and create plans to address them, say Terry Potter and Quinn Stigers at Husch Blackwell.

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